Abstract
The Western ethical tradition is rooted in ancient Greek philosophy, which developed both intuitionism and virtue ethics. The enlightenment age developed social contract theory, utilitarianism, and ultimately Kantian construction. All of these schools (approaches) play a role in examining and developing the ethics of business interactions and what we should consider as ethical norms for business. It is, of course, questionable whether this “Western ethical thought” sufficiently permeates business so that what we term as “evil” in business is adequately avoided.
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Notes
- 1.
Eudaimonia is literally interpreted as “having a good guardian spirit.” It implies having an objectively desirable life which to the ancient Greek philosophy is “the supreme good” to be sought. See Honderich (1995, p. 252).
- 2.
The diseased mind, one that is perhaps incapable of reason, or incapable of empathy for the pain of others, is not considered here. The diseased mind is not capable of pursuing eudaimonia.
- 3.
Christians will note that in the first chapter of John’s Gospel, truth (or the Greek notion of logos, i.e. the motive force of existence) is identified with God. This is also a Greek notion. It resolves the problem of the separation of truth and God, i.e. Christians claim they are one and the same. This is one of the two Greek philosophical pillars of Christian Theology, the other being the Socratic notion of the soul.
- 4.
We shall see later that the enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant poses a similar process, but with guidelines for a broader social-interactive examination of the posed moral maxim.
- 5.
The notion of the soul also finds its way into Christian philosophy. Socrates and Plato are the origins of this Christian idea.
- 6.
Politics, Book II, Part V.
- 7.
Ibid, Book I, Part X.
- 8.
This is the period of the initial devolution of Roman culture.
- 9.
Chaim Potok (Wanderings, 1978) provides an historical review of Jewish attempted resistance to a similar Helenization of Hebrew philosophy.
- 10.
God can conceivably be interpreted here as the spiritual embodiment of love, righteousness, and the motive force of the universe.
- 11.
Thomas of Aquino was an Italian Dominican priest of the scholastic era and educated at the University of Naples. See Wikipedia for a brief biography that indicates his considerable importance in the history of philosophy and Christian theology.
- 12.
The author Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) pioneered the beat literary movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He coined the term beat to reflect beatitudo. His most significant literary novel, On the Road (1957), explored the notions of virtue among his friends.
- 13.
See Locke (1690, Chapter 9, section 124).
- 14.
See Haidt (2012), for recent examinations of this view as based upon modern psychological investigations that indicate the emotional foundation of moral reasoning.
- 15.
This movie was based on the 1957 Abby Mann television play of the same name.
- 16.
This third case of utilitarianism is considered in greater detail in a latter chapter. The first two utilitarian theories originated with Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), and was extended by John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) and Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900), all three of whom were English philosophers.
References
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———. 1984. The Complete Works of Aristotle, ed. Jonathan Barnes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
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———. 1785. Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals. In Basic Writings of Kant, ed. Allen W. Wood. New York, NY: The Modern Library Classics, The Modern Library.
———. 1797. In The Metaphysics of Morals, ed. Mary Gregor. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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More In-Depth Readings
Ashby (1997), cited in the bibliography above, presents an excellent review of the development of Western ethics for the introductory student.
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Robinson, R.M. (2022). Chapter 2: The Applicable Western Ethical View?. In: Business Ethics: Kant, Virtue, and the Nexus of Duty. Springer Texts in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85997-8_2
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