Contemporary Reflections On Business Ethics (issues In Business Ethics)

CONTEMPORARY REFLECTIONS ON BUSINESS ETHICS Issues in Business Ethics VOLUME 23 Series Editors Henk van Luijk, Emeritus Professor of Business Ethics Patricia Werhane, Darden Graduate School of Business and DePaul University, U.S.A. Editorial Board Brenda Almond, University of Hull, Hull, U.K. Antonio Argandoña, IESE, Barcelona, Spain William C. Frederick, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A. Georges Enderle, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, U.S.A. Norman E. Bowie, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A. Brian Harvey, Manchester Business School, Manchester, U.K. Horst Steinmann, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume. Contemporary Reflections on Business Ethics by RONALD DUSKA The American College A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10 1-4020-4983-8 (HB) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4983-5 (HB) ISBN-10 1-4020-4984-6 (e-book) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4984-2 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2007 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. To my grand children—the joys of my present and the hopes of the future: Jack, Luke, David, Nicholas, Bryan, Mary Kate, Gabriel, Kyle, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jessica, Jacob, Samuel, Jonathan, Daniel, Timothy, Genevieve, Beatrice and whomever else might join the family. CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgements Introduction xiii xv xvii Business Ethics Chapter 1: What is Ethics? 3 1 The Discipline of Ethics 1.1 Moral Beliefs 1.2 Actions, Social Practices, Institutions, and Systems 1.3 Why Study Ethics in Business? 3 4 4 6 2 Ethics in Business 2.1 The Social Responsibility of Business 2.2 How to Determine What is Ethical 3 Ethical Theory 3.1 Questions to Ask to Justify Any Action 3.1.1 “Is the Action Good for Me?” 3.1.2 “Is the Action Good or Harmful for Society?” 3.1.3 “Is the Action Fair or Just?” 3.1.4 “Does the Action Violate Anyone’s Rights?” 3.1.5 “Have I Made a Commitment, Implied or Explicit?” 3.2 Using the Reasons 3.3 Ethical Dilemmas 3.3.1 A Classic Moral Dilemma 3.4 Egoism 3.5 Utilitarianism 3.6 Deontology 3.6.1 The First Formulation of the Categorical Imperative 3.6.2 The Second Formulation of the Categorical Imperative 3.7 Is Ethical Knowledge Possible? 3.7.1 Intellectual Subjectivism 3.7.2 Emotivism 3.7.3 Relativism 7 9 11 13 15 15 16 16 16 17 18 19 20 22 25 28 30 31 32 33 34 35 CONTENTS viii 4 Virtue Ethics 5 Conclusion 37 38 Chapter 2: The Why’s of Business Revisited 39 Chapter 3: Business Ethics: Oxymoron or Good Business? 51 1 Business Ethics as Oxymoron 2 Business as Pursuit of Self-Intere