Taking Business Ethics Seriously

Book excerpt: Of what does the “good life” consist? What do we owe each other? How should we distribute the product of our joint effort? For modern rationality, each of those timeless questions can be answered separately, and different disciplines have evolved to deal with them. This book presents a forceful, passionate argument against such compartmentalization, tracing its origins to the demands of the socioeconomic system, born in Europe in the eighteenth century, which today rules the world. It makes the case for guiding our behavior in the professional realm by aligning it with the kind of life that it is worth living for creatures like us, and for treating other people in the conduct of business exactly the same as we should in any other realm. Such alignment requires a rigorous review of the most salient ethical traditions, from Classical Greece to the present day.