Business Ethics: How Ethical Are We?

5 Pages 1331 Words

Business Ethics:
How Ethical Are We?


There are many schools of thought regarding business ethics. Some contend that there is no difference between personal ethics, or morality, and business ethics. Others believe that business ethics is concerned with being as ethical as possible within the confines of a business situation. Yet others suggest that ethical business behavior is defined by the letter of the law; if no laws are broken, no unethical behavior is exhibited. Unfortunately, it would appear that in contemporary society little attention is paid to business ethics in any form.
Personal ethics, or morals, are the codes we live by. They define the way we interact with people, make decisions and live our lives. Often, people tend to equate ethics to religious beliefs. John Locke, considered the father of British empiricism, does just this in his writing Of the State of Nature. He ties the state of Nature, or rather the Law of Nature, to God most certainly. He says that under the Creator all men are created as equals and by His law they are to bear but peace and preservation to all his brethren that be mankind and in exhibiting such behavior man will find himself to be ethical. This begs the question that, for those who do not believe of or in Him, are they not bound to the Law of Nature? Are they then only bound by the code of politicians meant for the mortal realm? Even if, by chance, the presence of God be not absolute, should not the Law of Nature be?
A more practical approach to explaining ethics is one that encompasses all of creation, regardless of religious affiliation or even without acknowledging the existence of a higher power. Immanuel Kant achieves this with the categorical imperative, his basis for morality. Kant takes the principles of Locke's Law of Nature and trusts them not to God, but to man and his posterity. He says that for an action to be truly moral, it must be so for every being in any situation. The...