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Ancient Observations on Business Ethics: Middle East Meets West

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Abstract

Drawing on a small sample of writings from distinguished philosophers and poets living in the Middle East in the period from the eighth to the first century BCE, it is shown that a variety of business practices provided familiar examples of how people ought to act and live, morally speaking, to enjoy the best sort of life and to be the best sort of person. The writings reveal that we share a common heritage and humanity with people living 20 to 28 hundred years ago, and that some of the observations are as important and useful today as they were when they were originally made.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, V2N 4Z9

    Alex C. Michalos

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  1. Alex C. Michalos
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Correspondence to Alex C. Michalos.

Additional information

Paper written for Keynote Address at the World Business Ethics Forum: Does East meet West? held at Hong Kong Baptist University and University of Macau, 1–3 November 2006. I would like to thank Deborah Poff for helping me improve the discussion in several ways.

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Michalos, A.C. Ancient Observations on Business Ethics: Middle East Meets West. J Bus Ethics 79, 9–19 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9386-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9386-4

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