Why Should One Be Ethical?

 There is already something odd about this question.  It is like asking, “Why are bachelors 

unmarried?”  They are unmarried by definition.  If they were married, they would not be 

bachelors.  It is the same with ethics.  To say that one  should do something is another way of 

saying it is ethical.  If it is not ethical, then one should not do it.   

 Perhaps when business people ask why they should be ethical, they have a different 

question in mind: what is the motivation for being good?  Is their something in it for them? 

It is perfectly all right to ask if there is a reward for being good, but this has nothing to do 

with whether one should be good.  It makes no sense to try convince people that they should be 

good by pointing to the rewards that may follow.  One should be good because “good” is, by 

definition, that which one should be.  

 As for motivation, good behavior often brings a reward, but not every time.  Think about 

it.  If it were always in one’s interest to be good, there would be no need for ethics.  We could 

simply act selfishly and forget about obligation.  People invented ethics precisely because it does 

not always coincide with self interest.