Abstract
There are varying opinions about whether or not the field of business ethics has a history or is a development of more modern times. It is suggested that a book by a Dominican Friar, Johannes Nider, De Contractibus Mercatorum, written ca. 1430 and published ca. 1468 provides a basis for a history of over 500 years. Business ethics grew out of attempts to reconcile Biblical precepts, canon law, civil law, the teachings of the Church Fathers, and the writings of early philosophers with the realities of expanding economic activity. Nider's background is discussed as well as his book as an example of incunabula.
Nider was one of the Scholastics who provided a link between Aristotle and later Reformation thinkers. In Nider we find caveat venditor as his moral guide to merchants as well as other surprisingly modern ideas such as justice in exchange; restitution for defective goods; the market as the final arbiter of value; and the importance of creating utility in products.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aquinas, T.: 1273/1929, Summa Theologica (trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province) (Burns Oates and Washbourne, Ltd., London).
Aristotle: 1952, Nicomachean Ethics (trans. by W. D. Ross), Great Books of the Western World (Vol. 9, Book 5, Chapter 5) (Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago), p. 381.
Aristotle: 1952, Politics (trans. B. Jowett), Great Books of the Western World (Vol. 9, Book 1, Chapter 10) (Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago), p. 452.
Chafuen, A. A.: 1986, Christians for Freedom: Late Scholastic Economics (St. Ignatius Press, San Francisco).
Cordero, R. A.: 1988, ‘Aristotle and “Fair Deals”’, Journal of Business Ethics 7(9), 681–690.
De George, R. T.: 1987, ‘The Status of Business Ethics: Past and Present’, Journal of Business Ethics 6(3), 201.
de Roover, R.: 1958, ‘The Concept of the Just Price: Theory and Economic Policy’, Journal of Economic History 18(4), 421.
de Roover, R.: 1967, San Bernardino of Siena and Sant' Antonino of Florence: Two Great Economic Thinkers of the Middle Ages (Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, Boston).
Durant, W.: 1959, The Story of Civilization: The Reformation, Vol. 6 (Simon and Schuster, New York).
Gordon, B.: 1975, Economic Analysis Before Adam Smith (The Macmillan Press, London).
Gordon, B.: 1987, ‘Nicholas Oresme’, in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Vol. 3 (The Macmillan Press, London), pp. 754–755.
Grice-Hutchison, M.: 1975, Early Economic Thought in Spain, 1170–1740 (Allen and Unwin, London).
McMahon, T. F.: 1991, ‘A Reaction to Vogel's “The Ethical Roots of Business”’, Business Ethics Quarterly 1(2), 211–222.
Nider, J.: ca. 1468, De Contractibus Mercatorum (Ulrich Zell, Cologne).
Nider, J.: 1966, On the Contracts of Merchants, trans. C. H. Reeves, ed. R. B. Shuman (The University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK).
Nomenclator Literarius Theologiae Catholicae: Aetas Media Ab Anno 1109–1563; (Literary Classification of Catholic Theologians: The Middle Ages from 1109–1563) 1970, ed. Hugo Hunter (Burt Franklin, New York), Vol. II, Column 863.
Noonan, J. T. Jr.: 1957, The Scholastic Analysis of Usury (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA).
Origo, I.: 1962, The World of San Bernardino (Harcourt, Brace and World, New York).
Spiegel, H. W.: 1991, The Growth of Economic Thought, third edition (Duke University Press, Durham, NC).
Stillwell, M. B.: 1931, Incunabula and Americana, 1450–1800 (Columbia University Press, New York).
Tawney, R. H.: 1952, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (Harcourt, Brace and World, New York).
Vogel, D.: 1991, ‘The Ethical Roots of Business Ethics’, Business Ethics Quarterly 1(1), 101.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wren, D.A. Medieval or Modern? A Scholastic's View of Business Ethics, circa 1430. Journal of Business Ethics 28, 109–119 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006270724454
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006270724454