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Spring 2006

ISSN 0890-913X

Volume 22, Number 2

Categories: Business | Spring 2006

The Concept of Business in Business Ethics

Alexei M. Marcoux, Loyola University Chicago

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JournalofPrivateEnterprise,VolumeXXI,Number2,Spring2006TheConceptofBusinessinBusinessEthicsAlexeiM.MarcouxLoyolaUniversityChicagoBusinessethicsiseitherancientorverynew.Construedbroadlyasmoralreflectiononcommerce,businessethicsisprobablyasoldastradeitself.Iflawisaroughguidetomoralintuitions(Goodin,1985),1theCodeofHammurabi(1700sB.C.),prescribingpricesandtariffsandlayingdownbothrulesofcommerceandharshpenaltiesfornoncompliance,evidencessomeofcivilization'searlierattemptstoidentifythemoralcontoursofcommercialactivity.Aristotle'sPolitics(300sB.C.)addressesexplicitlycommercialrelationsinitsdiscussionofhouseholdmanagement.Judeo-Christianmorality,asexpressedin,e.g.,theTalmud(200A.D.)andtheTenCommandments(Exodus20:2-17;Deuteronomy5:6-21),includesmoralrulesapplicabletocommercialconduct.However,asadiscrete,self-consciousacademicdiscipline,businessethicsisbarelyfourdecadesold?Prominentbusinessethicist'Goodinarguesthatlawisareliable,thoughnotinfallible,guidetooursettledmoralintuitions.'Datingthebirthofbusinessethicsasanacademicdisciplineisaninexactscience,notleastbecauseofthemultipleprojectspursuedundertherubricofbusinessethics.Forthepurposesofthispaper,littleornothingturnsonit.Ichoosetherough"fourdecades"characterizationonthebasisofRaymondBaumharesgroundbreakingwork.His"HowEthicalareBusinessmen?"(HarvardBusinessReview39(4)(1961):6-9),ExploratoryStudyofBusinessmen'sViewsonEthicsandBusiness(DBAdissertation:HarvardBusinessSchool,1963),andAnHonestProfit:WhatBusinessmenStyAboutEthicsandBusiness(NewYork:Holt,RinehartandWinston,1968)aregenerallyregardedasoriginalworksofaself-consciousbusinessethics.RichardDeGeorge,inhis"HistoryofBusinessEthics"AlexeiM.Marcoux50

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Metadata [hide]

Title	The Concept of Business in Business Ethics
Authors/Creators:	Alexei M. Marcoux, Loyola University Chicago
Year:	2006
Volume:	22
Number:	2
Pages:	50 - 67
Publisher:	The Association of Private Enterprise Education
ISSN:	0890-913X
Document Type:	Articles
Keywords:	Ethics, Moral, Business ethics

Citation:
Marcoux, Alexei M. / 2006. "The Concept of Business in Business Ethics." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 22(2): 50-67.