An increasing interest on ethics in business has resulted in a fruitful production of scholarly research that provides business leaders and decision-makers with references to bridge theory and practice (Cherry, Lee, and Chien, 2003). For an effective application of business ethics theories, it is necessary to comprehend their domains, their external and internal logic, and the specific applications to the ethical issues under analysis (Wempe, 2008). This document presents a taxonomy of 11 ethical theories applied to business ethics that incorporate grounded theory and conceptual frameworks. As a basis for the construction of this taxonomy, the selection of the theories was based on the presence of a relationship with business ethics. Five domains represented by five major families of theories were used as organizing criteria, as recommended in the literature (Baron, 2006; Wempe, 2008). The taxonomy includes 2 theories of Political Authority, 2 theories of Right and Justice, 3 Cognitive theories, 1 Social contract theory, 3 theories of corporate morality. As a second-order criterion, each selected theory was evaluated in its assumptions and classified within either a Deontological or Teleological ethical system, based on the classification of ethical theories by Baron (2006). The taxonomy resulted in 7 deontological and 4 teleological theories. Additionally, an identification of seminal and contemporary authors was included along with the description, criticism, examples and additional attributes of the theory. An exploration of the works of seminal ethics theorists includes: Aristotle, Emile Durkheim, Jürgen Habermas, Friedrich Hayek, Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant, Lawrence Kohlberg, Robert Merton, Jean Piaget, John Rawls, James Rest, Peter Ulrich. Contributions by contemporary theorists and Supreme Court Justices are also integrated in the analysis. A total of 65 references accompany this work combining original treaties, scholarly journals, and Supreme Court rulings and opinions
