20 found

View year:

  1.  78
    Evolutionary Biology Research, Entrepreneurship, and the Morality of Security-Seeking Behavior in an Imperfect Economy.Ronald K. Mitchell - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 2004:263-287.
    This article investigates whether there is an underlying morality in the ways that human beings seek to obtain economic security within our imperfect economy, which can be illuminated through evolutionary biology research. Two research questions are the focus of the analysis: (1) What is the transaction cognitive machinery that is specialized for the entrepreneurial task of exchange-based security-seeking? and, (2) What are the moral implications of the acquisition and use of such transaction cognitions?Evolutionary biology research suggests within concepts that are (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  2.  27
    Knowing Thyself.John Tooby - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 2004:93-128.
    “Ought” cannot be derived from “is,” so why should facts about human nature be of interest to business ethicists? In this article, we discuss why the nature of human nature is relevant to anyone wishing to create a more just and humane workplace and society. We begin by presenting evolutionary psychology as a research framework, and then present three examples of research that illuminate various evolved cognitive programs. The first involves the cognitive foundations of trade, including a neurocognitive mechanism specialized (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  3.  19
    Ruffin Series No. 4: Business, Science, and Ethics.R. Edward Freeman & Patricia H. Werhane - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:3-3.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  4.  95
    Sympathy as a “Natural”.Robert C. Solomon - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:53-58.
    In this essay, I want to reconsider sympathy as a “natural” emotion or sentiment. Adam Smith famously defended it as such (as did his friend David Hume) but both used the term ambiguously and in a different sense than we use it today. Nevertheless, it seems to me that Smith got it quite right, that the basis of morality and justice is to be found in the realm of affect rather than in theory and principles alone, and that sympathy is (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  5.  36
    Knowing Thyself.Leda Cosmides - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:93-128.
    “Ought” cannot be derived from “is,” so why should facts about human nature be of interest to business ethicists? In this article, we discuss why the nature of human nature is relevant to anyone wishing to create a more just and humane workplace and society. We begin by presenting evolutionary psychology as a research framework, and then present three examples of research that illuminate various evolved cognitive programs. The first involves the cognitive foundations of trade, including a neurocognitive mechanism specialized (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   5 citations  
  6.  72
    Explanation and Justification.Joseph DesJardins - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:239-261.
    This paper attempts to sort through some of the challenges facing those of us who look to empirical science for help in doing normative business ethics. I suggest that the distinction between explanation and justification, a distinction at the heart of the difference between descriptive social science and normative ethics, is often overlooked when social scientists attempt to draw ethical conclusions from their research.
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  7.  42
    Monkey Business and Business Ethics.Jessica C. Flack & Frans B. M. De Waal - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:7-41.
    To what degree has biology influenced and shaped the development of moral systems? One way to determine the extent to which human moral systems might be the product of natural selection is to explore behaviour in other species that is analogous and perhaps homologous to our own. Many non-human primates, for example, have similar methods to humans for resolving, managing, and preventing conflicts of interests within their groups. Such methods, which include reciprocity and food sharing, reconciliation, consolation, conflict intervention, and (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  8.  56
    A Deal, a Dolphin, and a Rock.Timothy L. Fort - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:81-91.
    In this response to Paul Lawrence’s Ruffin Lecture, I assess the benefits of integrating biology into business ethics including the way in which biology counteracts conventional economic descriptions of human nature. Section II looks at the dangers of the project and offers the notion of Multilevel Selection Theory as a way to address the notion of how one balances various biological drives. Section III concludes by suggesting that in order to optimally integrate biology, one should attend to contractual notions (the (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  9.  62
    The Evolutionary Firm and Its Moral (Dis)Contents.William C. Frederick - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:145-176.
    The business firm, called here the Evolutionary Firm, is shown to be a phenomenon of nature. The firm’s motives, organization, productivity, strategy, and moral significance are a direct outgrowth of natural evolution. Its managers, directors, and employees are natural agents enacting and responding to biological, physical, and ecological impulses inherited over evolutionary time from ancient human ancestors. The Evolutionary Firm’s moral posture is a function of its economizing success, competitive drive, quest for market dominance, social contracting skills, and the neural (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   5 citations  
  10.  55
    Introduction.R. Edward Freeman - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:1-5.
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  11.  66
    De Rerum Natura.Edwin M. Hartman - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:201-220.
    Aristotelian naturalism is a good vantage point from which to consider the moral implications of evolution. Sociobiologists err in arguing that evolution is the basis for morality: not all or only moral features and institutions are selected for. Nor does the longevity of an institution argue for its moral status. On the other hand, facts about human capacities can have implications concerning human obligations, as Aristotle suggests. Aristotle’s eudaimonistic approach to ethics suggests that the notion of interests is far subtler (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  12.  95
    The Biological Base of Morality?Paul R. Lawrence - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:59-79.
    The study of human morality has historically been carried out primarily by philosophers and theologians. Now this broad topic is also being studied systematically by evolutionary biologists and various behavioral and social sciences. Based upon a review of this work, this paper will propose a unified explanation of human morality as an innate feature of human minds. The theory argues that morality is an innate skill that developed as a means to fulfill the human drive to bond with others in (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  13.  90
    Human Nature and Business Ethics.Joshua D. Margolis - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:129-133.
    While there seems to be little controversy about whether there is a biological or evolutionary basis for human morality, in business and other endeavors, there is considerable controversy about the nature of this basis and the proper populations in which to study this foundation. Moreover, I suggest, the most fundamental element of this basis may be the tendency of humans and other species to experience the world in evaluative terms.
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  14.  67
    Human Nature and Business Ethics.David M. Messick - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:129-133.
    While there seems to be little controversy about whether there is a biological or evolutionary basis for human morality, in business and other endeavors, there is considerable controversy about the nature of this basis and the proper populations in which to study this foundation. Moreover, I suggest, the most fundamental element of this basis may be the tendency of humans and other species to experience the world in evaluative terms.
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  15.  68
    Can Science Tell Us What Is Right? An Argument for the Affirmative, With Qualifications.Lisa H. Newton - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:221-233.
    We argue that the goal of natural excellence, discoverable by scientific observation of the species, is appropriately called good, and the proper object of human development and education. That affirmation stands, but we are forced to acknowledge several conceptual difficulties (in the deliberate creation of “natural” excellences, for example, and in cases of plurality of excellences) and a final inability to reconcile human freedom—surely part of the natural excellence of human life—with the need to prevent humans from using that freedom (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  16.  33
    A Response to William C. Frederick.Mollie Painter-Morland - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:177-188.
    This paper addresses the inherent danger of relativism in any naturalistic theory about moral decision-making and action. The implications of Frederick’s naturalistic view of corporations can easily lead one to believe that it has become impossible for theevolutionary firm (EF) to act with moral responsibility. However, if Frederick’s naturalistic account is located within the context of hisand other writers’ insights about complexity science, it may become possible to maintain a sense of creative, pragmatic moral decision-making in the face of supposedly (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  17.  59
    Brief Remarks on the Evolutionary Method.Robert A. Phillips - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:235-238.
    There are explicit claims to Darwinian thinking in numerous fields of study. A common temptation associated with this method across disciplines is to call some attributes “natural” and others “cultural” in origin. But this distinction can be dangerous—particularly when applied to ethics. When employing the Darwinian method, ideas should be evaluated in the same way whether the characteristics are described as natural or as cultural. We should ascertain the moral usefulness of a trait irrespective of its genetic basis or lack (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  18.  68
    To Propagate and to Prosper.Tara J. Radin - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:289-310.
    This article examines the contribution of nature and the sciences toward a deeper understanding of business. Integrating these disciplines with stakeholder theory opens up new avenues for thinking about business that will potentially offer greater success in addressing the disconnect between moral discretion and the behavior of businesspeople. The specific focus is on integration of modern Darwinism (evolutionary psychology) and business theory. According to modern Darwinism, there are insufficient resources for all genes to reproduce. Natural selection occurs as genes compete (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  19.  59
    Founding Moral Reasoning on Evolutionary Psychology.Saras D. Sarasvathy - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:135-144.
    In this paper I develop a critique of the strong adaptationist view inherent in the work of Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, as presentedat the Ruffin Lectures series in 2002. My critique proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, I advance arguments as to why I find the particular adaptation story that the authors advance for their experimental results unpersuasive even when I fully accept the value of their experimental results. In the second stage, I grant them their adaptation (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  20.  70
    The Evolutionary Firm and Its Moral (Dis)Contents.Sandra A. Waddock - 2004 - The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics 4:145-176.
    The business firm, called here the Evolutionary Firm, is shown to be a phenomenon of nature. The firm’s motives, organization, productivity, strategy, and moral significance are a direct outgrowth of natural evolution. Its managers, directors, and employees are natural agents enacting and responding to biological, physical, and ecological impulses inherited over evolutionary time from ancient human ancestors. The Evolutionary Firm’s moral posture is a function of its economizing success, competitive drive, quest for market dominance, social contracting skills, and the neural (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
 Previous issues
  
Next issues