Metaethical Business Propositions

Business decisions are not just based on abstract theories or models. They reflect a world view of how a company operates and the philosophy of management that it follows. Even denying any connection between management and values is a philosophical statement in itself. Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño, President of the prestigious IE Business School, looks to the greatest female philosophers from modern history to help us bring purpose and meaning back into the workplace and management education. He shows how their pioneering work can be applied in specific situations, from Iris Murdoch’s emphasis on compassion to Hannah Arendt’s work on making the world more human, each philosopher can, in a very practical way, help inform your own approach to work and life. Packed with examples, personal stories and anecdotes from some of the world’s most influential companies and women in business, this book examines how the contributions from female philosophers stand up in the real world, helping to drive inclusion, diversity and ultimately, innovation.

Metaethics occupies a central place in analytical philosophy, and the last forty years has seen an upsurge of interest in questions about the nature and practice of morality. This collection presents original and ground-breaking research on metaethical issues from some of the very best of a new generation of philosophers working in this field.

This book is a fundamental and unique masterpiece which reflects the discussions on business and economic ethics over decades in German-speaking countries, and does so by systematically developing an Ethics of Economic Systems from a Christian-theological perspective with a firm foundation in the western philosophical and economic literature. Neither in German-speaking nor English-speaking regions has this complex theme been dealt with in such a comprehensive and thorough manner. Ethics is a matter of doing justice to the human without twisting the facts and ignoring the constraints. The study introduces seven criteria of human justice, that fundamentally relate to the Christian revelation and, at the same time, establish a humanistic and universal approach. Subsequently it focuses on the concrete economic systems and their problems. It describes and analyses various models of market and centrally-planned economies, and evaluates them in the light of middle-level principles, which are informed by both ethical criteria and economic knowledge. Thus the most legitimate economic system is the one which offers the most potential for reforms and self-critique. The merits of this approach are considerable: if the system of the market economy has the advantage of being thoroughly reformable, it also requires regulations which are equitable and responsible. In this view, one better understands the inescapable failure of Marxism but also the ethical ramifications of savage deregulations. Arthur Rich (1910-1992) was Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Institute of Social Ethics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He worked in the field of business and economic ethics for nearly 40 years. Georges Enderle is Arthur and Mary O'Neil Professor of International Business Ethics at the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA), and President of the International Society of Business, Economics, and Ethics (2001-2004), which organizes the ISBEE World Congress of Business and Economic Ethics every four years.

In our current social landscape, moral questions—about economic disparity, disadvantaging biases, and scarcity—are rightly receiving attention with a sense of urgency. This book argues that classical pragmatism offers a compelling and useful account of our engagement with moral life. The key arguments are first, that a broader reading of the pragmatist tradition than is usually attempted within the context of ethical theory is necessary; and second, that this broad reading offers resources that enable us to move forward in contemporary debates about truth and principles in moral life. The first argument is made by demonstrating that there is an arc of theoretical unity that stretches from two key founders of pragmatism—Charles Sanders Peirce and William James—through the work of John Dewey and Clarence Irving Lewis. The second argument is made by engaging with contemporary debates concerning the truth-status of the judgments and assertions made in ordinary moral discourse, as well as the role and nature of moral principles. Toward a Pragmatist Metaethics will be of interest to scholars of American philosophy, American intellectual history, and moral and political theorists, as well as anyone interested in the contours and demands of shared moral discourse.

Oxford Studies in Metaethics is the only publication devoted exclusively to original philosophical work in the foundations of ethics. It provides an annual selection of much of the best new scholarship being done in the field. Its broad purview includes work being done at the intersections of ethical theory with metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind. The essays included in the series provide an excellent basis for understanding recent developments in the field; those who would like to acquaint themselves with the current state of play in metaethics would do well to start here.

Professional Ethics have become fashionable during the past two decades. This proliferation of various professional ethics bears witness to a need to introduce ethical concerns in the exercise of various professions. In order to answer this need, each profession attempts to develop its own code of "ethics". In this respect, questions such as the following arise: Are the various ethical problems faced during the exercise of a profession different in kind from those ethical problems faced in everyday life? Or, are they ethical problems of the same kind, requiring in addition knowledge of the specific area of human endeavour in order to tackle them? The book deals with these and similar questions and points to the need for a different approach to professional ethics.

Many professionals confront ethical issues concerning their proper roles and the manner in which they should carry out those roles. This book is aimed at those studying for entry into the various professions (such as teaching or social work) where ethical questions are commonly faced. It introduces readers to both the techniques and depth of ethical argument drawn from the fields of critical thinking and informal logic and enables practitioners to use these techniques so they can be deployed as 'tools of thought' for thinking in a carefully reasoned and extended way about problems of professional ethics. The book also provides a brief introduction to some of the normative and meta-ethical theory relevant to the principled discussion of professional ethics. Post-graduate students and academics should also find the treatment of some of the complexities of extended reasoning, in particular its focus upon careful metacognitive tracking and planning of an inquiry, to be of interest.