The core of business ethics

• Date: 01 December 2020
• Author: John Hasnas
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12218
• Published date: 01 December 2020

Bus Soc Rev. 2020;125:375–385.

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wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/basr

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A TELEOLOGICAL APPROACH TO BUSINESS ETHICS

Whether corporations have an obligation to devote some of their resources to socially beneficial ac-

tivities is an interesting ethical question. But it is not the essence of business ethics. The fact that so

many business school ethics courses are structured as though it is—are listed as courses in corporate

social responsibility (CSR)1—makes business ethics a strange outlier among the fields of professional

ethics. For example, how many hours law firms should devote to pro bono legal representation is an

interesting ethical question, but legal ethics courses are not courses in law firm social responsibility.

Similarly, how many resources hospitals should devote to providing health care to the poor or unin-

sured is an interesting ethical question, but medical ethics courses are not courses in hospital social

responsibility.

The field of legal ethics explores the ethical responsibilities one takes on when functioning in his

or her professional role as an attorney. The field of medical ethics explores the ethical responsibilities

Received: 9 November 2020

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Accepted: 30 November 2020

DOI: 10.1111/basr.12218

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The core of business ethics

JohnHasnas

© 2020 W. Michael Hoffman Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University.

McDonough School of Business,

Georgetown University, Washington, DC,

USA

Correspondence

John Hasnas, McDonough School

of Business, Georgetown University,

Washington, DC, USA.

Email: hasnasj@georgetown.edu

Abstract

Much of the focus on business ethics literature is on com-

plex questions of corporate social responsibility. Yet, the

heart of business ethics consists in a set of fundamental

moral principles that are inherent in the activity of doing

business in a market. These principles transcend differ-

ences in nationality, culture, and religion and supply the

building blocks on which the more complex analyses can

be based. This set of principles, which constitute the core

of business ethics, provides business people with a code

of conduct that is the analog of attorneys’ Canon of Ethics

and physicians’ Code of Medical Ethics.

KEYWORDS

business ethics, business and society, corporate social responsibility

(CSR)