Abstract
This article discusses the transition that business ethics has undergone since its start essentially as a philosophical sub-discipline of applied ethics. Today, business ethics—as demonstrated by four examples of gatekeepers—is a well-established field in general management, and increasingly business scholars without a “formal” background in philosophy are entering the scene. I take this transition to examine an updated positioning of business ethics and offer a proposal to redefine what makes a business ethicist. I suggest taking critical thinking as the common denominator of all business ethics activities beyond the academic silos of various disciplines. In conclusion, by borrowing from the post-colonial theorist Edward Said, this article offers a definition of what makes a business ethicist in the broadest possible sense. Implications are discussed, including the consequences suggesting that if critical thinking is the common denominator, business ethics-as-business-case logic is not considered a part of business ethics publications (except discussing the ethicality of business ethics-as-business-case), but should be addressed within more instrumental publication outlets of business.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For an overview of scholarly contributions, I recommend Michalos and Poff’s Citation Classics (2013) compiling 30 years of business ethics research. As introduction to the field and overview I particularly recommend De George (2009), Carroll and Buchholtz (2012), Velasquez (2006), Weiss (2009), Lovell and Fisher (2006), Wicks et al. (2009), Crane and Matten (2010), and Brenkert and Beauchamp (2012).
The three original job postings are with the author, and the code to specify the three examples can be obtained upon request by email.
The Excel file with the author’s names and coding along the three levels can be obtained from the author upon email request.
In this regard is it noteworthy that in non-English speaking academic environments the concept of business ethics is not the only one considered. The German term ‘Wirtschaftsethik’ for example has a much broader scope and unites both business ethics and more macroeconomic economic ethics under one roof (Seele 2014). At the same time it is also worth noting that in business (English) ethics journals also more macro issues and systemic questions are addressed overlapping with political and sociological perspectives.
References
Albrecht, C., Thompson, J., Hoopes, J., & Rodrigo, P. (2010). Business ethics journal rankings as perceived by business ethics scholars. Journal of Business Ethics, 95(2), 227–237.
BEH, Business Ethics Highlights. (2015). Journal of Business Ethics seeks Editor. Retrieved November 10, 2015, from http://businessethicshighlights.com/2015/03/19/journal-of-business-ethics-seeks-editor/.
Bowie, N. (2000). Business ethics, philosophy, and the next 25 years. Business Ethics Quarterly, 10(1), 7–20.
Brenkert, G., & Beauchamp, T. (2012). The Oxford handbook of business ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2012). Business and society: Ethics and stakeholder management (8th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2010). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
De George, R. T. (2009). Business ethics (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Dunfee, T., & Werhane, P. (1997). Report on business ethics in North America. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(14), 1589–1595.
Ennis, R. H. (1993). Critical thinking assessment. Theory Into Practice, 32(3), 179–186.
Freeman, E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
Freeman, E. (2000). Business ethics at the millennium. Business Ethics Quarterly, 10(1), 169–180.
Freeman, E., & Greenwood, M. (2016). Letter from the incoming editors. Journal of Business Ethics, 133, 1–3.
Freeman, E., Harrison, J., Wicks, A., Parmar, B., & Colle, S. (2010). Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Geuss, R. (1981). The idea of critical theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Greene, T. (1979). One world. Divisible. The Yale Review, 68, 577–581.
Hartman, E. (1994). The status of business ethics. Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 13(4), 3–30.
Hartman, E. (1996). Organizational ethics and the good live. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Howard, L. W., Li-Ping Tang, T., & Austin, M. J. (2015). Teaching critical thinking skills: Ability, motivation, intervention, and the Pygmalion effect. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(1), 133–147.
Hühn, M. (2015). The unreality business-how economics (and management) became anti-philosophical. Philosophy of Management, 14(1), 47–66.
Klein, E. R. (1998). The one necessary condition for a successful business ethics course: The teacher must be a philosopher. Business Ethics Quarterly, 8(3), 561–574.
Lock, I., & Peter, S. (2015). Quantitative content analysis: A method for business ethics research? Business Ethics: European Review, 24, S24–S40. doi:10.1111/beer.12095;IF,544.
Lovell, A., & Fisher, C. (2006). Business ethics and values (2nd ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.
Lund Dean, K., Mullins Beggs, J., & Fornaciari, C. J. (2007). Teaching ethics and accreditation: Faculty competence, methods and assessment. Journal of Business Ethics Education, 4, 5–26.
McDonald, Gael M., & Donleavy, Gabriel D. (1995). Objections to the teaching of business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 14, 839–853.
Meyer, M. (2015). Positive business: Doing good and doing well. Business Ethics: A European Review, 24, S175–S197. doi:10.1111/beer.12105.
Michalos, A. (1982). Journal of Business Ethics: Purpose and policy. Journal of Business Ethics, 1(3), 255.
Michalos, A., & Poff, D. (2013). Citation classics from the Journal of Business Ethics. Celebrating the first thirty years of publication. New York: Springer Books.
Moore, B. N., & Parker, R. (2014). Critical thinking. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Mulnix, J. W. (2010). Thinking critically about critical thinking. Educational Philosophy and Theory. doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00673.x.
Norris, S. P. (1988). Research needed on critical thinking. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue Canadienne De L’éducation, 13(1), 125–137.
Norris, S. P. (1989). Can we test validly for critical thinking? Educational Researcher, 18(9), 21–26.
Pecorino, P. A. (1987). Philosophy as a service discipline: A caution. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 60(4), 677–680. doi:10.2307/3131743.
Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. London: Penguin.
Saul, G. K. (1981). Business ethics: Where are we going? Academy of Management Review, 6(2), 269–276.
SBE. (2016). Newsletter. Vol. XXVII, No. 1. Accessed March 17, 2016, from http://sbeonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-Spring-SBE-newsletter_final-6-1.pdf.
Seele, P. (2014). Discussing “Wirtschaftsethik” With Regard to “Business Ethics and Economic Ethics”. Report on a DGPhil Panel at the 23rd World Congress of Philosophy in Athens 2013. ZfWU 14/3 (pp. 438–440).
Seele, P. (2016). Business ethics without philosophers? Metaphilosophy, 47(1), 75–91.
Seele, P., & Gatti, L. (2015). Greenwashing revisited: In search for a typology and accusation-based definition incorporating legitimacy strategies. Business Strategy and the Environment, 131, 1–16.
Seglen, P. O. (1997). Why the impact factor of journals should not be used for evaluating research. British Medical Journal, 314(7079), 498–502.
Shaw, W. (1996). Business ethics today: A survey. Journal of Business Ethics, 15(5), 489–500.
Thielemann, U., & Wettstein, F. (2008). The case against the business case and the idea of “Earned Reputation”. Beitrag des Instituts für Wirtschaftsethik. St. Gallen. Nr. 111.
Trevino, L., & Weaver, G. (1994). Business ETHICS/BUSINESS ethics. One field or two? Business Ethics Quarterly, 4(2), 113–128.
van Liedekerke, L., & Dubbink, W. (2008). Twenty years of European business ethics - past developments and future concerns. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(2), 273–280.
Velasquez, M. (2006). Business ethics: Concepts and cases (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Weiss, J. (2009). Business ethics: A stakeholder & issue management approach (5th ed.). Boston: Cengage Learning.
Werhane, P. (2008). Mental models, moral imagination and system thinking in the age of globalization. Journal of Business Ethics, 78(3), 463–474.
Wicks, A. C., Freeman, R. E., & Werhane, P. (2009). Business ethics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Acknowledgement
The author is grateful for comments from Alex Michalos on an earlier version of the paper. Furthermore, the author thanks Nicole Wicki and Giulia Besana for desk research support on the empirical material of the article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Seele, P. What Makes a Business Ethicist? A Reflection on the Transition from Applied Philosophy to Critical Thinking. J Bus Ethics 150, 647–656 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3177-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3177-8