TEACHING BUSINESS ETHICS - THE ROLE OF ETHICS IN BUSINESS AND IN BUSINESS EDUCATION

The paper begins with an examination of traditional attitudes towards business ethics. I suggest that these attitudes fall to recognize that a principal function of ethics is to facilitate cooperation. Further that despite the emphasis on competition in modern market economies, b usiness like all other forms of social activity is possible only where people are prepared to respect rules in the absence of which cooperat ion is rendered difficult or impossible. Rules or what I call the ethi cs of doing, however, constitute just one dimension of ethics. A secon d has to do with what we see and how we see it; a third with who we or what I describe as the ethics of being. Of these three dimensions, th e first and the third have been most carefully explored by philosopher s and are most frequently the focus of attention when teaching busines s ethics is being discussed. I argue that this focus is unfortunate in as much as it is the second dimension which falls most naturally into the ambit of modern secular educational institutions. It is here that moral education is most obviously unavoidable, and most clearly justi fiable in modern secular teaching environments. I conclude by describi ng the importance of this second dimension for the modern world of bus iness.