Darwin and Ethics : Using Natural Selection to Understand Ethical Business and Organizational Behavior

2000

The origins of ethics and morality have been considered for many, many years. From ancient Greek metaphysicians to the great theologians of the Middle Ages to modern philosophers, different systematic frameworks have been developed to understand how and why ethics are formed. These frameworks provide people and organizations with guidance about how to act toward other humans and institutions in their environment. Steiner and Steiner (1991) discuss six different primary sources for understanding the development of ethics: religious, philosophical, cultural, legal, codes of conduct, and genetics (see Table). Of these six systems, the genetic framework is clearly the least developed, least exp…