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The Ethical Roots of Business Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

David Vogel
David Vogel*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Abstract

This paper traces the historical roots of some of our current preoccupations with the ethics of business. Its central argument is that many of the contemporary criteria that we use to evaluate the ethics of business are not new; rather, they date back several centuries. This paper illustrates this thesis by comparing historical and contemporary discussions of three sets of issues: the relationship between ethics and profits, the relationship between private gain and the public good and the tension between the results of capitalism and the intentions of businessmen.

The fact that these tensions are inherent in the nature of capitalism, if not in human nature itself, does not make our contemporary concerns or standards any less valid. On the contrary, it underlies their significance. Contemporary discussions of business ethics constitute part of an ongoing moral dialogue with both deep secular and religious roots.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , January 1991 , pp. 101 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1991

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References

Notes

An earlier version of this article has appeared in The Public Interest, Winter 1991.

1 The most important exception to this generalization is Drucker, Peter, “What is ‘Business Ethics’”? The Public Interest, Spring, 1981, pp. 18–37.Google Scholar Unfortunately, virtually the only occasion when this article is cited is when someone wishes to criticize it.

2 This omission is particularly striking in Etzioni, Amitai, The Moral Dimension, New York: Free Press, 1988.Google Scholar

3 One notable exception is Engelbourg, Saul, Power and Morality; American Business Ethics, 1840–1914, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1980.Google Scholar

4 See for example, Klein, Maury, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1986.Google Scholar For a fascinating history of American business values, which includes material both sympathetic to and critical of business, see Baida, Peter, Poor Richard's Legacy, American Business Values from Benjamin Franklin to Donald Trump, New York: William Morrow and Company, 1990.Google Scholar

5 Quoted in Marshall, Gordon, In Search of the Spirit of Capitalism, New York: Columbia University Press, 1982, p. 34.Google Scholar

6 Heilbroner, Robert, The Making of Economic Society, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1962, p. 39.Google Scholar

7 Quoted in Blumberg, Paul, The Predatory Society, New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, p. 05–06.Google Scholar

8 Ibid, p. 104.

9 Kristol, Irving, Two Cheers for Capitalism, New York: Basic Books, 1978, p. 261.Google Scholar

10 Kristol, op. cit., p. 261.

11 Quoted in Jay Gould, p. 1.

12 See Vogel, David, “Ethics and Profits Don't Always Go Hand in Hand,” Los Angeles Times, December 28, 1988, Part II, p. 7.Google Scholar

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 See for example, McGuire, Jean, Sundgren, Alison and Scheenweis, Thomas, “Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Financial Performance,” Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 854–71.Google Scholar

16 See for example, Reich, Robert, The Resurgent Liberal, New York: Times Books, 1989, chapter 2.Google Scholar

17 Stephen, S. Cohen and Zysman, John, Manufacturing Matters; The Myth of the Post-Industrial Economy, New York: Basic Books, 1987.Google Scholar

18 Smith, Adam, An Inquiry into the nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, New York: Modern Library, 1937, p. 14.Google Scholar

19 A similar point is made in Schumpeter, Joseph, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, New York: Harper and Row, 1950.Google Scholar

20 Hirschman, Albert, The Passions and the Interests, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977.Google Scholar

21 Ibid, p. 73.

22 Ibid., p. 58.

23 Ibid, p. 134.

24 Bruck, Connie, The Predators Ball, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.Google Scholar

25 Glider, George, Wealth and Poverty, New York: Basic Books, 1981.Google Scholar

26 Novak, Michael, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982, p. 93.Google Scholar

27 Ibid, p. 94.