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The concept of corporate responsibility

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Abstract

Opening with Ford Motor Company as a case in point, this essay develops a broad and systematic approach to the field of business ethics. After an analysis of the form and content of the concept of responsibility, the author introduces the ‘principle of moral projection’ as a device for relating ethics to corporate policy. Pitfalls and objections to this strategy are examined and some practical implications are then explored.

The essay not only defends a proposition but exhibits a research style and a research program. Philosophical ethics and organizational management are joined in the process.

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Authors
  1. Kenneth E. Goodpaster
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Additional information

Kenneth E. Goodpaster was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1944. He received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame in 1967 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1973. He has taught at the University of Notre Dame in logic, ethical theory, and applied ethics. In 1980, he joined the faculty of Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Administration, where he teaches a course entitled ‘Ethical Aspects of Corporate Policy’. His publications include Perspectives on Morality: Essays of William K. Frankena (1976), Ethics and Problems of the 21st Century (1979, with K. M. Sayre), and Regulation, Values, and the Public Interest (1980, with coauthors). He has also published widely on moral philosophy and applied ethics in such varied places as The Journal of Philosophy, Ethics, Environmental Ethics, The Harvard Business Review, and the Dallas Morning News.

To appear in Just Business: New Introductory Essays in Business Ethics, ed. by Tom Regan (Random House, to be released in Fall 1983 with 1984 copyright).

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Goodpaster, K.E. The concept of corporate responsibility. J Bus Ethics 2, 1–22 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382708

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382708

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