Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T01:23:23.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Business Meta-Ethics: An Analysis of Two Theories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

F. Neil Brady  and
Craig P. Dunn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The main purpose of this paper is to defend traditional ethical theory (utilitarianism and deontology) for its application in business against a more recent model consisting of utility, rights, and justice. This is done in three parts: First, we provide a conceptual argument for the superiority of the traditional model; second, we demonstrate these points through an examination of three short cases; and third, we argue for the capability of the traditional model to account for universais and particulars in ethics.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , July 1995 , pp. 386 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1995

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

Adler, J.E. (1989) “Particularity, Gilligan, and the Two-Levels View: A Reply,” Ethics, vol. 100, pp. 149–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arthur Andersen & Co. (1992) (Statement describing their Business Ethics Program)Google Scholar
Beauchamp, T. L. (1983) Case Studies in Business, Society, and Ethics. Engle-wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Beauchamp, T. & Bowie, N. (1983) Ethical Theory and Business, 3rd. Ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Boal, K. B. & Peery, N. (1985) “The Cognitive Structure of Corporate Social Responsibility,” Journal of Management, vol. 11 (3), pp. 71–82.Google Scholar
Blum, L. A. (1986) “Iris Murdock and the Domain of the Moral,” Philosophical Studies, vol. 50, pp. 343–67.Google Scholar
Brady, F. N. (1985) “A Janus-Headed Model of Ethical Theory: Looking Two Ways at Business\Society Issues,” Academy of Management Review, vol. 10 (3), pp. 568–76.Google Scholar
Brady, F. N. (1987) “Rules for Making Exceptions to Rules,” Academy of Management Review, vol. 10 (3), pp. 568–76.Google Scholar
Brink, D. O. (1986) “Utilitarian Morality and the Personal Point of View,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 83 (8), pp. 417–38.Google Scholar
Cavanagh, G. F., Moberg, D. J., & Velasquez, M. (1981) “The Ethics of Organizational Politics,” Academy of Management Review, vol. 6 (3), pp. 363–74.Google Scholar
Cody, W. J. M. & Lynn, R. R. (1992) Honest Government: An Ethics Guide for Public Service. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Crittendon, J. (1993) “The Social Nature of Autonomy,” The Review of Politics, vol. 55 (1), pp. 35–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derry, R. & Green, R.M. (1989) “Ethical Theory in Business: A Critical Assessment,” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 8, pp. 521–33.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. (1992) “The Language of International Corporate Ethics,” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 2 (3), pp. 271–81.Google Scholar
Dozier, J. B. & Miceli, M. P (1985) “Potential Predictors of Whistleblowing: A Prosocial Behavior Perspective,” Academy of Management Review, vol. 10 (4), pp. 823–36.Google Scholar
Drake, B. H. & Moberg, D. J. (1986) “Communicating Influence Attempts in Diads: Linguistic Sedatives and Palliatives,” Academy of Management Review, vol. 11 (3), pp. 567–84.Google Scholar
Duncan, W. J. (1986) “Ethical Issues in the Development and Application of Business and Management Knowledge,” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 5 (5), pp. 391–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etzioni, A. (1988) The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Ewing, A. C. (1953) Ethics. London: English Universities Press, Ltd.Google Scholar
Flanagan, O. J. & Adler, J. E. (1983) “Impartiality and Particularity,” Social Research, vol. 50 (3), pp. 576–96.Google Scholar
Fritzsche, D. J. & Becker, H. (1984) “Linking Management Behaviors to Ethical Philosophy—An Empirical Investigation,” Academy of Management Journal, vol. 27 (1), pp. 166–75.Google Scholar
Gewirth, A. (1988) “Ethical Universalism and Particularism,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 85 (6), pp. 283–302.Google Scholar
Gilligan, C. (1982) In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hoffman, W.M. (1984) “Ethics in Business Education: Working toward a Meaningful Reciprocity, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 3, pp. 259–68.Google Scholar
James, W. (1919) The Will to Believe. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co. (Originally published in 1896.).Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1785) Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Beck, L. W., Trans. New York: Bobbs-Merrill (This edition 1959).Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1788) Critique of Practical Reason. Beck, L. W., Trans. New York: Bobbs-Merrill (This edition 1956).Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1797) The Metaphysical Elements of Justice. Ladd, J., Trans. New York: Bobbs-Merrill (This edition 1965).Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1797) The Metaphysic of Morals, McGregor, Mary, Trans. (This edition 1991). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nozick, R. (1981) Philosophical Explanations. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pamental, G.L. (1991) “The Course in Business Ethics: Why Don’t the Philosophers give Business Students What They Need? Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 1 (4), pp. 385–93.Google Scholar
Pastin, M. (1986) The Hard Problems of Management: Gaining the Ethics Edge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.Google Scholar
Prichard, H. A. (1949) Moral Obligation. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. (1971) A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, W. D. (1930) The Right and the Good. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Royce, J. (1908) The Philosophy of Loyalty. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sandel, M. (1982) Liberalism and the Limits of Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. (1986) The Battle for Human Nature: Science, Morality, and Modern Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Si wenk, C. R. (1986) “Information, Cognitive Biases, and Commitment to a Course of Action,” Academy of Management Review, vol. 11 (2), pp. 298–310.Google Scholar
Selznick, P. (1987) “The Idea of a Communitarian Morality,” California Law Review, vol. 75, pp. 445–63.Google Scholar
Stocker, M. (1976) “The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories,” Journal of Philosophy, vol. 73 (14), pp. 453–66.Google Scholar
Velasquez, M. G. (1982) Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Velasquez, M., Moberg, D. J., & Cavanagh, G. F. (1983) “Organizational Statesmanship and Dirty Politics: Ethical Guidelines for the Organizational Politician. Organizational Dynamics, Autumn 1983, pp. 65–80.Google Scholar
Walzer, M. (1983) Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Weil, S. (1979) The Need for Roots. Wills, A., Trans. New York: Octagon Books. (First published in French in 1949.)Google Scholar
Werhane, P.H. (1985) Persons, Rights, and Corporations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Williams, B. (1985) Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar