AN EXAMINATION OF THE INTEREDEPENDENCE OF ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY: WHY SUSTAINABILITY IS THE ETHICAL CHOICE.

Sustainability and ethics are two popular topics in organization and business studies, as well as in other social sciences. The meanings of sustainability and ethics, and related relevant decisions and implications vary greatly depending on the context and discipline. However there is an intuitive notion that sustainability and ethics are interdependent. Sustainability implies that the system, activity or resource is able to stay as it is or grow and develop without undesired changes or depletion. In this paper I will argue that any basis for ethical decision making must be one that has sustainability as one of its main explicit concerns or implicit outcomes. Using the 'tragedy of the commons' as an exemplar, I will examine several ethical philosophies, perspectives or frameworks, such as utilitarianism, rights and justice, and explore their relationship with the basic ideas of sustainability. The conclusion is that one ultimate purpose of business ethics is to 'protect the commons', in other words businesses must establish and maintain sustainable practices. The implications of such a stance, the difficulties in defining the relevant 'commons' and determining what needs to be sustained will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]