Moral Considerations on Bribery and Corruption

Abstract

In this paper we seek to analyse the core moral issues of bribery and corruption. Starting with problems of definitions and typical moral loopholes, we examine the praxis-theory of bribery. From some critical considerations of this theory we reach a common ground for justification of inherent moral wrong of bribery, the notion of public good can be seen as a ground for that. Following the arguments of pure utilitarian approaches, we may accept certain kinds of bribery, but with putting the issue into a broader context, this justification is misleading because of several morally unjustifiable consequences of such practices. The paper try to demonstrate both the main morally wrong elements embedded in bribery, and corruption`s several inherent negative consequences to the public good.