Email from Prof. Ph. Dr. Stephen Hicks
To: ethically conscious students
From English:
Dear students,
Ethics is important for business because ethics is important for everything we humans do in our lives. Ethics is about good and bad, right and wrong, important and unimportant. Our economic activity revolves around producing, trading and consuming. As individual manufacturers, we must take responsibility for producing values on which our lives depend and that make life worth living. As individual traders, we must be good judges of the quality of the goods we sell and respect the people with whom we trade.
As individual consumers, we also need to be able to judge well what adds value to our lives and decide whether to enjoy the results of one's work now or to save for later, etc. In a broader sense, each person carries out their economic activity in a social context out of. And this is where ethics also play an important role: how should our social institutions - markets, non-profit organizations, governments - be built so that they promote and do not hinder individual actors in economic life?
For example, every economic activity begins with an entrepreneurial initiative, but rules can be set that either promote or block this initiative. We all need information to make business decisions, but information can either be censored or left to flow freely. As employers and employees, we all want to improve our lives and find better opportunities. And laws that hinder or encourage immigration and emigration can have a huge impact on our chances.
In all these cases and others, ethics is an integral part of our thoughts and actions. Only good ethics can guide our decisions toward building effective social institutions.
Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.
Philosophy professor
Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship
Rockford University
Illinois USA
Original text:
Dear students,
Ethics are important to economics because ethics are important to everything we humans do in life. Ethics is about good and bad, right and wrong, important and unimportant.In our economic activities, we produce, trade, and consume. As individual producers, each of us needs to take responsibility for creating the values our lives depend upon and that make life enjoyable. As individual traders, we need to exercise good judgment about the value of the goods and services we are trading and respect those with whom we trade. As individual consumers, we also need to judge well what really adds value to our lives, make good decisions about
enjoying the fruits of our laboratories now versus saving for later, and so on.
More broadly, each individual conducts his or her economic activities in a social context, and ethics is important here too: How should our social institutions – markets, non-profit organizations, governments – be established so as to enable individuals to flourish in their economy activities rather than hinder them?
For example, all economic activity begins with entrepreneurial initiative, but rules can be crafted that encourage or block entrepreneurship. We all need information to make business decisions, but information can be censored or allowed to flow. As employers and employees, we all seek to improve our lives and find better opportunities, and laws that hinder or enable
Immigration and emigration can strongly affect our ability to do so.
In all these cases and more, ethics are integral to our thoughts and actions, only good ethics can guide our decisions in designing effective social institutions.
Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship
Rockford University
Illinois, USA
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Email from Prof. Ph. Dr. Stephen Hicks To: ethically conscious students From English: Dear students, Ethics is important for business because ethics is important for everything we humans do in our lives. Ethics is about good and bad, right and wrong, important and unimportant. Our economic activity is turning
