institution1912–present

Better Business Bureau

Disciplines:

Summary

The Better Business Bureau is an American nonprofit organization that rates businesses by reliability and honesty in commercial dealings.

Core Contribution

The Better Business Bureau's slogan — 'honesty is the best policy' because it is profitable — is used in the lecture to illustrate Kant's distinction between acting in conformity with duty and acting from duty; honesty for profit lacks moral worth, however praiseworthy the outcome.

Key Spikes & Highlights

Prudential honesty critique (advertises honesty as profitable — illustrating Kant's point that morally worthy acts must be done from duty, not self-interest)
BBB rating system (rates businesses A+ to F based on complaint history and ethical practices)
1912 founding (founded during the Progressive Era's push to standardize commercial ethics)
Kant's illustration (used in Sandel's lecture to distinguish acting in conformity with the moral law from acting from respect for the law)

Historical Influences

No recorded historical influences.

Intellectual Lineage

American commercial ethics movement Progressive Era consumer protection

Contemporaries & Peers

Philip Morris Ford Motor Company

Minds Influenced

No recorded minds influenced.

Intellectual Posterity

No conceptual posterity found.

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