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Book part
Publication date: 4 December 2020

Andrew Crowden and Matthew Gildersleeve

This paper is a brief reflection on teaching bioethics to students and practitioners in science and other applied disciplines. After identifying relevant key questions and

Abstract

This paper is a brief reflection on teaching bioethics to students and practitioners in science and other applied disciplines. After identifying relevant key questions and acknowledging that a variety of approaches to the teaching of applied ethics can be successful, the authors outline why interdisciplinary collaboration between philosophers and discipline experts is our preferred way to teach (and practice) bioethics (and applied ethics). The authors suggest that the reason for the effectiveness of sensible collaborations can be explained by reference to a virtue ethics ‘philosophy of place’ influenced ‘distinct ethics’ approach to understanding the nuanced nature of applied ethics and its relationship to moral philosophy.

Book part
Publication date: 18 February 2013

Frederick Ahen and Peter Zettinig

Purpose – This chapter seeks to theoretically demonstrate that authentic corporate strategy is entrenched in an ethical responsibility, and ethical responsibility requires a…

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter seeks to theoretically demonstrate that authentic corporate strategy is entrenched in an ethical responsibility, and ethical responsibility requires a strategic framework to qualify as a sustainable value co-creation process that determines the long-term success of the firm.Design/methodology/approach – Through economic philosophical analysis and content analysis, we critically reviewed literature which argues for the integration of corporate responsibility (CR) and corporate strategy both in theory and practice by putting the concept into a proper context of institutional and time-based dynamics.Findings – The chapter delineates the salient dimensions of the dominant logic (D-L) of strategic corporate responsibility (SCR). The traditional notion of CSR is explained, compared and contrasted with the transitioning process of strategic CSR and the D-L of SCR which is at the civic level. We also identified four global forces that serve as enablers of strategic CR logic.Practical implications – The D-L of SCR explains how a firm defines and redefines itself and not what a firm does. We underscore what firms are in the ‘process of becoming’ through a co-evolutionary process with markets and institutions. Firms which want to go beyond mere survival in the 21st century must see the D-L of SCR not as a choice but as an imperative constrained by these global forces.Originality/value of chapter – The novelty of this chapter is that it challenges traditional CSR and provides a shift in thinking about the concept of CR where sustainability and innovative strategies become the source of institutional and market legitimacy and hence a competitive advantage.

Details

International Business, Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-625-5

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Article
Publication date: 1 December 2003

Patrick W. Hamlett

This article makes two points: first, that greater public deliberation is needed to enhance the democratic steering of technological change and, second, that universities are…

508

Abstract

This article makes two points: first, that greater public deliberation is needed to enhance the democratic steering of technological change and, second, that universities are particularly well situated to provide an institutional foundation for such deliberations. Existing problems with policy making about issues with significant scientific and/or technological components are considered, along with the prospect that structured public deliberation might help close an evident democratic deficit in scientific and technological policy making. Several kinds of public deliberations are described, with special emphasis on the Danish Consensus Conference model. The basic requirements for effective public deliberations are discussed, along with several issues that need fundamental research. Finally, a scenario of multiple public deliberative exercises scaled at the national level is discussed.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

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Article
Publication date: 4 September 2019

Chuck Huff

This viewpoint aims to highlight the necessarily technical nature of ethics in software development, propose a label (ethical bypassing) for ethical analysis that does not lead to…

242

Abstract

Purpose

This viewpoint aims to highlight the necessarily technical nature of ethics in software development, propose a label (ethical bypassing) for ethical analysis that does not lead to ethical action and introduce a philosophical foundation for technical analysis that leads to ethical software development.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodological approach is one of technical analysis that is aware of social science and philosophical knowledge bases.

Findings

The findings establish a clear technical foundation that is crucial to ethical analysis that will actually inform software development.

Research limitations/implications

The idea that beginning with technical expertise is the best way to begin ethical reflection on a technical implementation has been often suggested, but not really empircally tested. Research using cases or other qualitative approaches would need to be done to add credibility to the claim.

Practical implications

This approach suggests that collaboration between technically informed ethicists and ethically informed technical experts should begin with the exploration of the technical questions rather than with ethical speculation.

Social implications

A common approach to ethical education is to concentrate on ethical theory and its application in technical contexts. This approach suggests that this may lead to ethical bypassing by the student, the avoidance of the making technical decisions by extensive ethical reflection.

Originality/value

This paper introduces a new term, ethical bypassing, to the literature on the ethics of software development.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

John Conway O'Brien

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…

1134

Abstract

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

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International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 19 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1985

Tomas Riha

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely…

2554

Abstract

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

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International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 12 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Abstract

Details

Responsible Investment Around the World: Finance after the Great Reset
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-851-0

Article
Publication date: 18 January 2019

Paul Dunn and Barbara Sainty

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of ethical decision-making that applies to accountants and the accounting profession.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of ethical decision-making that applies to accountants and the accounting profession.

Design/methodology/approach

This model is an integration of five factors that influence ethical decision-making by accountants: professional codes of conduct; philosophical orientation; religious orientation; culturally derived values; and moral maturity.

Findings

This model is a synthesis of previous identified factors that influence ethical decision-making and incorporates them into a model that is specific to professional accountants.

Research limitations/implications

The authors develop a set of propositions and explain how this model can be tested and its implications for both the accounting profession and the teaching of business ethics.

Originality/value

This model presents a new way of viewing ethical decision-making by accountants that is predicated on the importance of professional codes of conduct that influence both behaviour and decision-making. The external certification of professional accountants provides a layer of accountability not previously incorporated into ethical decision-making models.

Details

Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-1117

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 September 2016

Christophe Revelli

The aim of this chapter is to propose a critical analysis of socially responsible investing (SRI) through debate and reconstruction. Our goal is therefore to try to understand how…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this chapter is to propose a critical analysis of socially responsible investing (SRI) through debate and reconstruction. Our goal is therefore to try to understand how the definition of ethics in finance has steered SRI towards a financial approach where ethics is guided by finance.

Methodology/approach

This chapter proposes a two-point approach consisting of a meta-debate and development perspectives. Each approach is divided into three debates (ideological and philosophical, scientific and practical), which are interconnected.

Findings

The chapter concludes that the debate on mainstream SRI is necessary but should be re-discussed, as it is preventing in its current form the concept from developing and being grounded in real ethical values, sacrificing the individual ethics that should be driving investing decisions.

Originality/value

The chapter proposes to rethink the paradigm around SRI through a conceptual framework that re-inserts finance within ethics, where non-financial performance and impact investment should be at the centre of the scientific debates, leading to an SRI based on exclusion, the consideration of controversies and social impact measurement.

Details

Finance Reconsidered: New Perspectives for a Responsible and Sustainable Finance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-980-0

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1995

The critical dimension and the one that can unify knowledge through systemic interrelationships, is unification of the purely a priori with the purely a posteriori parts of total…

Abstract

The critical dimension and the one that can unify knowledge through systemic interrelationships, is unification of the purely a priori with the purely a posteriori parts of total reality into a congruous whole. This is a circular cause and effect interrelationship between premises. The emerging kind of world view may also be substantively called the epistemic‐ontic circular causation and continuity model of unified reality. The essence of this order is to ground philosophy of science in both the natural and social sciences, in a perpetually interactive and integrative mould of deriving, evolving and enhancing or revising change. Knowledge is then defined as the output of every such interaction. Interaction arises first from purely epistemological roots to form ontological reality. This is the passage from the a priori to the a posteriori realms in the traditions of Kant and Heidegger. Conversely, the passage from the a posteriori to a priori reality is the approach to knowledge in the natural sciences proferred by Cartesian meditations, David Hume, A.N. Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, as examples. Yet the continuity and renewal of knowledge by interaction and integration of these two premises are not rooted in the philosophy of western science. Husserl tried for it through his critique of western civilization and philosophical methods in the Crisis of Western Civilization. The unified field theory of Relativity‐Quantum physics is being tried for. A theory of everything has been imagined. Yet after all is done, scientific research program remains in a limbo. Unification of knowledge appears to be methodologically impossible in occidental philosophy of science.

Details

Humanomics, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0828-8666

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