Dominic Martin — Honouring the Poker Code of Ethics

“Honouring the Poker Code of Ethics Is Harder than You Think”
Dominic Martin, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Toronto
March 19, 2013

Abstract:
A theory has been picking up momentum in business ethics which might be referred to as ‘the adversarial ethics for business.’ The theory builds on the idea that markets produce their beneficial outcomes when companies compete with each other. It follows that aggressively competitive behaviours in markets should generally be permitted, even though our common morality generally values cooperation. In this respect, the moral obligations of companies and executives share many similarities with the moral obligations of people other competitive spheres of life like sport, courts, politics or even games like poker. But an adversarial ethics for business is much more demanding that one might think on first sight. Just because competitive behaviours are permitted doesn’t mean that business ethics is permissive.