Ethics in Corporate America

Ethics in Corporate America

In the past ten years ethics in corporate America has been a prominent topic in our news media. With the increasing awareness of corporate corruption I think it is time to bring ethics to the forefront of our nation through discussion and education. Through discussion and exploration I think we can educate ourselves and possibly discover what causes people to violate ethical values in our society. I think education is the key to teaching our young population that morality, even in business, is essential. In order to do this, we first need to explore and understand what causes people to violate the ethical standards of today’s business world.

Some philosophers, like Michael Ruse, “maintain that our most basic ethical impulses are shaped by our evolutionally history” (cited in Waller, 2008, p. 166). In other words, humanity was originally born in a naturally wild state. Early in human history people lived in a state of nature, similar to the life of wild animals. “With no laws and no powerful authorities to enforce the laws . . . our natural greed and aggressiveness resulted in constant conflict” (cited in Waller, 2008, p. 186). As Thomas Hobbes “describes it, life in a state of nature is a “war of all against all” and in the state of nature life is nasty, brutish, and short” (cited in Waller, 2008, p. 70). Over time humanity has evolved into a higher level of ethical and moral standards; a culture who shares a common sense of community. There will always be people, who are just bad, and sometimes good people do bad things, but essentially I think we are a moral and social people. Today, most people follow the “golden rule” and believe that it is right to treat people the way they would want to be treated.

The golden rule is indirectly taught to children at a young age. In a social environment we are encouraged to share our toys, to respect each other and authority. We learn to follow the rules and to treat others as you would want to...