Corruption Ethic Paper

Questions about the ethical justification of human activity have occupied philosophers since time immemorial. Whether it was Lao-tse, Confucius, the writers of the gospels, or the Fathers of the Church like Augustine or Thomas of Aquinas: they all have comparable concepts of what is good and bad human behavior and what constitutes sensible human existence. One way or the other: no one today can claim that there are no interesting impulses for appropriate ethical reflection. However, anyone who examines the current social and environmental situation in the world is liable to be disappointed about the influence that the accumulated moral-philosophical wisdom is having in practice. Since the mid-seventies and increasingly since the beginning of the nineties, the ethical perspective has been moving more and more to the forefront of social thought. Every significant profession and institution that thinks anything of itself has its "something ethics" to proclaim - environmental ethics, media ethics, research ethics, and even corporate ethics are the consequence.

Why should this be so? Have we had a fundamental shift within our social value systems is the "worth" of ethical increased. Or is the traditional ways of life and institutions are no longer taken for granted, philosophical ethics, guided by the idea of sensible human life, seeks generally valid arguments about good and just behavior in a methodical way. If social changes were to move in the direction of higher morals, then all social groups and institutions - including business enterprises - would be faced with new demands. Economic performance alone would no longer be enough to give businesses legitimacy. Non-economic demands, e.g. the sustainable fulfillment of social and environmental responsibility in industrialized and developing countries, have increase their significance for legitimization for many years. Or does this new interest in ethical stem from a publicly perceived violation of the old...