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Abstract. Several popular arguments against teaching business ethics are examined: (a) the ethical duty of business people is to maximize profit within the law, whence the irrelevance of ethics courses (the Milton Friedman argument); (b) business people respond to economic and legal incentives, not to ethical sentiments, which means that teaching ethics will have no effect; (c) one cannot study ethics in any meaningful sense anyway, because it is a matter of personal preference and is unsusceptible to rational treatment; (d) moral character is formed in early childhood, not while sitting in ethics class; and (e) business students see no motivation to study ethics and will not take it seriously. The mistakes and confusion that underlie these arguments are exposed.
Keywords: teaching business ethics, moral development, economic incentives, fiduciary duty.
1. Introduction
The case for business ethics education is many-faceted, evolving, and difficult to summarize. A central mission of the present journal is to contribute to its development. But the case against teaching business ethics, or at least one that seems to be in wide circulation, yields to a simple characterization: it is utterly unconvincing. It rests on layers of mistakes and confusion. Perhaps it is fitting, in the inaugural issue of a journal dedicated to business ethics education, to root out some of these mistakes and expose them to the light of day.
Popular arguments against business ethics instruction might be organized as follows:
* The Milton Friedman argument. The ethical duty of business people is to maximize profit. This means they should study marketing, finance, and operations and should not waste time studying ethics.
* The argument from incentives. Even if there are duties beyond profit maximization, the only practical way to encourage ethical behavior is to install financial and legal incentives. Business people respond to these, not ethics lectures.
* The gut feeling argument. One cannot study ethics in any meaningful sense anyway, since it is something you feel, not something you think about.
* The moral development argument. Moral character is formed in early childhood, not while sitting in ethics class. By the time students enter business school, it is too late to change.
* The motivational argument. Even if there is reason to study ethics, business students see...