Don Quixote and the Problem of Idealism and Realism in Business Ethics

Business Ethics Quarterly 8 (1):43-63 (1998)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

I discuss the characters Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and their relationship in order to understand better the place of idealistictheory and realistic practice in business ethics. The realism of Sancho Panza is required to make the idealism of Don Quixote effective.Indeed, the interaction and development of these characters can serve as a model for both the effective communication between andblending of the idealistic moral theoretician and the practical businessperson. Specifically, I argue that a quixotified Sancho Panza,as a combination of theoretical idealism and practical realism, is necessary for managerial statesmanship. I first consider the positionthat this concept is unrealistic. In the final section, however, I show that a number of leadership and business theorists believe thatmanagerial statesmanship requires a quixotified Sancho Panza. I also consider the question, what helps to make a quixotic vision forbusiness ethical, and what is its content?

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

A German sancho Panza.W. F. Mainland - 1937 - Journal of the Warburg Institute 1 (1):74-77.
Heidegger on Realism and Idealism.Mark Basil Tanzer - 1998 - Journal of Philosophical Research 23:95-111.
Our Lord Don Quixote. [REVIEW]M. B. M. - 1968 - Review of Metaphysics 22 (1):156-157.
Talking and Writing in Don Quixote.Elias L. Rivers - 1976 - Thought: Fordham University Quarterly 51 (3):296-305.
Don quixote and the ‘intentionalist fallacy’.A. J. Close - 1972 - British Journal of Aesthetics 12 (1):19-39.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-01-09

Downloads
59 (#243,444)

6 months
4 (#315,466)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Humanizing Business.Geoff Moore - 2005 - Business Ethics Quarterly 15 (2):237-255.
The Development of Moral Imagination.Mark A. Seabright - 2000 - Business Ethics Quarterly 10 (4):845-884.
Sustainable corporate finance.Aloy Soppe - 2004 - Journal of Business Ethics 53 (1-2):213-224.
Aesthetic Style as a Postructural Business Ethic.John Dobson - 2010 - Journal of Business Ethics 93 (3):393-400.

View all 12 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references