Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:11:23.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Understanding the Role of Moral Principles in Business Ethics: A Kantian Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Jeffery Smith  and
Wim Dubbink
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Does effective moral judgment in business ethics rely upon the identification of a suitable set of moral principles? We address this question by examining a number of criticisms of the role that principles can play in moral judgment. Critics claim that reliance on principles requires moral agents to abstract themselves from actual circumstances, relationships and personal commitments in answering moral questions. This is said to enforce an artificial uniformity in moral judgment. We challenge these critics by developing an account of principle-based moral judgment that has been widely discussed by contemporary Kantian scholars. In so doing we respond to some basic problems raised by so-called “moral particularists” who voice theoretical objections to the role of principles as well as to contemporary business ethicists who have criticized principle-based moral judgment along similar lines. We conclude with some future areas of research.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 205 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2011

References

REFERENCES

Audi, R. N., & Murphy, P. 2006. The many faces of integrity. Business Ethics Quarterly, 16: 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berenbeim, R. E., & Kaplan, J. A. 2007. The governance of principle- and rule-based ethics programs: An emerging global trend? Executive Report A-0231-07-EA, The Conference Board. Available at http://www.conference-board.org/publications/.Google Scholar
Blum, L. A. 1994. Moral perception and particularity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bovens, M. 1998. The quest for responsibility: Accountability and citizenship in complex organizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bowie, N. E. 1999. Business ethics: A Kantian perspective. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Calkins, M. 2001. Casuistry and the business case method. Business Ethics Quarterly, 11: 237–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dancy, J. 1993. Moral reasons. Malden, Mass.: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dancy, J.. 2004. Ethics without principles. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DesJardins, J. 1993. Virtues and business ethics. In Chryssides, G. & Kaler, J. (Eds.), An introduction to business ethics: 136–42. London: Thomson.Google Scholar
Dworkin, R. 1978. Taking rights seriously. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Goodpaster, K. E. 2002. Teaching and learning ethics by the case method. In Bowie, N.E. (Ed.), The Blackwell guide to business ethics: 117–42. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Goodpaster, K. E.. 2007. Conscience and corporate culture. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Günther, K. 1993. The sense of appropriateness: Application discourses in morality and law, trans. Farrell, J.. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Guyer, P. 2006. Kant. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habermas, J. 1993. Justification and application: Remarks on discourse ethics, trans. Cronin, C.. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Haney, M. 2008. On the need for theory in business ethics. In Smith, J. (Ed.), Normative theory and business ethics: 173–94. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Herman, B. 1993. The practice of moral judgment. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Herman, B.. 2008. Moral literacy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, T. E. 2000. Respect, pluralism and justice: Kantian perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, T. E.. 2002. Human welfare and moral worth: Kantian perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holtman, S. W. 2002. Three strategies for theorizing about justice. American Philosophical Quarterly, 40: 77–90.Google Scholar
Horvath, C. M. 1995. Excellence versus effectiveness: MacIntyre’s critique of business. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5: 499–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, I. 1929. Critique of pure reason, trans. Smith, N. K.. New York: St. Martin’s Press (original second edition published in 1787).Google Scholar
Kant, I.. 1964. Groundwork of the metaphysic of morals, trans. Paton, H. J.. New York: Harper & Row Publishers (originally published in 1785).Google Scholar
Kant, I.. 1991. Metaphysics of morals, trans. Gregor, Mary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (originally published in 1798).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koehn, D. 1995. A role for virtue ethics in the analysis of business practice. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5: 533–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koehn, D. 2005. Integrity as a business asset. Journal of Business Ethics, 58: 125–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korsgaard, C. M. 1996. The sources of normativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korsgaard, C. M.. 2009. Self constitution: Agency, identity and integrity. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, M. O. 2000. Moral generalities revisited. In Hooker, B. and Little, M. O. (Eds.), Moral particularism: 276–304. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, M. O.. 2001a. On knowing the “why”: Particularism and moral theory. The Hastings Center Report, 31: 32–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Little, M. O.. 2001b. Wittgensteinian lessons on particularism. In Elliot, C. (Ed.), Slow cures and bad philosophers: Essays on Wittgenstein, medicine, and bioethics: 161–80. Durham N.C.: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maclagen, P. 1998. Management and morality. London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
McDowell, J. 1979. Virtue and reason. The Monist, 62: 331–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowell, J.. 1995. Two sorts of naturalism. In Altham, J. and Harrison, R. (Eds.), Virtues and reasons: Phillipa Foot and moral theory: 149–79. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKeever, S., & Ridge, M. 2006. Principled ethics: Generalism as a regulative ideal. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNaughton, D. 1991. Moral vision. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
McNaughton, D. & Rawling, P. 2000. Unprincipled ethics. In Hooker, B. and Little, M. O. (Eds.), Moral particularism: 256–75. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Michael, M. L. 2006. Business ethics: The law of rules. Business Ethics Quarterly, 16: 475–504.Google Scholar
Moore, G. 2008a. Re-imagining the morality of management: A modern virtue ethics approach. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18: 483–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, G.. 2008b. Virtue ethics and business organizations. In Smith, J. (Ed.), Normative theory and business ethics: 35–60. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. 2000. Why practice needs ethical theory. In Hooker, B. and Little, M. O. (Eds.), Moral particularism: 227–55. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neill, O. 1986. The power of example. Philosophy, 61(235): 5–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neill, O.. 1996. Towards justice and virtue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neill, O.. 2001. Practical principles and practical judgment. Hastings Center Report 31: 15–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Neill, O.. 2002. Instituting principles: between duty and action. In Timmons, M. (Ed.), Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals: Interpretive essays: 331–48. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Paine, L. S. 2002. Value shift: Why companies must merge social and financial imperatives to achieve superior performance. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Painter-Morland, M. 2008. Business ethics as practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palazzo, G. 2007. Organizational integrity: Understanding the dimensions of ethical and unethical behavior in corporations. In Zimmerli, W. C.Richter, K. and Holzinger, M. (Eds), Corporate ethics and corporate governance: 113–28. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 1993. Political liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J.. 2000. Lectures on the history of moral philosophy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Reynolds, S. J., & Bowie, N. E. 2004. A Kantian perspective on the characteristics of ethics programs. Business Ethics Quarterly, 14: 275–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, H. S. 1990. Specifying norms as a way to resolve concrete ethical problems. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 19: 279–310.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, S. B., & Buchholz, R. A. 1999. Rethinking business ethics: A pragmatic approach. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneewind, J. B. 1970. Moral knowledge and moral principles. In Vesey, G. N. A. (Ed.), Knowledge and Necessity: 249–62. London: Macmillan Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J. 2002. Do particular moral judgments follow a rule? Southern Journal of Philosophy, 40(2): 269–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, R. 1992. Ethics and excellence: Cooperation and integrity in business. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Soule, E. 2002. Managerial moral strategies: In search of a few good principles. Academy of Management Review, 27(1): 114–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soule, E., Hedahl, M., & Dienhart, J. 2009. Principles of managerial moral responsibility. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19: 529–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stansbury, J. 2009. Reasoned moral agreement: Applying discourse ethics within organizations. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19: 33–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, R. J. 1989. Immanuel Kant’s moral theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toulmin, S. 1981. The tyranny of principles. The Hastings Center Report, 11: 31–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ulrich, P. 2008. Integrative economic ethics: Foundations of a civilized market economy, trans. Fearnes, J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, G. R., Treviño, L. K., & Cochran, P. L. 1999. Corporate ethics practices in the mid-1990s: An empirical study of the Fortune 1000. Journal of Business Ethics, 18(3): 283–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werhane, P. H. 1999. Imagination and management decision making. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wiggins, D. 1987. Needs, values, truth. New York: Blackwell.Google Scholar