Publication Details

Abstract

The paper focuses on questions such as "What is business ethics?", "Business ethics: its status, nature and subject", "The essential problems of business ethics and its practical effectivness". It is the status of business ethics, which makes it an applied ethics, while its nature makes it a normative science. The basic question is, how to span the antagonism between an action motivated by selfinterest on one hand and an action concerned with the interests and needs of the others on the other hand. The author argues, that it is ilegitimate to separate the pursue of one's own interest from the commitment to the fulfilment of the others' needs. In her view the business ethics should be built on two presuppositions: 1. no particular individuals or groups should be priviledged in their interests (i. e. all the market agents should be offered an opportunity of competition and prosperity, 2. the enforcement of competitive interests should not break anyone's rights.