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In Chapter 1, we found out that human beings, for the most part, are pretty good
but everyone one of us is morally flawed.
In Chapter 2, then, is about a historical perspective on business ethics.
A lot of times, people will think
"Isn't the world getting worse? Aren't people getting worse?"
"There seems to be more tragedies, there seems to be more unethical behavior."
But let me tell you, I personally wouldn't
not have liked to have been living
in the 1800's, the 1700's, the 1600's,
the 1500's or any other time in history
because the world is getting better.
Quality of life does improve over time.
So Chapter 2 is aimed at providing this historical framework
for understanding where we are at today
because the Present is based upon improvements
to things that have gone wrong in the Past.
So the Chapter begins with the arrival of Christohper Columbus in the new land.
That was a business issue.
Christopher Columbus was not just sailing for the fun of it.
He was paid by the King and Queen of Spain
to find gold where ever he could
and to find spices where ever he could.
So that was a business venture.
And the reason that Christopher Columbus sailed west was because
if you went east, they were running into
high tariffs by merchants in Constantinopol.
So there was a desire by the Christians in Western Europe
to not want to deal with Muslims that were in the Middle East.
So therefore, Christopher Columbus had a bright idea
of sailing west to look for new trade routes.
So even Christopher Columbus was being driven
by the desire for profits and to conduct business.
Which is great, because that's what drives a lot of life.
When Christopher Columbus lands on the New Land,
he has to deal with the fact that there are Native Americans
who were already living there.
And how should he deal with the Native Americans?
And unfortantly, it wasn't very pleasant
because he enslaved a whole bunch of them
and he brought others with him to Europe where they died.
Columbus was also looking for gold
and he exploited all land he could in his search for gold.
And I present this not to say that Christopher Columbus was a bad person
because he was acting as people tended to act in the 1400's.
He was faced with decisions and dilemias
and he did the best that he can within the context he was operating under.
But unfortantely, it lead to a lot of tragadies
if you were on the wrong side of these issues
if you didn't have as much power or as much military
as Christopher Columbus had.