Ethics and Social Responsibility

     Many laws seem to suggest that rules of law are moral. Yet not all legal rules have this character. Some laws forbid acts, such as murder, rape, and theft, that we regard as bad in themselves. These rules are moral. Other laws have been passed mainly because we want to have a rule, whatever it is. These rules are not moral in nature.

     Justice the general welfare, and liberty are things that we desire in themselves John Rawls who compares justice to "fairness," contends that justice is found by adopting a completely impartial state of mind. If we did so, society would be organized in a way that helps everyone, not just a lucky few.

     Although people in business cannot ignore their own interests, that does not necessarily mean that they have no moral responsibilities. In the early 1930s, Adolph A. Berle argued that the managers of a corporation hold their powers in trust for its owners-that is, the stockholders. More recently, Milton Friedman has denied that businesses have any responsibility other than earning the highest possible profit consistent with the law. '

     E. Merrick Dodd, however, holds that corporations have a responsibility to their stockholders, their employees, their customers, and the general public. Moreover, Archie Carroll insists that business has four kinds of responsibilities economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary. Carroll contends that social responsibility is an integral part of each business responsibility.

     The idea that corporations have obligations beyond the making of profit is reflected in the law. In 1919, for example, the Supreme Court of Michigan, in the case of Dodge v. Ford Motor Co., ruled that corporations can have humanitarian purposes even though they exist largely for the benefit of their stockholders. An Illinois court reached a similar conclusion at the end of the 1960s, in the case of Shlensky v. Wrigley.

     Teleological theories suggest that we must judge the morality of an ac!ion chiefly by its consequences. Utilitarianism, the most important of these theories, seeks to promote "the greatest happiness for the greatest number o people. Pluralistic utilitarianism is the doctrine that we must take the wants of humanity as we find them, whether or not we approve. John Stuart Mill, however, argue that some kinds of pleasure are more valuable than others.

     Deontological moral theories focus on the means used to achieve an end. Their proponents claim that the rightness and goodness of an action should be determined by certain rules or duties, not by its consequences. One such theorist, Immanuel Kant, believed that good conduct was conduct that could be followed by all People. He was mainly interested in the moral problems of individuals. In contrast, contract theorists such as John Locke and John Rawls devote their attention to rules for organizing society at large. Unlike utilitarians, these theorists regard those rules as absolute. Locke, whose views deeply influenced our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, saw life, liberty, and property as natural rights that are part of human nature.

     Laws may be objectionable on moral grounds. In this case, we must decide which laws we will and will not obey. This problem is addressed by theories of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience aims to change particular laws. It does not intend to subvert all law.