The Social Contract Model of Corporate Purpose and Responsibility

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (04) ◽  
pp. 433-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nien-hê Hsieh
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
For Profit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Responses ◽  
The Many

ABSTRACT:Of the many developments in business ethics that Thomas Donaldson has helped pioneer, one is the application of social contract theory to address questions about the responsibilities of business actors. InCorporations and Morality, Donaldson develops one of the most sustained and comprehensive accounts that aims to justify the existence of for-profit corporations and to specify and ground their responsibilities. In order to further our understanding about the purpose and responsibilities of productive organizations, and as a contribution to the scholarship on Donaldson’s thought, this paper gathers together the critical responses to Donaldson’s account along with Donaldson’s replies to his critics. The paper argues that we would do well to continue engaging with Donaldson’s account because of its distinctive and challenging conception of the purpose and responsibilities of productive organizations, but that many of the insights to be gained come from reframing the role played by social contract theory.

In Defense of a Self-Disciplined, Domain-Specific Social Contract Theory of Business Ethics

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Wempe
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
The Self ◽  
Domain Specificity ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Social

Abstract:This article sets out two central theses. Both theses primarily involve a fundamental criticism of current contractarian business ethics (CBE), but if these can be sustained, they also constitute two boundary conditions for any future contractarian theory of business ethics. The first, which I label the self-discipline thesis, claims that current CBE would gain considerably in focus if more attention were paid to the logic of the social contract argument. By this I mean the aims set by the theorist and method of reasoning by which normative conclusions are drawn in the contract model. The second, to which I refer as the domain-specificity thesis, argues that current CBE needs to be better adapted to its field of application and the specific goals which it aims to establish. I will substantiate these two theses on the basis of a comparative analysis of CBE with two earlier families of social contract theories.

The Normative Theories of Business Ethics: A Guide for the Perplexed

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hasnas
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Stockholder Theory

Abstract:The three leading normative theories of business ethics are the stockholder theory, the stakeholder theory, and the social contract theory. Currently, the stockholder theory is somewhat out of favor with many members of the business ethics community. The stakeholder theory, in contrast, is widely accepted, and the social contract theory appears to be gaining increasing adherents. In this article, I undertake a critical review of the supporting arguments for each of the theories, and argue that the stockholder theory is neither as outdated nor as flawed as it is sometimes made to seem and that there are significant problems with the grounding of both the stakeholder and social contract theory. I conclude by suggesting that a truly adequate normative theory of business ethics must ultimately be grounded in individual consent.

scholarly journals Konsep Nation-State dalam Pemikiran Ideologi Politik Melayu Islam pada Abad Ke-19 M (Studi Pemikiran Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi (1787-1854)

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-146
Author(s):  
Andi Chandra Jaya
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Management ◽  
The Social

The focus of this study is to answer the subject matter of how the concept of the nation-state according to Abdullah Munsyi in the constellation of Malay Islamic political ideology in the 19th century AD and how is the relevance of the concept of the current Indonesian nation state ? The study used the conscience morale theory of Ernest Renan and the social contract theory initiated by J. J. Roussae. This research is included in the library research category and uses historical approaches and political philosophy. The primary data in this study are Abdullah Musnyi's Hikayat Abdullah book published by Yayasan Karyawan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2007 and secondary data, in the form of books, journal articles, papers, and others related to research problems. the findings of the research are: 1). In accordance with the theory of conscience morale Ernest Renan and the social contract theory initiated by J. J. Roussae, Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi was the originator of nationalism. Through his most important work, Hikayat Abdullah, he put forward the formulation of Malay identity in the formulation of the nation which was understood as a Malay tribe or race who had the right to be involved in determining the Malay political format not as a community under a political system that was authoritarian. 2). His closeness with the British colonial side, thus forming the liberal thinking he obtained from Raffles and his friends. He not only dismantled the manipulation of royal ideology, but at the same time put forward a new view of the existence of a humanist individual. 3). The understanding of nationality has egalitarian values ​​that are very relevant to the current Indonesian context, especially the values ​​of equality (egalitarianism) in the midst of the emergence of conflicts in various conflicts today. Likewise the concept of nation-state is closely related to nationalism and good governance where good governance is based on the absolute existence of transparency, open participation, and accountability in all state activities at every level of state management, so that a clean government is formed. Keywords: Abdullah Munsyi, Nation-State, and Malay Political ideology

The Epicureans on Human Nature and its Social and Political Consequences

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Jan Maximilian Robitzsch
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
The Social

Based on certain passages in Colotes, Hermarchus, and Horace, the Epicureans may be thought to defend a social contract theory that is roughly Hobbesian. According to such a view, human life without the social contract is solitary and brutish. This paper argues that such a reading is mistaken. It offers a systematic analysis of Lucretius’s culture story in On the Nature of Things v as well as the Epicurean passages that at first sight seem to contradict the Lucretian account. The conclusion of such an analysis is not only that all extant evidence is internally consistent, but also that Epicurean social contract theory relies on a ‘dynamic’ conception of human nature: On the Epicurean view, agents have very different psychological motivations when coming together to form societies and when coming together to form political and legal states.

Gendering the General Will: Frankenstein’s Breaches of Contract

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Beenstock
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
General Will ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Creation Stories

As a sociable being that is barred from society, Frankenstein’s monster presents a sustained engagement with social contract theory’s major dilemma of whether individualism can produce sociability. The male creature’s isolation and inner disunity suggest that contract theory displaces men and is unable to concatenate even those members that should be eligible for full citizenship. Shelley focuses on the gender inequality of contract theory through her different creation stories of the creatures’ bodies. In Victor’s decision not to complete the female creature she rejects Wollstonecraft’s revisionist approach to Rousseau, and demonstrates that social contract theory cannot be rewritten to include women. Women are not defined as political subjects but do have independent wills. Therefore, they are potentially resistant to contract and a threat to political control. Contending with Wollstonecraft and Rousseau, and also Coleridge and Godwin, Shelley suggests that intertextual relations produce unpredictable results. The creatures are test cases for the social contract’s respective failures in terms of social cohesion and gender.

Male Power and Contract Theory: Hobbes and Locke in Carole Pateman's The Sexual Contract

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Boucher
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Classic Work ◽  
Sexual Contract ◽  
Male Power ◽  
The Social

This article critically analyzes Carole Pateman's novel and provocative reading of social contract theory in her now-classic work, The Sexual Contract. Pateman posits the existence of a sexual contract prior to the social contract which she argues has been suppressed in the tradition of Western political thought. The article indicates some of the potential weaknesses with constructing a gendered critique of contract theory through the lens of a sexual contract. The author specifically focuses on Pateman's re-interpretation of the patriarchalism of Hobbes and Locke to make this case.

A Method of Ethics?

2020 ◽  
pp. 403-416
Author(s):  
Albert Weale
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Ethical Argument ◽  
First Order ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theoretical Construction ◽  
Common Sense Morality

Modern social contract theory is a form of constructivism in ethics. Constructivism is both a normative programme and a meta-ethical programme. One objection to contract theory is that it is a ‘spare wheel’, adding nothing to first-order ethical argument. However, this line of argument runs up against the problem that there are certain practices, for example rape in marriage, that are better understood in terms of contractual morality than in terms of intuitive or common sense morality. Contract theory cannot be fully reductionist in a meta-ethical sense, because the theorist needs some intuitions to define an appropriate construction. One important role for contract theory is to evidence the social conditions for relations of justice among persons. Moreover, contract theory can sometimes be presented as though the theoretical construction is rigged, but this is a distortion of constructivist ambitions. Universalizability remains a challenge, as does the question of the determinateness of the results of contract reasoning.

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