The nineteenth century saw the development of reductive views of attention. The German philosopher and psychologist Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) proposed an original reductive view according to which attention is nothing but interest and interest itself is a positive feeling. Stumpf’s view was developed by Francis Bradley (1846-1924), George Frederick Stout (1860-1944), and Josiah Royce (1855-1916), but has been overlooked in the recent literature. In this paper, I will expound Stumpf’s view of attention, trace it back to its Aristotelian roots (...) and defend the version offered by Stout and Royce. In this version a new kind of feeling, feelings of interest, and value, intellectual value, take centre stage. (shrink)

Terrence Deacon has described three orders of emergence; Arthur Peacocke and others have suggested four levels of human systems and sciences; and Philip Clayton has postulated an additional, transcendent, level. Orders and levels describe distinct aspects of emergence, with orders characterizing topological complexity and levels characterizing theoretical knowledge and causal power. By using Deacon's orders to analyze and relate each of the four "lower" levels one can project that analysis on the transcendent level to gain insight into the teleodynamic emergence (...) of transcendent-level systems. I argue that cross-cultural interactions among human cultural-level systems results in the emergence of the "universal" transcendental norms historically characterized as the Greek Good, Beauty, and Truth. These norms require a dynamic existence that I characterize as the emergence of Spirit, using Josiah Royce's community of interpretation, and that I suggest provides a pragmatic clarification of Clayton's transcendent level. An understanding of those emergent norms clarifies ethical systems, highlights the importance of aesthetics in understanding scientific systems, and suggests the necessity of community in fruitful science-and-religion dialogue on human systems. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Josiah Royce in FocusDwayne A. TunstallJosiah Royce in Focus Jacquelyn Ann K. Kegley. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008.Josiah Royce in Focus reads like a sequel to Jacquelyn Ann K. Kegley’s earlier book on Royce’s public philosophy, Genuine Individuals and Genuine Communities. As she did in Genuine Individuals and Genuine Communities, Kegley does a remarkable job of interpreting Royce’s philosophy such that it (...) has [End Page 127] contemporary relevance for academic philosophy, conflict resolution, psychology, and the religion-science dialogue. Yet, unlike with her earlier book, Kegley devotes over two-thirds of this book to the task of weaving together Royce’s life and educational experiences with his thought. This integration of Royce’s life with his thought allows the reader to glimpse just how Royce is “a model philosopher: a scholar and a committed teacher, as well as a philosopher much concerned about public issues and basic human concerns” (xiv). Kegley does this while introducing the reader to many dimensions of Royce, including Royce the son, Royce the father, Royce the first-generation Californian, Royce the first-rate historian of California, Royce the amateur novelist, and Royce the world traveler. Amazingly, she uses Royce’s life to illuminate his philosophical thought without psychologizing Royce and hence avoids the all-too-common urge to reduce people’s philosophical ideas to mere rationalizations of their own preferences and desires. This is to be applauded in the age of Oprah, the proliferation of memoirs, and the apparent glut of self-help books.The first five chapters constitute Kegley’s portrait of Royce the person and Royce the thinker. In chapter 1, “Royce as a Frontier Californian and Intellectual Pioneer: Forging Self and Thought in a New and Developing Land,” she introduces the reader to Royce the first-generation Californian and intellectual pioneer. Here she persuasively links his California frontier upbringing; his early educational experiences in California at the Lincoln School (San Francisco) and the University of California, Berkeley; his studies in Germany; and his graduate studies at Johns Hopkins to his concerns about social conflicts and his lifelong attempt to resolve those conflicts to better the communities in which they occur (7–12).Indeed, she persuasively argues that Royce had already formulated the central insights of his philosophy by the time of his arrival at Harvard University in 1882. Kegley’s interpretation of Royce’s intellectual development owes much to Randall Auxier’s recent work on Royce’s thought. In Auxier’s interpretation of Royce’s thought, Royce had formulated the central intellectual insights of his philosophy—especially his ethics, philosophy or religion, and public philosophy—years before The Religious Aspect of Philosophy was published in 1885. This account of Royce’s intellectual development differs somewhat from Frank M. Oppenheim’s account. Oppenheim’s account depicts Royce’s intellectual development as a series of interrelated yet momentous “maximal intellectual insights.” Each of these insights marks a noticeable shift in his intellectual development. Oppenheim thinks that, of all the maximal intellectual insights Royce had throughout his career, the [End Page 128] most momentous one is the 1912 Peircean insight. This insight leads Royce to convert to Peircean semiotics and clarify his moral philosophy and philosophy of religion with Peirce’s theory of interpretation. In Oppenheim’s account, The Sources of Religious Insight (1912) and The Problem of Christianity (1913) are the glorious fruits of his Peircean insight. What Kegley has done in chapter 1 is to provide an account of Royce’s intellectual development that supersedes Oppenheim’s account. Indeed, her account of Royce’s intellectual development could possibly change how scholars study Royce’s thought, much in the same way that John E. Smith’s Royce’s Social Infinite did from the early 1950s until recently.In chapter 2, “The Self,” Kegley depicts Royce as a late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century psychologist whose ideas are still relevant today. She reminds the reader throughout this chapter that Royce is a pioneer in psychology, given that his book Outlines of Psychology (1903) advances an approach to psychology that sidesteps faculty psychology and that he is one of the first psychologists, along with William James... (shrink)

Anthologies are particularly difficult to review. They offer diverse perspectives on the issues inherent in utopian thought but at the same time often struggle to present a coherent set of arguments. Rethinking Utopia: Interdisciplinary Approaches suffers from several of the problems inherent in anthologies. This is not to say that this collection does not provide useful insights into questions of utopian thought and practice. In the introduction, the editor of Rethinking Utopia, Ebru Deniz Ozan, points to the necessity of utopia (...) in these times. She quite wisely suggests that we must overcome the “learned helplessness of the present day” (2). I would agree that this is one of the most critical questions facing... Read More. (shrink)

This chapter examines the diverse ways the archetype of the Self manifests in daily and social life through sacred practices. Sacred practice is an expression of the psychological complex in the sense that it helps us digest otherwise overwhelming archetypal material. There are four major types of sacred practice: attention to the common and ordinary, finding the sacred in space and place, encountering the sacred in traditional religious practice, and alternative spiritual practices. Each kind of sacred practice both reveals and (...) conceals the sacred. I argue that if we can attend to the hidden material within each sacred practice, we will be rewarded with spiritual growth and a greater sense of wholeness in life. (shrink)

In the field of business and society, several complementary frameworks appear to be in competition for supremacy. Although debatable, the prime contenders appear to include: (1) corporate social responsibility; (2) business ethics; (3) stakeholder management; (4) sustainability; and (5) corporate citizenship. Despite the prevalence of the five frameworks, difficulties remain in understanding what each construct really means, or should mean, and how each might relate to the other. To address the confusion, we propose three core concepts (i.e., value, balance, and (...) accountability) that might be used to better integrate the five frameworks and potentially provide the basis for further theoretical development of the business and society field. (shrink)

Following a review and critique of corporate social responsibility orientation (CSRO) research, suggestions are provided towards the development of a revised CSRO research instrument. One possible use of the revised instrument is the generation of “CSR Portraits" of individuals, stakeholder groups, corporations, or industries. The paper concludes with a discussion of finure directions for CSRO research.

This business ethics collection is composed of a variety of original and unique journal articles published by the very first chair of business ethics in Canada, Dr. Arthur Wesley Cragg. As a moral philosopher, Dr. Cragg delves into a range of business ethics topics, including: stakeholder theory; business ethics in North America; human rights; corruption; bribery; as well as the future of business ethics. The book addresses such questions as: What are the current trends in business ethics research, teaching, and (...) training in North America? In an industry like mining, who counts as a stakeholder and how do managers talk about corporate responsibilities?; To what extent do both the business and ethics case arguments supporting stakeholder theory hold up to scrutiny? Why should corporations obey the law? Business ethics has certainly matured as a distinct academic field, however, critical analysis of the very topics falling within the field has rarely taken place. This book addresses that gap and would be of great interest to business ethics academics, business ethics researchers and practitioners, and graduate-level students interested in the field of business ethics. (shrink)

Virginia Held, best known for her landmark book Rights and Goods, has made an indelible mark on the fields of ethics, feminist philosophy, and social and political thought. Her impact on a generation of feminist thinkers is unrivaled and she has been at the forfront of discussions about the way in which an ethic of care can affect social and political matters. These new essays by leading contemporary philosophers range over all of these areas. While each stands alone, the (...) essays together demonstrate the lasting value of Held's work to the field. Includes an afterword by Held. (shrink)

In November, 1991, the U.S. Congress enacted the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines legislation which had a dramatic impact on corporate America. Can the Guidelines be used as a model or framework by other countries? Could other countries in the world benefit from adopting a similar piece of legislation? Are there any limitations to consider? In addressing these issues, the authors make the argument that the time has arrived for other countries to consider the development of legislation similar to the Guidelines (...) in order to improve organizational ethics. (shrink)

Scholarship into the empirical relationship between moral intensity (MI) and ethical decision-making (EDM) offers only equivocal empirical results. This ethical decision-making study is the first cumulative review to synthesize and assess over three decades of research into Jones’ (1991) MI construct by investigating the influence of each of the MI characteristics on Rest’s (1986) ethical decision-making stages (EDMS): awareness, judgment, intention, and behavior. After classifying 125 empirical papers according to the effect each moral intensity characteristic has on each EDMS, only (...) two of six MI characteristics (magnitude of consequences and social consensus) were found to have a consistent positive association, three characteristics were observed to have a moderate relationship (temporal immediacy, concentration of effect, and probability of effect), while proximity appears to have only a weak connection with EDM. This research review challenges the current conceptualization of the MI construct on both empirical and theoretical grounds. The analysis concludes with a brief discussion of the managerial implications of the analysis. (shrink)

Chapter 1 introduced Lotze’s view of interest. Interest served as the basis for affective accounts of self- and bodily consciousness in Chapters 2 and 3. Interest plays a further important role in Lotze’s theory of attention. This chapter will highlight the distinctive character of Lotze’s interest-based approach to the mind by comparing and contrasting it with Herbart’s view, the so-called spotlight view of attention. According to Lotze, interest steers attention, and the centre of our consciousness at a time is the (...) objects we attend to then. So we need to ask Lotze, what is attention? Can it be analysed, or is it a primitive power of the mind? How is it connected to interest? How does attention centre consciousness? The chapter examines Lotze-inspired answers to these questions. (shrink)

If humans are not capable of immortality, then eschatological doctrines of heaven and hell make little sense. On that Christians agree. But not all Christians agree on whether humans are essentially immortal. Some hold that the early church was right to borrow from the ancient Greek philosophers and to bring their sense of immortality to bear on the interpretation of biblical passages about the afterlife. Others, however, suggest that we are inherently mortal, and only conditionally immortal. This latter view is (...) usually associated with an annihilationist interpretation of the doctrine of hell and a rejection of eternal torment. In a philosophical analysis and argument, McLeod-Harrison proposes that humans are, indeed, immortal, but not essentially so. But neither are we immortal accidentally or conditionally. Instead, immortality is an enduring property--a property we cannot lose once created. McLeod-Harrison carefully delineates the sense of immortality he defends and provides a broadly Christian philosophical argument for it. The argument, if correct, leaves the recent suggestion that the unredeemed are annihilated on unsteady metaphysical feet. However, McLeod-Harrison does not defend eternal conscious punishment for the unredeemed, but suggests some ways to think about the possibility of a universal salvation. ""McLeod-Harrison provides an admirably careful metaphysical analysis of the concept of human immortality, ultimately arguing for the impossibility of personal annihilation. Whether or not one finally agrees with his thesis, this work is an immensely valuable resource, especially as regards discussions of philosophical anthropology and the doctrine of hell."" --James S. Spiegel, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Taylor University ""In this fascinating, albeit complicated, argument against conditional immortality (annihilationism), the author makes no claim that the human soul is essentially immortal; he argues instead that, once a human offspring acquires a fully robust free will and thus becomes fully human, it is metaphysically impossible that it should cease to exist altogether. Whether or not one accepts every detail of this argument, it provides an original and intriguing twist to theological discussions of free will."" --Thomas Talbott, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Willamette University, Author of The Inescapable Love of God ""I often say the future of the hell debate is between conditional immortality and universal reconciliation, and it is no secret that I think the biblical case for the former is unassailable. However, while I am not persuaded by this volume's case for enduring and universal human immortality, it nevertheless promises to add precision to the language of immortality and to feature prominently in the philosophical side of that debate moving forward."" --Christopher M. Date, editor of Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism Mark S. McLeod-Harrison is Professor of Philosophy at George Fox University. (shrink)

Inflectional morphology has been taken as a paradigmatic example of rule-governed grammatical knowledge (Pinker, 1999). The plausibility of this claim may be related to the fact that it is mainly based on studies of English, which has a very simple inflectional system. We examined the representation of inflectional morphology in Serbian, which encodes number, gender, and case for nouns. Linguists standardly characterize this system as a complex set of rules, with disagreements about their exact form. We present analyses of a (...) large corpus of nouns which showed that, as in English, Serbian inflectional morphology is quasiregular: It exhibits numerous partial regularities creating neighborhoods that vary in size and consistency. We then asked whether a simple connectionist network could encode this statistical information in a manner that also supported generalization. A network trained on 3,244 Serbian nouns learned to produce correctly inflected phonological forms from a specification of a word's lemma, gender, number, and case, and generalized to untrained cases. The model's performance was sensitive to variables that also influence human performance, including surface and lemma frequency. It was also influenced by inflectional neighborhood size, a novel measure of the consistency of meaning to form mapping. A word-naming experiment with native Serbian speakers showed that this measure also affects human performance. The results suggest that, as in English, generating correctly inflected forms involves satisfying a small number of simultaneous probabilistic constraints relating form and meaning. Thus, common computational mechanisms may govern the representation and use of inflectional information across typologically diverse languages. (shrink)

Many Christians take an exclusivist stance on the nature and access of salvation. This essay explores the realist assumptions often found behind such exclusivist views and presents an alternative understanding of Christian salvation that is inclusivistic, irrealistic, and pluralistic.

Meister Eckhart has been a huge influence on spirituality for more than 800 years. This book of meditations is for people seeking the 'wayless way.' It is not for those looking for a simple path. These fresh, stunning renderings of Eckhart's writings in poetic form bring life to one of the great spiritual voices of any age. They reveal what it means to love God and find meaning in darkness-not darkness in general, but your darkness. Only when you are in (...) the darkness, Meister says, do you have even the possibility of seeing the light. (shrink)

This essay provides practical tips for effective teaching in science-and-religion courses. It offers suggestions for dealing with difficult questions and creating a climate of shared learning. Along with pedagogical advice, it covers fundamental principles for teaching broadly integrative religion-and-science courses. Instructors are encouraged to reflect on their purpose(s) in offering their course and to formulate specific objectives using the techniques and resources outlined here.

Steven Hales’s defense of his philosophical relativism in “What to Do about Incommensurable Doxastic Perspectives” challenges a number of my criticisms made in my “Hales’s Argument for Philosophical Relativism.” I respond to each of these challenges and make a number of further observations about Hales’s position.

Christian feminist theory faces many stresses, some due directly to the apparent nature of Christianity and its seeming patriarchy. But feminism can also be thought inherent in Christianity. All people are made in God’s image. Christians should view women and men as equals, just as they should see peopleof all races as equals. The basic question discussed, within a biblical and philosophical framework, is if it possible for Christian feminist theory to hold thatthere is an essence to being a woman, (...) being a man or being human all the while recognizing vast differences among women, among men and among human persons? I propose a beginning solution to this problem. (shrink)

In response to my Make/Believing the World(s), Efird argues that theistic irrealism provides the grounds for solving the problem of the Trinity. I argue that Efird is wrong so long as theistic irrealism is to remain consistent with traditional, orthodox Christianity. On his reading of theistic irrealism, the best he can provide is a modalist version of the Trinity.

R L 385, Houghton Library; Harvard University Archives. This chapter compiles Charles S. Peirce’s correspondence with philosopher Josiah Royce, centering on their intense debate over Peirce’s proof that “two collections cannot each be greater than the other”—a cornerstone of his theory of infinite multitudes. The letters reveal Peirce’s rigorous defense against Royce’s critiques, demonstrating his commitment to logical precision and the ethics of scientific reasoning. Peirce dissects potential fallacies, appeals to diagrammatic insights (hinting at existential graphs), and insists (...) on the limitations governing relational logic. Beyond technical disputes, the exchange touches on metaphysics, the foundations of mathematics, and Peirce’s struggles with institutional neglect. Royce’s resistance (see Introduction to this volume) reveals their philosophical tensions, whereas Peirce’s persistence illuminates his unyielding quest to establish logic as an exact science. These letters, which are marked by intellectual urgency and personal candidness, frame Peirce’s mature work on continuity, pragmaticism, and abduction. (shrink)

A very significant aspect of Josiah Royce's philosophical achievement is carefully and fully treated with special emphasis on his contribution as a philosopher of spirituality.

Male lineage was critical to family leadership as well as the public leadership of kings and priests, while warriors and prophets were not lineage roles. Instead, their leadership could be affirmed textually by warrior commission narratives and prophetic call stories. The call stories of the “major prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, not to mention Moses) share several literary features with commissions of warriors (such as Joshua, Gideon, Abimelech, and Samson). Unlike the traditional form of warrior commissions, prophetic call narratives look (...) like relative innovations drawing on different features of warrior commissions. They manifest genre similarities with incantations as well. (shrink)

The paper begins with an examination of traditional attitudes towards business ethics. I suggest that these attitudes fail to recognize that a principal function of ethics is to facilitate cooperation. Further, that despite the emphasis on competition in modern market economies, business like all other forms of social activity is possible only where people are prepared to respect rules in the absence of which cooperation is rendered difficult or impossible. Rules or what I call the ethics of doing, however, constitute (...) just one dimension of ethics. A second has to do with what we see and how we see it; a third with who we are or what I describe as the ethics of being. Of these three dimensions, the first and the third have been most carefully explored by philosophers and are most frequently the focus of attention when teaching business ethics is being discussed. I argue that this focus is unfortunate in as much as it is the second dimension which falls most naturally into the ambit of modern secular educational institutions. It is here that moral education is most obviously unavoidable, and most clearly justifiable in modern secular teaching environments. I conclude by describing the importance of this second dimension for the modern world of business. (shrink)

"There's nothing available that I know of that comes as close to representing the range of Royce's works.... " -- John H Lavely.

Now back in print, and in paperback, these two classic volumes illustrate the scope and quality of Royce'sthought, providing the most comprehensive selection ofhis writings currently available. They offer a detailedpresentation of the viable relationship Royce forgedbetween the local experience of community and thedemands of a philosophical and scientific vision ofthe human situation.The selections reprinted here are basic to any understandingof Royce's thought and its pressing relevanceto contemporary cultural, moral, and religious issues.

Leaders and leadership have not been central topics in recent biblical scholarship despite their importance in the Hebrew Bible. This is understandable, given the many challenging aspects of leaders and leadership in general and in the Bible in particular. However, new approaches to their biblical representations offer new and sometimes surprising insights. Little considered in biblical studies, the central story that this book tells about biblical leaders and leadership concerns the impact of family: how family models both family and public (...) leadership; how it molds leaders; and how it is commonly entangled in public life for the Hebrew Bible. For its narratives, family is a central dimension of leadership deeply interrelated to gender as well as social location. (shrink)

Stakeholder theorists have typically offered both a business case and an ethics case for business ethics. I evaluate arguments for both approaches and find them wanting. I then shift the focus from ethics to law and ask: “Why should corporations obey the law?” Contrary to what shareholder theories typically imply, neoclassical or profit maximization theories of the firm can offer answers based only on instrumental justifications. Instrumental justifications for obeying the law, however, are pragmatically and normatively incoherent. This is because (...) the modern corporation is a legal artifact. It exists because communities create the legal framework necessary for its existence. Individual corporations can therefore be said to owe their existence to a partnership (what might be called a social contract) between shareholders and governments, a partnership that is itself built on the shared though often implicit understanding that corporations have an unconditional (categorical) obligation both to obey the law and to treat their stakeholders ethically while generating wealth for their shareholders. (shrink)

Using 15 years of data (1995–2009) from literature reviews, survey questionnaires, personal interviews, and desktop research, the authors examine North American (Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America) regional trends in business ethics research, teaching and training. The patterns indicate that business ethics continues to flourish in North America with high levels of productivity in both quantity and quality of teaching, training and research publication outputs. Topics/themes that have been covered during the time period are treated with an acknowledgement (...) of the concomitant marginal impact on improving ethical business behavior and contexts—as recurring domestic and global scandals attest. Major North American business ethics challenges/issues to be addressed in the future are identified. (shrink)

The paper explores the intersection of two “value systems”, one which condemns bribery as morally unacceptable and worthy of criminal sanctions on the one hand, but justified and/or excusable in the search for competitive advantage internationally on the other hand. Bribery is suggested as posing a serious ethical dilemma for multinational corporations with implications for business ethics.

Bribery and corruption are widely thought today to be a serious impediment to economic development. This view is reflected in the policies of international financial institutions like the World Bank, national export development banks in OECD countries, the United Nations, and many other international and national institutions and organizations. It is also reflected in mainstream academic research. Nonetheless, a contrarian stream of research has emerged in recent years that argues that corruption in at least in some situations can enhance and (...) does enhance economic development. Commonly cited as examples where this is the case are China, South Korea, the Philippines, and Brazil. All of these countries have experienced rapid economic development even though their economies are infused with corruption. This paper explores the literature that uses quantitative analytical tools that appears to generate findings that indicate that under some conditions corruption can facilitate economic development. This study examines key examples of that literature and concludes that while corruption and rapid economic development can coexist, the suggestion that corruption enhances or can enhance or facilitate economic development is mistaken. The real value of these studies, I suggest, is their potential contribution to shaping effective policies designed to control and minimize corruption in different economic settings. (shrink)

There are few issues in business ethics that are more clearly on the public agenda than that of corruption and bribery. This chapter considers first the concept of bribery and distinguishes it from gift giving. It identifies the inherent features of bribery and its typical effects. The chapter looks at bribery as a complex social phenomenon and confronts the paradox that although bribery is almost universally condemned, its practice is widespread. It points out some of the legal measures undertaken to (...) discourage bribery and corruption more generally, emphasizing in particular the roles of international organizations and global conventions. Corruption in all its forms, including bribery, is by its nature covert, for which the now widely prescribed antidote is financial transparency on the part of business and government. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the moral character of the different forms of corruption. (shrink)

An ethical approach to crisis management is presented. A series of six core ethical values (i.e., trustworthiness; responsibility; caring; citizenship; respect; and fairness) are applied to the actions of oil company BP with respect to its response to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Corporate governance has resurfaced as a topic in the ongoing financial crises. This article frames the debate on corporate governance within the ongoing concerns about the corporate role in wider societal governance. It then maps out the context of the six scholarly contributions in this special issue by highlighting how the current debate moves towards a closer integration of governance at [the] corporate and societal level.

This paper describes what is involved in building an ethical component into mine planning, development, operations, closure, and site rehabilitation. How best corporate practice measures up to ethical criteria is examined. Finally, reasons for adopting an ethical stance in mining are set out and evaluated.

This paper argues that [the] widely accepted understanding of the respective responsibilities of business and government in the post war industrialized world can be traced back to a tacit “social contract” that emerged following the Second World War. The effect of this contract was to assign responsibility for generating wealth to business and responsibility for ensuring the equitable sharing of wealth to governments. Without question, this arrangement has resulted in substantial improvements in the quality of life in the industrialized world (...) in the intervening period. I argue that with [the] advance of economic globalization and the growing power and influence of multi national corporations, this division of responsibilities is no longer viable or defensible. What is needed, fifty years after the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, is a new social contract that shares responsibilities for human rights and related ethical responsibilities in a manner more in keeping with the vision captured by the post war Declaration. I conclude by suggesting some reasons for thinking that a new social contract may be emerging. (shrink)

This article examines whether ethical business practice enhances financial performance with respect to interorganizational favour exchange. We argue that the link between the ethicality and economic utility of interorganizational favour exchange is governed by: (1) organizational–individual interest alignment/conflict and (2) the fairness or justifiability of favour exchanges from the perspective of third parties. We classify interorganizational (IO) favour exchange into four types (Business–Personal, Personal–Business, Personal–Personal and Business–Business favour exchange). Our analysis shows that the first three types of favour exchange are (...) unethical as they involve conflicts between organizational and individual interests in one or both participating organizations that negatively affect organizational value creation. The last type of favour exchange involves organizational–individual interest alignment in both participating organizations and positively affects the capacity of those involved in the exchange to create value. Favour exchanges of this fourth variety are ethically justifiable unless they unfairly damage the legitimate interests of third parties. In the latter case, these favour exchanges create the risk of negative third party reactions, which in turn affect the sustainability of the benefits of the favour exchanges to the focal group (the dyad). Our research results advance understanding of the ethical and economic implications of IO favour exchange, counter the prejudice against this behaviour in organizations, provide ethical guidance for management and business practice, and have implications for the relationship between doing well and doing good. (shrink)

The editor/author comments on two journal articles authored by his former PhD supervisor, Dr. Arthur Wesley Cragg.

On Saturday, Aug. 26, the Schulich School of Business lost one of its esteemed faculty members, Professor Emeritus of Policy and Business Ethics and a senior scholar, Arthur Wesley (Wes) Cragg.

Stakeholder theories propose that managers are responsible not only for maximizing shareholder value, but also for taking into account the well being of other parties affected by corporate decisions. While the language of stakeholder theory has been taken up in industries like mining, controversy remains. Disagreements arise not only about the apportionment of costs and benefits among stakeholders, but about who counts as a stakeholder and about how “costs” and “benefits” are to be conceived. This paper investigates these questions empirically (...) by examining how managers in one mining company talk about corporate responsibilities and by analysing the explicit and implicit values systems and moral logics which inform this talk. The investigations discovered that while some claims by stakeholder groups were readily accommodated by managers, others were not. Analysis of the value frameworks employed by the managers confirms the views of leading stakeholder theorists that stakeholder theory is grounded in the realities of management practice and behaviour. (shrink)

Our paper examines the role of distributive justice in the pursuit of sustainable development. One goal of the paper is to challenge the assumption that sustainability is an exclusively forward looking idea. The tool of analysis is a case study of a proposed hydro electric development on the Mattagami River in Northern Ontario. We look at the conflicts the project has generated as arising in large measure from historical injustices inflicted on aboriginal project stakeholders. Two principles of distributive justice are (...) identified and then used to evaluate three proposals for resolving those conflicts advanced by the principal stakeholders, Ontario Hydro, the First Nations affected, and the provincial government. We conclude that sustainability has moral structure and go on to evaluate the distributive justice dimension of that structure and its implications for sustainable resource development. (shrink)

The following article sets out the basic paradoxes dominating the field of business ethics. First, despite ethics playing a prominent current role in the public rhetoric of business, significant and damaging unethical conduct by business continues to take place. In addition, despite the emergence of business ethics as a distinct area of research, there is scant evidence that the business ethics literature is impacting either the theory or practice of management. The author sets out two possible future directions for the (...) business ethics field. (shrink)

One type of noun in Biblical Hebrew, the *qātîl form, applies to persons who are divine or human appointees. Prominent examples include māšîaḥ, “anointed one,” used for kings and priests (which became the English word “messiah”) and nāzîr, a person who is “vowed” or “dedicated,” in other words, “a nazirite” (such as Samson). This passive usage of the *qātîl form for persons embeds a particular view of leaders, namely that they are chosen by other parties, whether divine or human. This (...) ideological perspective entailed in the usage represents what sociolinguists call “ideological grammar.” The usage also served a related ideological function to support the monarchy and priesthood alike by suggesting that the lineages of these institutions are divinely appointed and supported by their human subjects. While such *qatīl nouns mostly involve public leaders, a few are socially anchored in the family. (shrink)

In 1908, American philosopher Josiah Royce foresaw the future. Race questions and prejudices, he said, "promise to become, in the near future, still more important than they have ever been before." Like his student W. E. B. Du Bois in Souls of Black Folk, Royce recognized that the problem of the next century would be, as Du Bois put it, "the problem of the color line." The twentieth century saw vast changes in race relations, but even after the (...) election of the first African-American U.S. president, questions of race and the nature of community persist. Though left out of the mainstream of academic philosophy, Royce's conception of community nevertheless influenced generations of leaders who sought to end racial, religious, and national prejudice. Royce's work provided the conceptual starting place for the Cultural Pluralism movement of the 1920s and 1930s, and his notion of the Beloved Community influenced the work and vision of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the civil rights movement. Communities, whether they are understood as racial or geographic, religious or scientific, Royce argued, are formed by the commitments of individuals to causes or shared ideals. This starting point-the philosophy of loyalty-provides a means to understand the nature of communities, their conflicts, and their potential for growth and coexistence. Just as this work had relevance in the twentieth century in the face of anti-Black and anti-immigrant prejudice, Royce's philosophy of loyalty and conception of community has new relevance in the twenty-first century. This new edition of Royce's Race Questions, Provincialism, and Other American Questions includes a new introduction to Royce's philosophy of loyalty and the essays included in the volume, and a second introduction connecting Royce's work with contemporary discussions of race. The volume also includes six supplementary essays by Royce that provide background for the original essays, raise questions about his views, and show the potential of those views to inform other discussions about religious pluralism, the philosophy of science, the role of history, and the future of the American community. (shrink)

The Philosophy of Loyalty: Josiah Royce on Philosophical Commitment: Explore the philosophy of loyalty with The Philosophy of Loyalty by the eminent Josiah Royce. This insightful book delves into the profound concept of loyalty and its philosophical implications for individuals and societies. The Philosophy of Loyalty by Josiah Royce: Royce's book is a philosophical exploration of loyalty, examining its role in fostering meaningful connections and enduring success. It provides insights into building trust, commitment, and loyalty in (...) both personal and societal realms. It's not just a book; it's a contemplation on the ethical foundations of loyalty and commitment. Josiah Royce, a renowned philosopher, shares his reflections on loyalty in this book. Drawing from his deep understanding of ethics and philosophy, Royce offers readers a profound exploration of the principles that underpin true commitment. (shrink)

Josiah Royce’s late masterpiece, ’The Problem of Christianity’, is based on a series of lectures he delivered at Manchester College, Oxford, in 1913. It presents his philosophical interpretation of Christianity’s fundamental ideas--community, sin, atonement, and saving grace; shows their relevance to the current confluence of world religions; and grounds his position upon a personal transformation into genuine loyalty toward the community of the entire human family. (publisher, edited).