Applied Business Ethics

Lewis Vaughn is an independent scholar writing textbooks in philosophy, ethics, and critical thinking for over 30 years. He is the author or coauthor of more than 20 books, including Bioethics, Sixth Edition (2025), Philosophy: Here and Now, Fifth Edition (2025), The Power of Critical Thinking, Eighth Edition (2024), Living Philosophy, Fourth Edition (2023), and Contemporary Moral Arguments, SecondEdition (2013 all published by Oxford University Press.

Applied Business Ethics is an excellent textbook for an introduction to business ethics class. The overall organization is logical and maps well with how I would organize my course. I found the "Cases for Evaluation" particularly valuable as they are both thought-provoking and help students apply what they have learned."- John Dryden, Jr., Elizabethtown Community and Technical College

• Preface PART 1: PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES Chapter 1: Moral Reasoning in Business 1.1 Ethics and the Moral life Normative Dominance Universality Impartiality Reasonableness Thinking Point: What's Wrong with Ethical Egoism? 1.2 Morality and the Law 1.3 Objective Morality In Depth: Cultural Moral Relativism and Women's Rights Thinking Point: Where Do Moral Standards Come From? 1.4 Emotivism 1.5 Morality and Religion Review Notes 1.6 Moral Arguments Argument Fundamentals Patterns of Moral Arguments Review Notes Evaluating Premises Assessing Moral Arguments 1.7 Obstacles to Critical Reasoning Self-Centered Thinking Denying Contrary Evidence Looking for Confirming Evidence Motivated Reasoning Preferring Available Evidence The Dunning-Kruger Effect 1.8 Common Fallacies in Moral Reasoning Straw Man Appeal to the Person Appeal to Ignorance Begging the Question Slippery Slope Appeal to Authority Faulty Analogy Hasty Generalization 1.9 Arguing about Moral Issues Key Terms Exercises Review Questions Argument Exercises Chapter 2: Making Moral Decisions 2.1 Moral Reasoning and Moral Theories 2.2 Influential Moral Theories Utilitarianism Kantian Ethics Virtue Ethics Natural Law Theory Feminist Ethics In Depth: Feminist Ethics in History 2.3 Moral Principles in Business Respect Justice Beneficence Review Notes 2.4 Framework for Moral Decision-Making Step 1. Determine what prima facie principles apply. Step 2. Weigh and balance the principles. Step 3. Choose the right option. In Depth: Rules and Codes 2.5 Resolving cases Case A: Maximizing Profits, Hurting Patients? Case B: What to Do about an Unsafe Product? Case C: A Wayward Coworker Key Terms Exercises Cases for Evaluation 2.1 Fired for Free Speech? 2.2 Stealing from an Employer 2.3 Working Off the Clock 2.4 High-Pressure Sales Tactics 2.5 Not Welcome at Starbucks 2.6 Facebook and Fake News 2.7 Copyright Ethics 2.8 Trimming Data PART 2: CAPITALISM AND CORPORATIONS Chapter 3: Capitalism and Economic Justice 3.1 Theories of Justice Libertarianism Utilitarianism Egalitarianism Rawls' Contract Theory 3.2 Shades of Capitalism In Depth: Conscious Capitalism Thinking Point: Is the United States a Socialist Country? 3.3 For and Against Capitalism Review Notes In Depth: Capitalism and Non-Compete Agreements Review Notes Key Terms Exercises Cases for Evaluation 3.1 Surveillance Capitalism 3.2 Global Corporations and Tragedy at Rana Plaza 3.3 The Power of Monopolies 3.4 Truth or Profit 3.5 Stealing Technology Chapter 4: Corporate Rights and Responsibilities 4.1 The Nature of Corporations4.2 Shareholder TheoryIn Depth: Corporations and Their Stakeholders4.3 Stakeholder TheoryIn Depth: Millennials and Socially Responsible BusinessKey TermsExercisesCases for Evaluation 4.1 Facebook, Hate Speech, and Violence 4.2 Big Oil and the Ethics of Climate Change 4.3 Merck against River Blindness 4.4 CVS Stops Selling Cigarettes 4.5 Luckin Coffee and Unethical Culture PART 3: DUTIES OF EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYERS Chapter 5: Employee Rights and Responsibilities 5.1 Limits on Employee Rights In Depth: Job-Security Rights in Europe 5.2 Free Speech at Work In Depth: Constitutional Limits on Free Speech 5.3 Privacy Rights 5.4 Sexual Harassment In Depth: How to Deal with Harassment Key Terms Exercises Cases for Evaluation 5.1 The Era of Robot Surveillance 5.2 Fired for Political Facebook Posts 5.3 Punished for Criticizing the Boss 5.4 Losing a Job for Using Marijuana 5.5 Remote Sexual Harassment 5.6 #MeToo Backlash 5.7 Punishing Employees for Having Affairs Chapter 6: Justice in Hiring, Paying, and Promoting 6.1 Job Discrimination In Depth: Some Recent EEOC Discrimination Cases In Depth: Implicit Bias in the Workplace 6.2 Affirmative Action In Depth: Advantages and Disadvantages of Workplace Diversity Review Notes In Depth: Shades of Racism Thinking Point: Equal Opportunities? 6.3 Pay and Promotions In Depth: Seniority Pros and Cons 6.4 Comparable Worth In Depth: Big Companies Achieving Gender Pay Equity 6.5 Executive Compensation Key Terms Exercises Cases for Evaluation 6.1 Google Settles Gender Discrimination Suit 6.2 Discrimination against Pregnant and Disabled Workers 6.3 Disparate Impact through Word-of-Mouth 6.4 Clawing Back Executive Pay 6.5 Appearance Discrimination 6.6 The American Dream and a Living Wage 6.7 Would You Favor Preferential Hiring? 6.8 Name Discrimination 6.9 Sex Discrimination through Testing 6.10 Fired for Having a Panic Attack Chapter 7: Working Conditions: Employer Obligations 7.1 Workplace Health and Safety In Depth: Moral Stress and Moral Injury 7.2 Child Care and Family Leave In Depth: Emotional Labor In Depth: Options in Employer-Supported Child Care 7.3 Health Care Thinking Point: Is the U.S. Health Care System Broken? Key Terms Exercises Cases for Evaluation 7.1 Moral Injury 7.2 Emotional Labor 7.3 Fairness in Providing Health Care PART 4: DUTIES TO CONSUMERS Chapter 8: Product Safety and Liability 8.1 Product Liability In Depth: Product Liability Claims 8.2 Legal Paternalism Thinking Point: How Much Is One Life Worth? 8.3 Tobacco: Extreme Product Liability In Depth: The Harm Principle and Secondhand Smoke Key Terms Exercises Cases for Evaluation 8.1 Galaxy Note 7 Catches Fire - and Not in a Good Way 8.2 Who Is Liable When a Self-Driving Care Crashes? 8.3 The Ford Pinto Case 8.4 McDonald's Hot Coffee Case 8.5 Product Liability and Social Media 8.6 Uvalde Families Sue 'Call of Duty' and Meta 8.7 Lawsuits Say Lemonade Caused Death and Injury 8.8 Protecting Gun Manufacturers from Lawsuits 8.9 Suing Oil Companies for Climate Change Damages Chapter 9: Marketing and Advertising 9.1 Dimensions of Marketing Ethics In Depth: Price Gouging Pro and Con 9.2 Advertising Right and Wrong In Depth: Targeting Children with 'Blurred Advertising' Misleading comparisons Weasel Words Withholding Information Fallacies Thinking Point: Are Doctors Experts? 9.3 What Hath Advertising Wrought? Key Terms Exercises Cases for Evaluation 9.1 Price Fixing Using Technology 9.2 Epic Games Accused of Duping Millions of Players 9.3 Kellogg's Mini-Wheats Can Make Children Smarter? 9.4 Penis Enlargement Pill Extenze Sue for False Advertising 9.5 Advertising through Influencers 9.6 American Consumers and Modern Slavery 9.7 Price Gouging During the Pandemic 9.8 Volkswagen Deceived Consumers with "Clean Diesel" 9.9 Beauty and Social Media Filters 9.10 When Marketers Pay for (Positive) Online Reviews 9.11 Marketing Unproven Treatments PART 5: GLOBAL MATTERS Chapter 10: International Business Ethics 10.1 Moral Standards and Cultural Differences 10.2 Business and Human Rights In Depth: Bad Grades on Human Rights 10.3 Sweatshops In Depth: Levi Strauss's Social Impact In Depth: The UN's Global Compact 10.4 Child Labor In Depth: IKEA and Child Labor Key Terms Exercises Cases for Evaluation 10.1 Profits or Child Safety? 10.2 U.S. Companies and Censorship in China 10.3 When Local Culture Clashes with Corporate Culture 10.4 Agricultural Child Labor in the U.S. 10.5 Nike and Its Labor Problems 10.6 Walmart's Bribery Scandal Appendix Glossary Index