Joseph Heath
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199990481
- eISBN:
- 9780190267704
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199990481.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter discusses the counterintuitive aspect of business ethics as people find it dissipated as to be bereft of normative authority. It first borrows the idea of first, second, and third best ...
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This chapter discusses the counterintuitive aspect of business ethics as people find it dissipated as to be bereft of normative authority. It first borrows the idea of first, second, and third best normative theory principles from Richard Lipsey and Kevin Lancaster's article “The General Theory of Second Best” where they overturned the assumptions that, when a first-best outcome is unobtainable, the best course of action will be to approximate the conditions required to bring about that outcome. It then clarifies the distinction between ideal and non-ideal theory, and looks into how business ethics is structured by the norms of market economy, which is governed by a set of third-best normative principles where business ethics winds up being so far removed from “the best” giving the impression of being unethical. It also considers business ethics being exercised under non-ideal theory, where individuals fail to do what is morally required of them.Less
This chapter discusses the counterintuitive aspect of business ethics as people find it dissipated as to be bereft of normative authority. It first borrows the idea of first, second, and third best normative theory principles from Richard Lipsey and Kevin Lancaster's article “The General Theory of Second Best” where they overturned the assumptions that, when a first-best outcome is unobtainable, the best course of action will be to approximate the conditions required to bring about that outcome. It then clarifies the distinction between ideal and non-ideal theory, and looks into how business ethics is structured by the norms of market economy, which is governed by a set of third-best normative principles where business ethics winds up being so far removed from “the best” giving the impression of being unethical. It also considers business ethics being exercised under non-ideal theory, where individuals fail to do what is morally required of them.
