EFFECT OF ETHICS AND BUSINESS: A STUDY OF HOBBES AND JOHN LOCKE’S THEORY

Abstract

The field of ethics (or Morality Philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into three general subject areas: meta-ethics, normative, and applied ethics. The meta-ethics theory is descriptive; conceptual is applied while normative is prescriptive. However, this paper is mostly concerned with business ethics which is also known as corporate ethics, this is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It is therefore very common according to Ochulor, Chinenye, Odumayak, Okpo (2010) to hear people say that ethics is of little concern to business minded people. It is believed that business is business. This paper however, attempts to examine the relationship between business and ethics, in the light of Hobbes and John Locke’s moral philosophy. In the light of Hobbes morality and ethics philosophy, Thomas Hobbes was the first great figure in modern philosophy. His main grounding in philosophy was on the basis of materialism, believing that everything that happens is a result of the physical world and that the soul, as previous philosophers discussed it, does not exist. One must then, at this point consider what Hobbes’ outlook was on the topic of values. Hobbes contention was that the concept of good and evil are related to human desire and aversion. In other words, what an individual desires he perceives to be good and what that individual harbors an aversion to must be bad. This philosophy of values, Hobbes explained, is due to an attitude of self preservation and protection. (Keith Crabtree, 2002). The only way to achieve this peaceful society, Hobbes explained, was for all members of a society to unconditionally transfer all of their ability and will to defend themselves to a sovereign power under a form of social contract. With this social contract established, the sovereign power would accept the responsibility for mediating all disputes concerning the society, both internal and external. Should any member of that society violate an agreement with another member of that society, that individual would be guilty of violating their unconditional agreement to support the social contract, which would then render them unjust and subject to punishment.