Formalization of ethics: the issue of standardization[La formalisation éthique en perspective : L’enjeu spécifique des normes éthiques internationales]

Beyond the presupposed cleavage between economics and ethics, the institutional dimension of economic ethics is to the emphasized. The question is: how can we define collective legal rules which concern the whole society? The other great issue of ethics formalization is then the implementation on the level of firms. The firm can use a large scope of instruments in order to formalize economic ethics. The asset of ethical standards is that they represent a specific way of coordination. They bring positive effects such as the fall of coordination cost and the reduction of uncertainty. Ethical standards can be regarded as a way to get information. They are also a way to formalize a "common morality", or even an universal morality in a Kantian conception. The central issue, regarding ethical standards, remains its origin and its construction.