 Providing Clear DefinitionsWayne Eastman ()
A chapter in Lectures on Business Ethics, Political Ethics, and Reputational Ethics, 2026, pp 29-54 from Springer Abstract: Abstract In the definition of the field advanced in this lecture, business ethics is a method that is used consciously and unconsciously by actors to reflect on the moral permissibility of their actions and inactions. Under the first and main part of the definition, an action or inaction must be permissible for at least one of four key ethical identities: rule-oriented (or ethically conservative) principal; creativity-oriented (or ethically liberal) principal; rule-oriented agent; creativity-oriented agent. Under the second part, the identity under which the action is permissible must be communicated explicitly or implicitly. Under the final part, the choice of identity in a case must be in a relationship of integrity to the overall character of the actor. In the body of the lecture and in the endnotes and appendices, I will compare the definitions of business ethics here to other definitions that have been advanced by scholars in the field, businesspeople, economists, philosophers, and religious prophets. Additionally, I will build on the case of my own self-interested rule violation, introduced in the first lecture, to analyze important differences between the ethics of principals and those of agents. Date: 2026 There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-032-13618-3_2 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-13618-3_2 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Springer Books from Springer |
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