Business Ethics: John LockeBusiness EthicsBusiness ethics is defined as "a specialized study of moral right and wrong that focuses on the moral standards applied to institutions, organizations, and business behaviors" (Velasquez , 2014, p.15). Business ethics is the study of moral standards that focuses primarily on how these standards may apply to social systems and/or organizations. For this article I will focus on one of the great minds in business ethics, John Locke, and his ideas and contributions to business ethics. Business ethics investigations can be divided into three different subcategories: systematic, corporate, and individual. Systematic issues in business are ethical questions relating to the economic, political, legal, and other institutions within which businesses operate. Business issues are ethical questions that concern a particular organization, such as questions about the morality of their activities, policies, practices, or the organizational structure of a company as a whole. The last of the subcategories is individual, individual issues are ethical questions about a particular individual or individuals within the company and their behaviors and/or decisions, this may include the morality of their decisions, actions or the character of that individual ( Velasquez, 2014).John LockeJohn Locke was a British philosopher and Oxford academic and medical researcher. Locke was considered one of the most influential thinkers and was known as the “father of classical liberalism”. Locke was considered one of the first British empiricists, following in the tradition of Francis Bacon, and was equally important to social contract theory. His work significantly influenced the development of epi...... middle of paper ...... Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKZopPoBjNUSparkNotes Editors. (2005). SparkNote on John Locke (1634–1704). Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/johnlocke/Thomas Hobbes and John Locke: two philosophers compared. (2013, November 8). YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2LVcu01QEUThree Minute Philosophy - John Locke. (2009, September 30). YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-buzVjYQvYTuckness, A. (2005, November 9). Locke's political philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/Uzgalis, W. (2001, September 2). John Locke. Stanford University. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/Velasquez, M. (2014). Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases (7th ed.) New Jersey: Bizarre Craftsmanship.