ABSTRACT

In the introductory chapter reference has been made to the fact that when we speak of a critical approach in the study of business ethics this can be taken in a number of different ways. It can mean anything from a simple aim of reaching some normative as well as purely positive/descriptive conclusions regarding various practices of business to an in-depth critical evaluation of the role of business in society to a critical transcendental comparison of competing moral codes. The purpose of this chapter is to set out in a systematic manner these different levels at which a critique in the ethics and morality of business can be pitched. This is then intended to form a methodological framework within which the reflective essays in the rest of the volume will be developed.