Citing American’s ignorance about the history of the field of business ethics and the work of business ethicists in contrast to the attention paid to the ethics of business, Abend gives himself
two tasks in The Moral Background, first, to offer a conceptual framework for the scientific investigation of morality, and, second, to then use this framework as a prism in the study of the
history of the work of business ethicists in the U.S., in particular, between the mid-nineteenth century and the 30s of the twentieth century—the first task being empirical/historical and the
second conceptual/theoretical. He identifies two types of moral background—Standards of Practice and Christian Merchant. There are seven chapters: the moral background; ethics as a business
proposition; Christian motives; the good of American business; the principles of business conduct; the good of American society; standards of practice; the Christian merchant. Annotation ©2014
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