Abstract
This short essay presents several ethical dilemmas associated with business and the business world. The authors argue that the denial of the relevance of the simplest moral notion that we are responsible for the effects of our actions on others seems to be the heart of the problem of business. Additionally, Freeman and Sollars explain that the principle of responsibility gets ethics off the ground.
Originally published in: Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 31, 272–273 © Wiley, 2021
Reprint by Springer, DOI 10.1111/beer.12387
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Notes
- 1.
L’s supplier K may set the same condition. Should a harm or rights violation occur involving a consumer of L’s product, the liability would have to be apportioned between K and L. We do not consider the details of such apportionment here. Such problems are endemic in complicated schemes of causality.
- 2.
L could of course try to cheat her supplier, but this case collapses into the case considered supra note 1.
- 3.
There may be a fair amount of ambiguity in the tasks for which L hires you, but if at any time you believe that your well-being is affected adversely, then L is committed to compensating you, or simply re-negotiating the terms of your employment.
- 4.
We leave as an open question whether or not the local government is a legitimate representative of the community. This problem affects all of “business ethics” not just the conception that is implicit here. Surely there is no reason for a separate field of inquiry “business ethics” because a particular regime doesn’t take the interests of its members into account in an acceptable manner. If this turns out to be the main “raison d’être” of business ethics, perhaps we need a more robust political philosophy which understands the value-creation process in more pragmatic terms.
- 5.
Of course others could try to take advantage of L, and L’s guarantee of (RP). But, in these cases we would be hesitant to say that L’s business has an ethical dilemma. Maybe L would turn out to be a sucker, but that is a different matter.
- 6.
Hazel Barnes, An Existentialist Ethic, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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Freeman, R.E., Sollars, G.G. (2023). A Puzzle About Business Ethics. In: Dmytriyev, S.D., Freeman, R.E. (eds) R. Edward Freeman’s Selected Works on Stakeholder Theory and Business Ethics. Issues in Business Ethics(), vol 53. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04564-6_17
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