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business ethics: right from wrong

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What are your thoughts regarding if ethics can be taught? Can we teach people right from wrong from a business ethics perspective?

Not only will you find popular thoughts on whether ethics can be taught, but you will also find out if business ethics can be taught to help others learn right from wrong in a business perspective. You may be surprised by the answer.

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The issue is an old one. Almost 2500 years ago, the philosopher Socrates debated the question with his fellow Athenians. Socrates' position was clear: Ethics consists of knowing what we ought to do, and such knowledge can be taught.

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What are your thoughts regarding if ethics can be taught?

I am an avid believer that ethics can be taught. Business ethics is taught in a majority of all colleges, even if that student's area of study is not business in any fashion, they are still taught the fundamentals of business ethics.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal announced that ethics courses are useless because ethics can't be taught. Although few people would turn to the Wall Street Journal as a learned expert on the teaching of ethics, the issue raised by the newspaper is a serious one: Can ethics be taught?

The issue is an old one. Almost 2500 years ago, the philosopher Socrates debated the question with his fellow Athenians. Socrates' position was clear: Ethics consists of knowing what we ought to do, and such knowledge can be taught.

Most psychologists today would agree with Socrates. In an overview of contemporary research in the field of moral development, psychologist James Rest summarized the major findings as follows:

Dramatic changes occur in young adults in their 20s and 30s in terms of the basic problem-solving ...

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