Abstract
Business ethics courses often focus on the path toethical behaviour. This paper discusses why teachersask to themselves how to modify major aspects of thepersonality (values, virtues, moral principles) oftheir students. There are two basic motives behindsuch an obsession of results: (1) the claim that wecan modify the personal value systems of our students;(2) the desire and anxiety to be, as teachers,counter-cultural agents. We will use a philosophicalframework, and will define self-transcendence forteachers (as well as for students) as including botha Socratic radical doubt about reality and knowledge(the awareness of our illusory understanding ofreality, and the ability to question our mostcherished beliefs and values) and the Nietzschean``Overman’’ (the ability to assess things, people andevents in focusing on their ``worth for life’’, ingetting rid of our will to believe and our will totruth).
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Aristotle: 1996, The Nicomachean Ethics, Wordsworth, Ware.
Aristotle: 1938, Eudemian Ethics, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Arlow, P. and T. A. Ulrich: 1980, ‘Business Ethics, Social Responsibility and Business Students: An Empirical Comparison of Clark’ Study’, Akron Business and Economic Review (Fall) 11(3), 17–23.
Bok, D.: 1982, Beyond the Ivory Tower, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Camus, A.: 1942, Le mythe de Sisyphe. Essai sur l’absurde, Coll. “Idées”, no 1, Gallimard, Paris.
Dion, M.: 2000, ‘Fondements philosophiques traditionnels et approche existentialiste de l’éthique des affaires’, paper given at the Symposium Organized by the “Centre de Recherches en Éthique Économique et des Affaires et Déontologie Professionnelle”, Université d’Aix-Marseille III, France, July.
Etchegoyen, A.: 1992, La valse des éthiques, Éditions François Bourin, Paris.
Frankl, V.: 1978, The Unheard Cry for Meaning: Psychotherapy and Humanism, Simon and Schuster, New York.
Gandz, J. and N. Hayes: 1988, ‘Teaching Business Ethics’, Journal of Business Ethics 7, 657–669.
Giacalone, R.A. and S.L. Payne: 1987, ‘Are Business Leaders Staging a Morality Play?’, Business and Society Review 62, 22–26.
Giacalone, R. A. and P. Rosenfeld: 1987, ‘Justifications and Procedures for Implementing Institutional Review Boards in Business Administrations’, Journal of Business Ethics 6, 5–17.
Gioia, D. A. and H. P. Sims: 1985, ‘Self-Serving Bias and Actor-Observer Differences: An Empirical Analysis’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology 15, 547–563.
Gould, J. B.: 1970, The Philosophy of Chrysippus, State University of New York Press, Albany.
Greenwald, A. G.: 1980, ‘The Totalitarian Ego: Fabrication and Revision of Personal History’, American Psychologist 35, 603–618.
Gunn, E.: 1981, ‘Ethics and the Public Service: An Annotated Bibliography and Overview Essay’, Public Personnel Management 10, 172–178.
Habermas, J.: 1987, Théorie de l’agir communicationnel. Tome I-Rationalité de l’agir et rationalisation de la société, Coll. “L’espace du politique”, Fayard, Paris.
Habermas, J.: 1973, La technique et la science comme “idéologie”, Coll. “Les Essais”, no 183, Gallimard, Paris.
Hegarty, W. H. and H. P. Sims Jr., ‘Organizational Philosophy, Policies, and Objectives Related to Unethical Decision Behavior: A Laboratory Experiment’, Journal of Applied Psychology 64(3), 331–338.
Hegarty, W. H. and H. P. Sims Jr.: 1978, ‘Some Determinants of Unethical Decision Behavior’, Journal of Applied Psychology 63, 451–457.
Heidegger, M.: 1962, Being and Time, Harper and Row Publishers, New York.
Hejka-Ekins, A.: 1988, ‘Teaching Ethics in Public Administration’, Public Administration Review (September-October) 48, 882–888.
Hollon, C. J. and T. A. Ulrich: 1979, ‘Personal Business Ethics: Managers vs Managersto-Be’, Southern Business Review 5, 17–22.
Hosmer, L. T.: 1985, ‘The Other 338: Why a Majority of Our Schools of Business Administration Do Not Offer a Course in Business Ethics?’, Journal of Business 4, 17–22.
Konrad, A. R.: 1978, ‘Are Management Ethics Worth Studying?’, Business and Society Review (Fall) (27).
Larwood, L. and W. Whittaker: 1977, ‘Managerial Myopia: Self-serving Biases in Organizational Planning’, Journal of Applied Psychology 62, 194–198.
Lipovetsky, G.: 1992, Le crépuscule du devoir. L’éthique indolore des nouveaux temps démocratiques, Gallimard, Paris.
Lutz, W. D.: 1983, ‘Corporate Doublespeak: Making Bad News Look Good’, Business and Society Review 44, 19–22.
Meehan, K. A., S. B. Woll and R. D. Abbott: 1979, ‘The Role of Dissimulation and Social Desirability in the Measurement of Moral Reasoning’, Journal of Research in Personality 13, 25–38.
Miller, M. S. and A. E. Miller: 1976, ‘It’ Too Late for Ethics Courses in Business Schools’, Business and Society Review (Spring).
Nietzsche, F.: 1971, Ainsi parla Zarathoustra, Coll. “Folio/Essais”, no 8, Gallimard, Paris.
Nietzsche, F.: 1964, La généalogie de la morale, Coll. “Idées”, no 113, Gallimard, Paris.
Nietzsche, F.: 1977, La naissance de la tragédie, Gallimard, Paris.
Nietzsche, F.: 1974, L’antéchrist, Coll. “Idées”, no 386, Gallimard, Paris.
Nietzsche, F. 1984, Le crépuscule des idoles, Coll. “Idées”, no 384, NRF, Paris.
Nietzsche, F.: 1971, Par-delà le bien et le mal, Coll. “Idées”, no 325, Gallimard, Paris.
Nietzsche, F.: 1967, The Will to Power, Random House, New York.
Olasky, M. N.: 1985, ‘Inside the Amoral World of Public Relations’, Business and Society Review 52, 41–44.
Payne, S. and R.A. Giacalone: 1990, ‘Social Psychological Approaches to the Perception of Ethical Dilemmas’, Human Relations (July) 43(7), 653–654.
Parks, S. D.: 1993, ‘Is It Too Late? Young Adults and the Formation of Professional Ethics’, in T. R. Piper, M. C. Gentile and S. D. Parks (eds.), Can Ethics Be Taught? Harvard Business School, Boston, pp. 13–72.
Piper, T. R.: 1993, ‘Rediscovery of Purpose: The Genesis of the Leadership, Ethics and Corporate Responsibility Initiative’, in T. R. Piper, M. C. Gentile and S. D. Parks (eds.), Can Ethics Be Taught? Harvard Business School, Boston, pp. 1–12.
Plato: 1994, Gorgias, Oxford University Press, New York.
Purcell, T. V.: 1972, ‘Do Courses in Business Ethics Pay Off?’, California Management Review (Summer) 19, 50–58.
Ross, M. and D. DiTecco: 1975, ‘An Attributional Analysis of Moral Judgments’, Journal of Social Issues 31, 91–109.
Stevens, G. E.: 1984, ‘Business Ethics and Social Responsibility: The Response of Present and Future Managers’, Akron Business and Economic Review (Fall) 15(3), 6–11.
Welch, S. D.: 1990, A Feminist Ethics of Risk, Fortress Press, Minneapolis.
Wood, R. E. and T. E. Mitchell: 1981, ‘Manager Behavior in a Social Context: The Impact of Impression Management on Attributions and Disciplinary Actions’, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 28, 356–378.
Zerbe, W. J. and D. L. Paulhus: 1987, ‘Socially Desirable Responding in Organizational Behavior’, Academy of Management Review 12(2), 250–264.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dion, M. Teaching Business Ethics, or the Challenge of a Socratic-Nietzschean Self-Transcendence for Teachers. Teaching Business Ethics 4, 307–324 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009873711063
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009873711063