The Anti-Egoist Perspective in Business Ethics and its Anti-Business Manifestations

Marja Svanberg; Carl F.C. Svanberg

doi:10.1007/s40926-022-00202-7

The Anti-Egoist Perspective in Business Ethics and its Anti-Business Manifestations

Marja Svanberg^*
, Carl F.C. Svanberg

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Management Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

355 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This article identifies the moral premises of contemporary business ethics. After analyzing thirty business ethics texts, the article shows that many business ethicists hold the conventional view that being moral is altruistic. This altruistic perspective logically implies a negative evaluation of self-interest and the profit motive, and business. As a result, the prevailing attitude in mainstream business ethics is that without altruistic restraints businesspeople are inclined to lie, steal, and cheat, not create and earn wealth through honest production and voluntary trade. Therefore, the central concern in current business ethics is to curb businesspeople morally, not to empower them in their self-interested desire to make money. In the final analysis, the article shows how the anti-egoist assumptions manifest themselves in a moral prejudice against business, leading to a biased, unfair, and misleading account of the business world.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	569-596
Number of pages	28
Journal	Philosophy of Management
Volume	21
Issue number	4
Early online date	8 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-022-00202-7
Publication status	Published - Dec 2022
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Grant/Award Number: 80NM0018D0004; National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Numbers: 1444080, 1740721; University of Southern California (USC) Funding information This work was partially funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) I‐Corps awards 1444080 and 1740721; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under NASA contract 80NM0018D0004; and the University of Southern California (USC) Undergraduate Research Associates Program. Any opinions, findings, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the aforementioned organizations. The authors thank the NASA SBIR program for access to the data; Shweta LNU; Jonathan Eyer; the Management of INnovation, Entrepreneurial Research, and Venture Analysis (MINERVA) lab; and the anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts. One author (APB) served as co‐PI and Research PI on awards acknowledged herein prior to service at NSF. To manage potential conflicts of interest she was recused from these awards at NSF and from associated roles at USC. 1

Keywords

Altruism
bias
Business ethics
Business ethics textbooks
Egoism
Profit motive

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10.1007/s40926-022-00202-7Licence: CC BY

The Anti-Egoist Perspective in Business Ethics and its Anti-Business ManifestationsFinal published version, 802 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The Anti-Egoist Perspective in Business Ethics and its Anti-Business Manifestations",

abstract = "This article identifies the moral premises of contemporary business ethics. After analyzing thirty business ethics texts, the article shows that many business ethicists hold the conventional view that being moral is altruistic. This altruistic perspective logically implies a negative evaluation of self-interest and the profit motive, and business. As a result, the prevailing attitude in mainstream business ethics is that without altruistic restraints businesspeople are inclined to lie, steal, and cheat, not create and earn wealth through honest production and voluntary trade. Therefore, the central concern in current business ethics is to curb businesspeople morally, not to empower them in their self-interested desire to make money. In the final analysis, the article shows how the anti-egoist assumptions manifest themselves in a moral prejudice against business, leading to a biased, unfair, and misleading account of the business world.",

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note = "Funding Information: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Grant/Award Number: 80NM0018D0004; National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Numbers: 1444080, 1740721; University of Southern California (USC) Funding information Funding Information: This work was partially funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) I‐Corps awards 1444080 and 1740721; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under NASA contract 80NM0018D0004; and the University of Southern California (USC) Undergraduate Research Associates Program. Any opinions, findings, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the aforementioned organizations. The authors thank the NASA SBIR program for access to the data; Shweta LNU; Jonathan Eyer; the Management of INnovation, Entrepreneurial Research, and Venture Analysis (MINERVA) lab; and the anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts. One author (APB) served as co‐PI and Research PI on awards acknowledged herein prior to service at NSF. To manage potential conflicts of interest she was recused from these awards at NSF and from associated roles at USC. 1 Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

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The Anti-Egoist Perspective in Business Ethics and its Anti-Business Manifestations

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