The Philosophical Background of Business Ethics

THE PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND
OF BUSINESS ETHICS
“Without moral perception, man is only an
animal. Without morality, man as a rational
being is a failure.”
INTRODUCTION
Business Ethics as an applied branch of General
Ethics must be studied from the perspective of
philosophy. This is because ethics is part of
philosophy, and it is unthinkable to discuss
ethical concepts and moral principles without
being philosophical. Secondly, the process of
moral reasoning involves the use of metaphysical
terminologies and concepts that is best
understood only in the light of philosophical
abstractions.
OBJECTIVES
1. Compare and contrast ethics and philosophy
2. Evaluate the nature of the human act from
the ethical perspective
3. Analyze critically the various approaches of
evaluating the morality of the human
conduct
4. Understand man’s nature as a moral being
5. Differentiate ethics from morality
ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy, etymologically, came from two
Greek words “philos,” which means love, and
“sophia,” which means wisdom.
Philosophy means “love of wisdom.” Ancient
tradition tell us that the early Greek thinkers
called themselves “wise men,” and that out of
humility Phytagoras (570-490 B.C.E) wanted to
call himself simply a “lover of wisdom”. Hence a
philosopher is one who literally loves wisdom.
OTHER DEFINITIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
1. Philosophy, according to Plato, is the highest
form of inquiry.
2. For William James, philosophy is a collective
name for questions that have not been
answered to the satisfaction of the one asking
the questions.
3. For some, philosophy is the world view of the
person or the person’s philosophic view of the
universe or reality in relation to the purpose of
actions and events.
OTHER DEFINITIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
4. For others, philosophy is a conceptual
analysis or thinking about thinking or simply
reflecting on the contents of our thoughts.
5. Still for others, philosophy is primarily
concerned with finding the meaning and worth
of reality including our human experiences
6. Philosophy is also defined as the science that
studies the ultimate causes or explanation of
thing attained by the use of human reason
alone.
DIVISIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
THEORITICAL PRACTICAL
COSMOLOGY
ONTOLOGY SEMANTICS
METAPHYSICS AXIOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY AESTHETICS
THEODICY LOGIC
EPISTEMOLOGY ETHICS
DIVISIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
• Theoretical or Speculative Philosophy-
studies the truth to be known, e.g., God,
immortality of the soul, origin of the
universe, among others.
• Practical Philosophy- studies truths to be

acted upon, e.g., ethics, axiology, semantics,
and the like.
Under the Theoretical or Speculative
Philosophy are the following:
a. Cosmology
Cosmology is a subject that studies the origin
and destiny of the universe, evolution and the
ultimate fate of the entire universe.’
b. Ontology
Ontology deals with the nature of existence
of things and the status of reality. The word
“onta” is Greek word which means “being.”
c. Metaphysics
Metaphysics came from the Greek words-
meta (beyond) and physikon (nature).
d. Psychology
Psychology for the Greeks was basically a
study about the nature of the soul of the person
and other entities. The word Psychology which
came from the Greek words- psyche meaning
soul and logos meaning science or study
e. Theodicy
Theodicy is also known as Rational Theology
Etymologically, Theodicy came from the Greek
words- theos meaning God and dike meaning
justice.
f. Epistemology
Epistemology comes from the word
episteme meaning knowledge. It is a branch of
philosophy that addresses the philosophical
problems surrounding the theory of knowledge.
Under the Practical Philosophy are the
following:
a. Semantics
Semantics came from the Greek words sema
meaning sign or mark and semantikos meaning
significant. Studies the meaning of words and
its linguistics forms, their functions and their
relationship to other words.
b. Axiology
Axiology is from the Greek words axios
meaning worthy, and logos, meaning discourse
or study. Study of the Philosophy or system of
value judgments or worthiness.
following:
c. Aesthetics
Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that
aims to establish the general principles of art
and beauty. It is the study of beauty and art.
d. Logic
Logic deals with the nature of thinking and
reasoning using empirical support to establish
the truth
following:
e. Ethics
The term Ethics is derived from the Greek
word ethos which means “characteristics way of
acting.”
The goal of ethics as a science is to investigate
the nature of human act or human conduct.
Ethics is a philosophical science that studies the

morality of human acts.
Ethics and Morality
The terms ethics and morality are often used
interchangeably.
Morality refers to the quality of goodness or

badness in a human act. Good is described as
moral and bad as immoral. It means conformity
to the rules of right conduct. For this reason,
Ethics is also often called moral philosophy.
Ethics and Morality
Ethics on the other hand, involves the study of
those standards and judgments which people
create.
Ethics basically investigates the nature or moral
principles, ethical systems and moral norms that
people use to justify their moral judgments.
Thus, according to Babor (2004), morality is

nothing else but a doing of ethics.

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THE PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND

• Practical Philosophy- studies truths to be

Ethics is a philosophical science that studies the

Morality refers to the quality of goodness or

Thus, according to Babor (2004), morality is

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