Unedited
11/25/11
Home

To understand the nature of excuses one must understand the difference between a reason and an excuse. If one says I cannot finish repairing your car because the replacement parts have not arrived the statement, in fact, can be either an excuse or are legitimate reason. Poorly managed business compensate for their incompetence by making excuses all the time. So when one ethically evaluates a business the fact that a business is known for making excuses becomes a relevant clue to the moral nature of that business when analyzed in the context of other signs of less than professional behavior.

Businessmen and businesswomen are frequently exploited by their client's excuses. An excuse is not necessarily a reason. The ability of a person to spin a believable excuse is often seen as a function of their political, social, and intellectual prowess in society. Likewise, business people exploit their clients with words, phrases and psychological that looks like reasoning to the ordinary person. Ethically speaking what these manipulators are doing is overpowering people with their force of personality. Weather we are talking about a small business or a large international corporation spinning excuses is the mainstay of an unethical business. One principal to remember in business is that "your client's problem, is not your problem" in spite of their passionate appeals to make you believe otherwise. To ignore this principle is to go against ones self-regarding duty as reflected in the idea of professionalism and a "professional ethic." Moreover, it violates the most fundamental business principle of "doing business in a business like way." In Darwinian terms, ignorance to this rule is what separates the fit from the unfit in business.

Theory: A reason has what is called a "probative balance" to its premise. This derives from the ideal of "rationality." Note the word "ratio" in the term rationality. Here a concept, idea, statement or premise is weighed in the mind in relation to many other factors. An excuse only alludes to balanced relationships; there is a little mental magic, or psychological, involved in an excuse. When factors like money, power, sex, ego are involved there is an increased risk that an excuse is wrapped in a package that looks like reason but is only an elegant way of getting ones way. A person's political, economic and social power can be greatly increased by fabricating justifications based on incomplete or faulty logic. The ability to spin an excuse empowers people of little moral character.

Note:

Eristic