One of the most common – and most serious – weaknesses of codes of ethics, and indeed, most ethical theories, is that they don’t prioritize values. They’re fine for many of the simpler ethical questions, but when goods and interests conflict, when virtues and rights collide, they don’t provide a way to determine which interest, which right, is stronger. For example, it’s all very nice to say that both customers and shareholders are valued, but which is valued more? Do you opt for lower prices or greater profits? And it’s all very good to say that loyalty and honesty are among the company’s virtues. But what does an employee do when honesty seems to be a breach of loyalty? Does the employee blow the whistle or not? The code I begin to develop here is an attempt to solve that problem, an attempt to prioritize values.
First, I propose that Continue reading