Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:31:50.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Recent Work in Ethical Theory and Its Implications for Business Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Denis G. Arnold ,
Robert Audi  and
Matt Zwolinski
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

We review recent developments in ethical pluralism, ethical particularism, Kantian intuitionism, rights theory, and climate change ethics, and show the relevance of these developments in ethical theory to contemporary business ethics. This paper explains why pluralists think that ethical decisions should be guided by multiple standards and why particularists emphasize the crucial role of context in determining sound moral judgments. We explain why Kantian intuitionism emphasizes the discerning power of intuitive reason and seek to integrate that with the comprehensiveness of Kant’s moral framework. And we show how human rights can be grounded in human agency, and explain the connections between human rights and climate change.

Type
Business Ethics Quarterly Twentieth Anniversary Forum, Part II: New Directions for Business Ethics Research
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 559 - 581
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Archard, David. Forthcoming. “Why Moral Philosophers Are Not and Should Not Be Moral Experts,” Bioethics.Google Scholar
Arnold, Denis G., ed. 2010a. The Ethics of Global Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Arnold, Denis G., ed. 2010b. “Transnational Corporations and the Duty to Respect Basic Human Rights,” Business Ethics Quarterly 20(3) (July): 371–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, Denis G., and Keith Bustos. 2005. “Business, Ethics, and Global Climate Change,” Business and Professional Ethics Journal 22(2/3) (Summer/Fall): 103–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audi, Robert. 1997. Moral Knowledge and Ethical Character. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audi, Robert. 2004. The Good in the Right: A Theory of Intuition and Intrinsic Value. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Audi, Robert. 2005. “Wrongs Within Rights,” Philosophical Issues 15: 121–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audi, Robert. 2009. “The Place of Ethical Theory in Business,” in The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics, ed. Tom, Beauchamp and George, Brenkert. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Audi, Robert, and Murphy, Patrick E. 2006. “The Many Faces of Integrity,” Business Ethics Quarterly 16(1) (January): 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, Herb. 2004. The Transparent Leader. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Beitz, Charles R. 2009. The Idea of Human Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentham, Jeremy. 1970. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. New York: Methuen.Google Scholar
Caney, Simon. 2009. “Climate Change, Human Rights and Moral Thresholds,” in Human Rights and Climate Change, ed. Stephen Humphreys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 69–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caney, Simon. Forthcoming. “Climate Change, Energy Rights and Equality,” in The Ethics of Global Climate Change, ed. Arnold, Denis G.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Crosthwaite, Jan. 1995. “Moral Expertise: A Problem in the Professional Ethics of Professional Ethicists,” Bioethics 9(4): 361–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dancy, Jonathan. 2000. “The Particularist’s Progress,” in Moral Particularism, ed. Brad, Hooker and Margaret, Olivia Little. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 130–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dancy, Jonathan. 2004. Ethics without Principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dancy, Jonathan. 2009. “Moral Particularism.” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-particularism/.Google Scholar
De George, Richard T. 2006. “The Relevance of Philosophy to Business Ethics: A Response to Rorty’s ‘Is Philosophy Relevant to Applied Ethics?’” Business Ethics Quarterly 16(3) (July): 381–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Fred. 1978. Introductory Ethics. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Feldman, Fred. 2004. Pleasure and the Good Life: Concerning the Nature, Varieties, and Plausibility of Hedonism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flynn, Jennifer. 2010. “Recent Work: Moral Particularism,” Analysis 70(1): 140–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foot, Philippa. 2001. Natural Goodness. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardiner, Stephen M. 2004. “Ethics and Global Climate Change,” Ethics 114: 555–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardiner, Stephen M. 2010. A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change, Intergenerational Ethics and the Global Environmental Tragedy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gardiner, Stephen M., Simon, Caney, Dale, Jamieson, and Henry, Shue, eds. 2010. Climate Ethics: Essential Readings. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, Bill. 2003. Authentic Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Griffin, James. 2008. On Human Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooker, Brad. 2008. “Moral Particularism and the Real World,” in Challenging Moral Particularism, ed. Mark, Norris Lance, Matjaz, Potrc, and Vojko, Strahovnik. New York: Routledge, 12–30.Google Scholar
Hursthouse, Rosalind. 1999. On Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ignatieff, Michael. 2001. “Human Rights as Idolatry,” in Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry, ed. Amy, Gutman. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kekes, John. 2000. Pluralism in Philosophy: Changing the Subject. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, E. R. 1998. “The One Necessary Condition for a Successful Business Ethics Course: The Teacher Must Be a Philosopher,” Business Ethics Quarterly 8(3): 561–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koehn, Daryl. 2006. “A Response to Rorty,” Business Ethics Quarterly 16(3): 391–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, Matthew H., Simmonds, N. E., and Hillell, Steiner. 1998. A Debate Over Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lance, Mark Norris, and Margaret, Olivia Little. 2006. “Defending Moral Particularism,” in Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory, ed. James, Dreier. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 305–21.Google Scholar
Little, Margaret Olivia. 2000. “Moral Generalities Revisited,” in Moral Particularism, ed. Brad, Hooker and Margaret, Olivia Little. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 276–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, Margaret Olivia. 2001. “On Knowing the ‘Why’: Particularism and Moral Theory,” Hastings Center Report 31(4): 32–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mason, Elinor. 2008. “Value Pluralism,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 ed.), ed. Zalta, Edward N., http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/value-pluralism/.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. 1903. Principia Ethica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, Geoff. 2005a. “Corporate Character: Modern Virtue Ethics and the Virtuous Corporation,” Business Ethics Quarterly 15(4): 659–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Geoff. 2005b. “Humanizing Business: A Modern Virtue Ethics Approach,” Business Ethics Quarterly 15(2): 237–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Geoff. 2008. “Re-Imagining the Morality of Management: A Modern Virtue Ethics Approach,” Business Ethics Quarterly 18(4): 483–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morse, John. 1999. “Who Is the Ethics Expert? The Original Footnote to Plato,” Business Ethics Quarterly 9(4): 693–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, Thomas. 1996. The View from Nowhere. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Parfit, Derek. 2010. On What Matters. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Postow, Betsy. 2006. “A Partial Application Procedure for Ross’s Ethical Theory,” Journal of Philosophical Research 31: 239–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John. 1993. Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Rorty, Richard. 1993. “Human Rights, Rationality and Sentimentality,” in On Human Rights, ed. Stephen, Shute and Susan, Hurley. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Rorty, Richard. 2006. “Is Philosophy Relevant to Applied Ethics?” Business Ethics Quarterly 16(3): 369–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, W. D. 1930. The Right and the Good. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schaefer, Brian. 2005. “Human Rights: Problems with the Foundationless Approach,” Social Theory and Practice 31(1) (January): 1–24, 6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidtz, David. 2006. Elements of Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 2009. The Idea of Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shue, Henry. 1996. Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy, rev. ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Thomson, Judith Jarvis. 1990. The Realm of Rights. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Timmons, Mark. 2002. Moral Theory. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Weaver, Gary, Linda, Klebe Treviño, and Bradley, Agle. 2005. “Ethical Role Models in Organizations,” Organizational Dynamics 34(4): 313–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinstein, Bruce D. 1994. “The Possibility of Ethical Expertise,” Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 15(1): 61–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wenar, Leif. 2005. “The Nature of Rights,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 33(3) (Summer): 223–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werhane, Patricia. 1999. Moral Imagination and Management Decision Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Williams, Bernard. 1985. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, Allen W. 2008. Kantian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zwolinski, Matt, and David, Schmidtz. 2005. “Virtue Ethics and Repugnant Conclusions,” in Environmental Virtue Ethics, ed. Philip, Cafaro and Ronald, Sandler. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar