Abstract

This article explores how Applied Ethics, especially Business Ethics, is taught at the University of South Africa (Unisa). This discussion refers to the content of a particular Unisa module, Theoretical and Applied Ethics, which serves as an introduction to Bio-medical Ethics, Business Ethics and Environmental Ethics. The fundamentals of this course are: defining ethics; providing methods for moral decision-making; describing the role of ethics in a particular field and addressing common dilemmas in a specific context. The intention is to empower students to identify issues they are likely to face in the workplace, and to grow in confidence in their ability to make sound moral decisions when required to do so. The aim of this article is to contribute to the ongoing discussion between tertiary institutions about how the teaching of Business Ethics can be promoted, how moral decision-making in the workplace can be encouraged and what role theological ethics can play in this regard.

Highlights

  • The collective term Applied Ethics usually refers to the perceived need to integrate theoretical and practical ethics (Beauchamp et al 2014:1–35; Rossouw & Van Vuuren 2010:3–10, 99–137)

  • This article notes the wider context in which Applied and especially Business Ethics is taught elsewhere in the world and in South Africa. It outlines the key features of the Theoretical and Applied Ethics module currently in use at Unisa

  • It argues that teaching Business Ethics introduces students to some of the main features of what constitutes a moral life and a professional ethic

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Summary

Introduction

The collective term Applied Ethics usually refers to the perceived need to integrate theoretical and practical ethics (Beauchamp et al 2014:1–35; Rossouw & Van Vuuren 2010:3–10, 99–137). As noted below when the Describe-Evaluate-Consult-and-Act (DECA) method is discussed, ethical decision-making should not be understood as a top-down process of applying ethical theory to moral problems in business. This conviction is based on the importance of theological praxis (the mutual interplay between theoretical formulation and practical experience) and is borne out by our experience of teaching ethics in tertiary educational institutions (Groome 1980:135–206). Once ethical theory and values are applied to real-life issues, resulting in decisions and actions, a bottom-up evaluation of this ethical theorising is necessary This evaluation includes individual moral convictions, communal insights and the lessons of moral experience and action. This threefold emphasis is sometimes referred to as profit, people and planet

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