The Social Value of Business: Lessons from Political Economy and Process Philosophy
Applied Ethics: Remembering Patrick Primeaux
ISBN: 978-1-78052-988-2, eISBN: 978-1-78052-989-9
Publication date: 31 July 2012
Abstract
In this study we consider the role of business management in delivering good in society, from the perspective of the philosophical work of Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Alfred North Whitehead. We find that Whitehead's process explanations of the nature of experience and consciousness articulate meaningfully with Smith's idea of ‘self-love’ and Marx's conceptualisation of ‘rich-experience’. As a result, we argue that business practice must reconnect with society in a more appropriate understanding of a good as something beyond a mere economic entity. Using principles of process thought, we make recommendations as to how this might be achieved in daily management practice.
Keywords
Citation
Neesham, C. and Dibben, M. (2012), "The Social Value of Business: Lessons from Political Economy and Process Philosophy", Schwartz, M. and Harris, H. (Ed.) Applied Ethics: Remembering Patrick Primeaux (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 63-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-2096(2012)0000008010
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited