The Business Ethic

From The Land Ethic, by Aldo Leopold (1949), in which he suggests that having ‘land’ not only should entail privileges but also obligations (meaning: don’t pollute or exhaust it):

An ethic, philosophically, is a differentiation of social from anti-social conduct. An ethic, ecologically, is a limitation on freedom of action in the struggle for existence. These are two definitions of one thing.

Leopold states the basic principle of his land ethic as:

A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.

Should there also something like A Business Ethic that states that ‘engaging in business’ should not only should entail privileges but also obligations? Ergo, ‘an ethic, commercially’, would be is a differentiation of social from anti-social company conduct, and a thing is ‘right’ when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of both the biotic community and society.

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