1. Is it the truth?  
2. Is it fair to all concerned?  
3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?  
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?  

The Test was developed in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor, who later served as President of Rotary International.

Taylor was asked in 1932 by the creditors of the Club Aluminium Company, which distributed cookware and other household items, to save the company from bankruptcy.  The company owed its creditors $400,000. Taylor wrote:

With tremendous obstacles and handicaps facing us we felt that we must develop in our organization something which our competitors would not have in equal amount. We decided that it should be the character, dependability and service mindedness of our personnel.^[1]

To achieve this, Taylor developed an ethical guideline for the company.  It started life as a seven-point test which he subsequently reduced to the four points that comprise the Test today.

The proof of the usefulness of any test is that it works in the real world.  Could people in business, and any walk of life for that matter, realistically live by its precepts?  One critic at the time, a lawyer, told Taylor that if he followed the Test explicitly, he would starve to death.

The lawyer’s scepticism was shared by others. Any ethical system that calls for living the truth and measuring actions on the basis of benefits to others is going to be demanding. How, for example, the sceptics asked, do you try to balance integrity and ambition?

Undaunted by the naysayers, Taylor directed that the Test be applied throughout the company.  It was first applied to advertising. Words like ‘best’, ‘greatest’, or ‘finest’ were dropped from advertisements and replaced by factual descriptions of the product. Negative comments about competitors were removed from advertising and company literature.

The Test gradually became a guide for every aspect of the business and led to the development of a climate of trust and goodwill among dealers, customers, and employees. It became part of the corporate culture and eventually helped improve the company’s reputation and finances.  The Test proved to be a successful business strategy during the Great Depression, the toughest period the business community had experienced to that time.  

While the Test was originally designed by Taylor as an ethical guideline for business, and subsequently adopted by Rotary International in 1943 as a component of the Vocational Service program, today it is considered a vital element in all five Avenues of Service.  

In fact, the Test is relevant to all aspects of our daily lives, whether we are engaged in business, Rotary activities, family affairs, or social interactions generally.  To quote from a speech given by Rotarian Darrell Thompson to the Rotary Club of Moro Bay in California in 1991:

Few things are needed more in our society than moral integrity. The Four-Way Test will guide those who dare to use it for worthy objectives: choosing, winning, and keeping friends; getting along well with others; ensuring a happy home life; developing high ethical and moral standards; becoming successful in a chosen business or profession; and becoming a better citizen and better example for the next generation.^[2]

Given that we face challenging economic conditions, and a loss of confidence and trust in democratic traditions and the very notion of truth, it is timely to ask whether the Test remains a relevant and practical guide to decision-making in the current economic and social environment.

Over the coming weeks, I’m going to test how useful the Four-way Test is in resolving the difficult ethical situations that sometimes confront us in life. I’ll do this by examining each of the four parts of the Test through the lens of some well-known ethical theories - consequentialism, Kantian ethics, virtue ethics, and ethics of care. 

In Part 2 next week I’ll explain a little about each of these ethical theories and how they can be used to guide our actions.

^[1] https://rotary5630.org/history-of-the-four-way-test/ 

^[2] Ibid.