Linda asked:

How can my moral philosophy influence my business decisions?

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That's a bit hard to answer when I don't know what your moral philosophy is, if you're looking for
something specific. In addition, your question is confusing. I mean, if your moral philosophy tells you
not to lie, to cheat, to steal, for example, then doesn't that influence your business decisions in rather
obvious ways? Or, alternatively, if your moral philosophy did let you lie, cheat, or steal, then wouldn't
your business dealings be radically different than the former alternative? So just what are you asking?
Perhaps you are asking something like this: if your moral philosophy tells you that it is better not to lie,
then how can you judge when it is the case that it is better, or that it is the case that you can lie to
avoid a greater immorality. Is that it? You're asking how to make moral judgments, right? Because
otherwise your question is pretty trivial, as you can see.

But that jumps the question into a realm which no one has been able to settle, as far as specifics go;
I'm not going to give you any specific examples. But I'll answer your question in general terms. First,
you might look at the writings of Singer: there's a philosopher who's not afraid to make judgments,
whatever you may think of them. Actually, whether or not I agree with him, I greatly admire him. Why?
Because he's doing something that requires great courage, and that most people avoid doing: he's
attempting to use his philosophy to make real-world judgments. Make them, justify them, and stick
with them, and, as far as I know, he's open to argument and change. After all, if there's any good at
all to philosophy, that's what has to be done with it, right? That's why religious figures are admired,
also. They have lived according to their moral philosophy (well, a few of them). The problem I have
with the latter types is that they are almost uniformly not open to change, and that latter characteristic
is, in my opinion, absolutely essential. After all, what if you make a mistake in logic? What if you have
misunderstood something, or simply haven't had enough data, or your data has been biased? Then
you need to be able to change your decisions, maybe even revise your philosophy... something most
saints cannot do.

So, then, what this comes down to is that in order to make making moral judgments part of your life,
you have to a) have a fairly clear idea of what your philosophy is, and b) become a saint, bodhisattva,
or otherwise uncompromising, but rational (in the best sense of that word) worldly philosopher. A
tough row to hoe... but you asked.

Steven Ravett Brown