Final answer:
Duty-based ethics and consequence-based ethics are the two main approaches to ethical reasoning in business, focusing on adherence to set principles or evaluating the outcomes of actions, respectively.
Step-by-step explanation:
The two fundamental approaches to ethical reasoning in a business environment are duty-based ethics and consequence-based ethics. Duty-based ethics, or deontological ethics, centers around the idea that actions are morally right if they conform to a set of rules or duties. An example of this is the categorical imperative put forth by Kant, which is a universal moral law that individuals have a duty to follow. Meanwhile, consequence-based ethics, known as consequentialism, determines the morality of actions based on their outcomes or consequences. This approach argues that an action is morally right if it leads to the greatest good, like happiness or general welfare.These paradigms are part of normative ethics, which seeks to establish standards for guiding moral conduct by evaluating human behavior, responsibility, and moral criteria through systematized accounts of morality. Other approaches, like virtue ethics, are also significant in ethical reasoning, focusing on character and virtues for ethical living. The complexity of moral reasoning incorporates diverse considerations, from the individual's character to societal norms and natural law.