Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:03:12.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Normative/Descriptive Distinction in Methodologies of Business Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Abstract:

Most papers in this issue carefully analyze normative and empirical methodologies. I shall argue that (a) there is no purely empirical nor purely normative methodology; (b) some terms escape the division of the normative and descriptive. (c) Most importantly, dialogues such as this one point to a form of integration that allows us to reflect on what it is that each approach presupposes in its study of business ethics. Thus we have made progress in recognizing the importance of each methodology, how each is dependent on the other, and how neither is singularly The Approach to business ethics.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1994

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

Donaldson, Thomas. (1982) Corporations and Morality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.Google Scholar
Donaldson, Thomas (1992) “When Integration fails: The Logic of Prescription and Description in Business Ethics.” In this issue of Business Ethics Quarterly.Google Scholar
Frederick, William, ed. (1992) “The Empirical Quest for Normative Meaning: Empirical Methodologies for the Study of Business Ethics.” Business Ethics Quarterly, 2, 2. pp. 91246.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. Edward and Gilbert, Daniel R. (1988) Corporate Strategy and the Search for Excellence. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Goodpaster, Kenneth. (1983) “The Concept of Corporate Responsibility.” Journal of Business Ethics, 2. pp. 122.Google Scholar
Heisenberg, Werner. (1958) Physics and Philosophy. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alasdair. (1981) After Virtue. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press.Google Scholar
Nagel, Thomas. (1989) The View From Nowhere. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. (1971) A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Trevino, Linda Klebe and Weaver, Gary R. (1992) “Normative and Empirical Business Ethics: Separation, Marriage of Convenience, or Marriage of Necessity.” In this issue of Business Ethics Quarterly.Google Scholar
Victor, Bart and Stephens, Carroll. (1992) “The Singularity of the Study of Business Ethics.” In this issue of Business Ethics Quarterly.Google Scholar
Walzer, Michael. (1984) Spheres of Justice. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar