Introductiom

to Business Ethics : 7 7

Voluntary;not forced or c o er c e d b y persons or circumstances. (example: I n j u r i n g r k i l l i n g p e r s o nw h o o a has come to kill you is not a m o r a lo r l e g a lo f f e n c e ; c o l d A b l o o d e dm u r d e ri s t h e h i g h e s t k i n d o f m o r a lo r l e q a lc r i m e ) Judge the values of thd-facts terms in of an idealsituation, Concernednot with factualjudgements but with judgements of 'what ought to be' Ethics is concernedwith judgement o f v a l u e o r ' w h a t o u g h tt o b e ; s e e k s to dele'rmine natureof the norm the ideal or standrdsand seeks to e n q u i r e i n t o t h e f i t n e s so f h u m a n actionsto this ideal

. Deals with h u m a n b e i n g so n l y as they are endowedwith freedom of choice and m e a n so f f r e e w i l l . H u n r a nb e i n g c a n d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e ng o o d a n d e v i l , r i g h t a n d w r o n g ,j u s t " a n dp r o p e i H u m a nb e i n g c a n d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n h e e n d h e w i s h e st o t p u r s u ea n d t h e m e a n st o g a i n "
that'end.

O n . . -hy m a n b e i n g d o e s t h e lu q u e s t i o n f e t h i c s , a l u e sa n d o v moral conduct o I s e t o f s y s t e m a t i c k n o w l e d g ea b o u t moral behaviou r and conduct o {science-a

field of social science

Fig. 7,4 Nature oJ Ethics

1.1 1 Sources of Ethics

No one takes a course to learn business ethics. Ethics is a natural Illarket consequence of business as few ethics experts argue. Six [)rimary sources of ethics have been identified in the American lrttsiness area by ethics scholars George and John Stever as under: (i) Genetic Inheritance In recent years, socio-biologists harre lots of evidence and :rl'guments to suggest that the evolutionary forces of natural selection lrrlltrcncethe development of traits such as cooperation and alteration llurt lie at the core of our ethical svstems. (ll) Religion The great world religions as we have seen are: . Judaism . Christianity r Islam 'l-he business people in these religions believe that their religion ;rrovldcsthern with ethlcal principles/standards, which can be applied Itt lrttsiness. The Jewish tradition anC the Christian tradition refer llrc rt:llgious ethical teaching as the 'Ten Commandments' which are lrrllt:vcd to have been divineiy revealed as the will of God.