ABSTRACT
In 1956 the first edition of Samuel Noah Kramer's bestselling History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-nine Firsts in Recorded History appeared, a good place if any to look for the origins of business ethics. It is perhaps not customary to think of hours of work as particularly important in business ethics, but how many hours someone works has long been a key concern in commercial circles. If business ethics is centrally concerned with "moral reasoning aimed at supporting managers' ethical obligations", then issues such as work ethic remain central to its understanding. The environmental movement has a past that reaches back into the nineteenth century, but the appearance of marine biologist Rachel Carson's Silent Spring became a rallying point for a new generation of critics of business behavior. The key historical development in business ethics is its establishment as a field of study in university education.
