Shareholder value orientation has been introduced as a means to improve the performance of the corporation. The paper investigates the theoretical justification for the claim that increasing shareholder value is the purpose of corporate governance. It demonstrates that shareholder value is the control principle, not the purpose of the firm. The idea that shareholder value is the only goal of the corporation is a mistaken transfer from the financial to the industrial firm. The paper also questions that the merger of (...) manager interests and owner interests introduced by the remuneration of managers by stock options improves the management performance. The self-apportioning of stock options by the management is in danger of becoming a form of insider trading. (shrink)

Sich in diesem Irrgarten zu orientieren, ist das Ziel dieses Buches. Dabei geht es vornehmlich um vier Fragestellungen, zwei philosophische und zwei theologische: 1.

Scientism shares with gnosticism and romanticism faith in the absolute creative and cognitive power of man; faith in the fact that human knowledge imposes to the world the way of its "uncovering" and "apparition". It likewise shares the belief in the autonomy and fictional character of knowledge.

Individual Liberty and Democratic Decision-Making Editor's Introduction Individual liberty is the basic value and justification for the political order of ...

Le problème de base de la métaphysique de Leibniz, à savoir comment pouvons nous penser que ce monde est le meilleur des mondes possibles, correspond dans sa structure et pas seulement d'un point de vue formel, à la question fondamentale de la théorie économique cherchant un système économique optimal. Alors que la métaphysique leibnizienne définit comme étant le meilleur des mondes possibles celui dans lequel l'existence de possibilia est élargie au maximum, la théorie économique, de son côté, voit dans une (...) maximisation de l'utile à l'individu, indissociable cependant d'une » maximisation de l'existence « , le critère de l'évolution économique. Cette concordance entre Leibniz et la théorie économique, à savoir que le problème de la maximisation occupe une place centrale, ammène à de nouvelles connaissances en ontologie et en sciences sociales et économiques. (shrink)

Religions are the largest communities of the global society and claim, at least in the cases of Islam and Christianity, to be universal interpretations of life and orders of existence. With the globalization of the world economy and the unity of the global society in the Internet, they gain unprecedented access to the entire human race through modern means of communication. At the same time, this globalization brings religions into conflict with one another in their claims to universal validity. How (...) can the conflict of religions be defused? The speculative, philosophical method of dealing with a religion is a way to present one's own religious convictions in the medium of philosophy and rational discourse. The philosophical approach to religion can serve as the basis of the conversation of the world religions, without dissolving their truth claims. It can reduce dogmatic claims and contribute to overcoming fundamentalism. Philosophy builds bridges between religions. The series A Discourse of the World Religions presents with this volume the fifth and last of the EXPO-Discourses of the World Religions, which took place near the end of the World Exposition EXPO 2000 in Hannover, Germany. The five EXPO-Discourses were held before and during the World Exposition EXPO 2000 in Hannover with the objective of a philosophical-theological dialogue of religions about central themes of their teachings. The series aims at a deeper understanding of the similarities and differences between Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in their theological and philosophical propositions. It sees in philosophy a bridge between the religions and a means to overcome religious hostility and fundamentalism and to further the dialogue of the religions. (shrink)

German Idealism develops its philosophy of history as the theory of becoming absolute and as absolute knowledge. Historism also originates from Hegel's and Schelling's discovery of absolute historicity as it turns against Idealism's philosophy of history by emphasizing the singular and unique in the process of history. German Idealism and Historism can be considered as the central German contribution to the history of ideas. Since Idealism became most influential for modern philosophy and Historism for modern historiography, they are analyzed in (...) this volume in a collaboration of philosophers and historians. German Idealism is presented in Schelling and its critics Schlegel, Baader, and Nietzsche; Historism in Ranke, Droysen, Burckhardt, and Treitschke. The volume further presents the impact of Idealism and Historism on present German approaches to the philosophy of history and outlines the debates on the possibility of a philosophy of history and on the methodology of the historical sciences. (shrink)

There is a gap between self-interest and morality that is caused not only by individual shortcomings but also by the interdependence of the outcome of individual action with the actions of others. If the others can be expected to be ethical this uncertainty about the others’ behaviour is reduced but not eliminated. Failure of economic motivation will be followed by failure of ethical motivation. Christianity or monotheistic religion in general comes into the picture to assure ethical behaviour of being advantageous (...) in the long run. The paper analyses the sequence ethics as compensation of the failure of economic motivation — religion as the compensation of the failure of ethical motivation. (shrink)

A justiça entre as gerações transformou-se num problema particularmente urgente nos nações industnalizadas devido ao decréscimo da população e à crescente divida pública. Isto verificase sobretudo em refoçao ao seguro social de reforma. O principal objectivo do presente artigo é investigar até que ponto o Estado Providência da Europa continental está possuído por urna tendência nele embutida a cair em ilusões acerca da sua verdadeira riqueza bem como acerca da sua efectiva e real protecção contra o problema que é o (...) empobrecimento das pessoas uma vez chegado o tempo da terceira idade. O autor analisa esta tendência a partir do que chama de ilusão do Estado Providencia, e isso por analogia com a ilusão da divida pública de que falava Ricardo. Dado que as pessoas tendem a agir sob o pressuposto de que a população permanece constante, hoje é um facto que elas tendem sistematicamente a sobrevalorizar o valor dos direitos acumulados em termos de segurança social. É que, diz o autor do artigo, o valor real dos direitos que as pessoas pretendem ter em relação ao sistema público de pensões é, de facto, muito mais baixo em situação de diminuição de população do que aquilo que eles supõem. Esta ilusão do Estado Providência, de facto, conduz os cidadãos a um inevitável desapontamento por relação às expectativas criadas em termos do pagamento de pensões urna vez chegada a idade de as receber e, ao mesmo tempo, a inevitáveis conflitos com a geração mais jovem, ou seja, com aqueles e aquetas que terão de trabalhar para que essas pensões possam efectivamente ser pagas. Nesse sentido, declara o autor do artigo, é preciso reconhecer que a questão da justiça inter-geracional a curto prazo entre as gerações actualmente vivas é ainda mais central e premente do que a questão da justiça para com as gerações futuras, malgrado o facto de esta ser frequentemente discutida sob o rótulo de justiça inter-geracional. Finalmente, o artigo discute também as consequências destes desenvolvimentos para o mercado global de capitals bem como a importância de se proceder a uma transição para um sistema de pensões de velhice financiado com fundos gerados no mercado de capitais. Justice between generations has become an urgent problem for the Industrialized nations due to decreasing populations and high public debt. This is particularly true for the old age pension social insurance. The article investigates the question whether the continental European welfare state show an in-built tendency towards illusions about their real wealth and the degree of their insuredness against old age poverty. It analyzes this tendency as "welfare state illusion" in analogy to Ricardos public debt illusion. Since people act under the assumption of a constant population they tend to overestimate systematically the value of their accumulated claims to the social insurance. The value of their claims to the public pension system is indeed much lower under conditions of shrinking populations then they assume. This welfare state illusion leads to the disappointment of expectations concerning the level of the old age pensions and to conflicts with the younger generation that has to work for the old age pensions. According to the author of the article, this question of the short term intergenerational justice of generations presently living is much more central then the question of justice towards future generations, a problem abo often discussed under the label of intergenerational justice. Finally, the article also discusses the consequences of these developments for the global capital market as well as the importance of a transition to a system of capital funded old age pensions. (shrink)