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Business ethics has been subjected to fierce and systematic criticism ever since its inception (van Luijk, 2011), leading to the development of a critical discourse of business ethics. Various problems with business ethics have been exposed by the critics, pertaining both to the academic discipline and to the management practice of business ethics (Jones, Parker and Ten Bos, 2005; Painter-Morland, 2008; Woermann, 2013). Critics have, for instance, claimed that business ethics has content related problems in that it is devoid of philosophy (Woermann, 2013). It has also been asserted that business ethics has sincerity problems in that business ethics only functions to support rather than to criticise doing business in a capitalist market (Jones et al., 2005; Bevan, 2008) and finally, it has been argued that business ethics amounts to a contradiction in terms because the principles of business are incommensurable to the principles of ethics (Parker, 1998).

In this critical discourse, the problems with business ethics are often depicted specifically as problems of business ethics. As of yet, the arguments that have been raised in the critical discourse of business ethics have not been systematically dealt with. It is therefore not clear whether the problems with business ethics indeed are specific problems of business ethics and this will be used as the main research question to guide the analysis that is conducted within the context of this (PhD) study. The purpose of the study is to gain more understanding of the problems that have been raised in relation to business ethics and, more importantly, of the phenomenon of business ethics itself.

Dilemma:

How can we make a philosophical study, such as the present study, more relevant for educators and students in higher education institutes (HEI’s)?

Bevan, D. (2008) ‘Continental philosophy: A Grounded Theory Approach and the emergence of Convenient and Inconvenient Ethics’ in Painter-Morland, M., Werhane, P. (eds.) Cutting-Edge Issues in Business Ethics: Continental Challenges to Tradition and Practice, Dordrecht: Springer, 131 – 154.

Jones, C., Parker, M, & ten Bos, R. (2005) For Business Ethics. Oxon: Routledge.

Luijk, van, H. (2011) ‘Business Ethics: Cases, Codes and Institutions’ in Dubbink, W., Liedekerke, van, L. & Luijk, van, H. (eds.) European Business Ethics Cases in Context. Dordrecht: Springer, 3 – 10.

Painter-Morland, M. (2008) Business Ethics as Practice: Ethics as the Everyday Business of Business. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Parker, M. (ed.) (1998) Ethics & Organizations. London: Sage, 282 – 296.

Woermann, M. (2013) On the (Im)possibility of Business Ethics: Critical Complexity, Deconstruction and Implications for Understanding the Ethics of Business. Dordrecht: Springer