Comments on: Business Ethics http://philosophyonthemesa.com/2010/01/31/business-ethics/ Wed, 02 May 2012 12:50:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Paul J. Moloney http://philosophyonthemesa.com/2010/01/31/business-ethics/#comment-2840 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:40:35 +0000 http://philosophyonthemesa.wordpress.com/?p=1975#comment-2840 I wonder if there is such a thing as business ethics that are actually ethical.

Unrelated comment: Congratulations to Dwight for having been quoted in an article in the latest issue of TPM. Dwight is keeping Mesa on the philosophy map.

]]> By: steve http://philosophyonthemesa.com/2010/01/31/business-ethics/#comment-2836 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:22:11 +0000 http://philosophyonthemesa.wordpress.com/?p=1975#comment-2836 “Capitalist theory asserts that businesses in a competitive environment will follow ethical norms and be honest, fair, and diligent, if they aren’t ethical, consumers will not do business with them. Thus, consumer protection legislation is unnecessary.

Whatever modicum of plausibility this view had should have been thoroughly shattered by recent experience—but the theory persists nevertheless.”

Business people can write off as ‘ethical’ things that would look very dishonest to the average person’s sensibilities. On the other hand, as the recent closed-door healthcare negotiations in the US congress show, the shining consumer protectors are not interested in having their ethical reasoning examined too closely either. So, do you prefer your corruption de-centralized? or concentrated into one federal district?

As for the airline… you said it.. there’s a market for everything..

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