Business Ethics (Philosophical)

A topic within Applied Ethics, itself one of 11 topics in that field and part of Philosophy.

Reading on Business Ethics (Philosophical)

2 works

Essay1970

The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits

Milton Friedman

Argues a corporate executive who spends shareholders' money on social causes rather than legal profit-maximisation is effectively taxing shareholders and employees without their consent, and that this is not the executive's role to do.

link checked 17 Sept 2026

Philosophy · Applied Ethics

FreeEntry

Paper1990

A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation

R. Edward Freeman & William M. Evan

Argues a corporation's managers hold their position in trust for everyone with a stake in the firm, not just shareholders, and reworks corporate purpose around balancing those competing claims rather than maximising one of them.

Philosophy · Applied Ethics

PaidIntermediate

Reading on Business Ethics (Philosophical)

The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits

A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation

Other topics in Applied Ethics