Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics / Edition 2

by Steven Scalet

Overview

This book introduces a study of ethics and values to develop a deeper understanding of markets, business, and economic life. Its distinctive feature is its thorough integration across personal and institutional perspectives; across applied ethics and political philosophy; and across philosophy, business, and economics.

Part 1 studies markets, property rights, and law, and introduces normative theories with many applications. Part 2 examines the purpose of corporations and their responsibilities. Parts 3 and 4 analyze business and economic life through the ethics and values of welfare and efficiency, liberty, rights, equality, desert, personal character, community, and the common good.

This second edition maintains the strengths of the first edition-short, digestible chapters and engaging writing that explains challenging ideas clearly. The material is user-friendly, with an emphasis on a strong theoretical core. Easily adaptable to the instructor's teaching, the chapters are separable and can be shaped to the interests of the instructor with suggested course outlines and flexible application to case studies. This text is designed both for coursework in business ethics, as well as interdisciplinary programs in philosophy, politics, economics, and law.

This second edition:

• revises presentation of eight normative theories, with increased emphasis on linksto business and economic life;
• incorporates recent scholarship on shareholder/stakeholder debates about the purpose of corporations, bringing this important topic up to date;
• includes a new, streamlined preface that provides a quick overview of the book before smoothly guiding the reader to the first chapter;
• uses updated examples and applications;
• revamps a useful appendix, including enhancing the popular primer on ethics;
• includes Key Terms, Discussion Questions, Biographies, and Lists of Further Readings at the end of each chapter;
• includes a new ending chapter on the value of an ethical life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138580992
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/23/2018
Edition description:	New
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Steven Scalet is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Baltimore (UB). Prior to UB, he was the Director of the Program in Philosophy, Politics, and Law at Binghamton University (SUNY), where he received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Scalet received his PhD in Philosophy and MA in Economics from the University of Arizona. Scalet is the editor of Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy, 10th Edition (Routledge, 2019).

Table of Contents

0 The Value of an Ethical Life  0.1 Introduction  0.2 Why Study Ethics?  0.3 Skepticism and Ethics  0.4 Values as Guidance  0.5 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  Part 1 Foundations  1 Markets 1.0 Introduction  1.1 What Are Market Exchanges?  1.2 Why Begin This Study With Market Exchanges?  1.3 Debates About How to Define Markets  1.4 Blocked Exchanges  1.5 Background Conditions for Markets to Operate  1.6 Summary  1.7 Looking Ahead  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  Appendix: Dialogues That Shape This Book  1.A1 Descriptive and Normative Analysis  1.A2 Personal and Institutional Points of View  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  2 Property Rights  2.0 Introduction  2.1 Property as Relations Among People  2.2 Hohfeld’s Conception of Property Rights  2.3 Tips for Learning and Applying Property Relations  2.4 Ownership and a Bundle of Sticks  2.5 Further Distinctions  2.6 Patents and Intellectual Property  2.7 The Limits of Property Rights  2.8 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings 3 Property Rights, Markets, and Law  3.0 Introduction  3.1 Property Rights and Markets  3.2 Property Rights and Law  3.3 Property Rights and Culture  3.4 Economic Systems Today  3.5 Why Study Property Rights?  3.6 Relativism  3.7 Two Normative Theories About Property Rights  3.8 Summary  3.9 Looking Ahead  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  Part 2 The Purpose and Responsibilities of Corporations  4 Shareholder Primacy Theory of Corporations  4.0 Introduction  4.1 A Debate  4.2 Corporate Purpose: Advance Shareholder Interests By Maximizing Profits Within the Law  4.3 Debates About Shareholder Rights and Managerial Duties  4.4 Ethical Justifications  4.5 Interpreting the CSR Movement From the Shareholder Perspective  4.6 Separating the Roles of Business and Government  4.7 Self-Interest and Markets  4.8 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  5 Stakeholder Theory of Corporations  5.0 Introduction 68  5.1 A Global Perspective: “All Is Not Well” 68  5.2 Corporate Purpose, Stakeholder Rights, and Managerial Duties 70  5.3 Ethical Justifications 74  5.4 Interpreting the CSR Movement From a Stakeholder Perspective 76  5.5 Corporations and Government 78  5.6 Ethics, Self-Interest, and Markets 79  5.7 Personal and Institutional Points of View Revisited 81  5.8 Other Theories of Corporate Purpose 83  5.9 Corporate Personhood 83  5.10 Summary 84  Discussion Questions 85  Further Readings 87  Part 3 Efficiency and Welfare: Common Ethical Guides in Business and Economics  6 Efficiency and Welfare  6.0 Introduction  6.1 Pareto Efficiency as an Ethical Ideal  6.2 How Idealized Markets Create Efficiency Gains  6.3 Background Conditions  6.4 How Actual Markets Approximate Ideal Markets  6.5 How Efficiency Is a Basis for Criticizing Markets  6.6 The Ethical and Practical Appeal of the Efficiency Standard  6.7 Complications About the Meaning of Efficiency  6.8 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  7 Public Goods, Responsibility, and Utilitarianism  7.0 Introduction  7.1 Public Goods  7.2 Two Neighborhoods and a Park: A Public Goods Problem  7.3 The Tragedy of the Commons  7.4 Responsibility for Collective Action Problems  7.5 Limitations to Pareto Efficiency as a Normative Standard  7.6 Utilitarianism  7.7 Attractions and Limitations of Utilitarianism  7.8 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  8 The Invisible Hand: Ethics, Incentives, and Institutions  8.0 Introduction  8.1 The Invisible Hand Model  8.2 The Government Regulation Model  8.3 The Professional Ethics Model  8.4 Conflicts of Interest  8.5 The Dance Between Ethics, Incentives, and Institutions  8.6 Beyond Welfare  8.7 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  Part 4 Ethics Beyond Efficiency  9 Liberty  9.0 Introduction  9.1 Two Concepts of Liberty  9.2 Freedom and Ethics  9.3 Kantian Ethics  9.4 Institutional Implications of Negative Freedom  9.5 Institutional Implications of Positive Freedom  9.6 Two Visions of a Free Society: Positive and Negative Freedom  9.7 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  10 Rights  10.0 Introduction  10.1 Preliminaries  10.2 Rights as Side-Constraints  10.3 Rights and Markets: Nozick’s Entitlement Theory of Justice  10.4 Applying the Entitlement Theory to Global Capitalism  10.5 Criticisms of Nozick’s Entitlement Theory of Justice  10.6 Justifying Rights  10.7 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  11 Equality  11.0 Introduction  11.1 Fundamental Equality  11.2 Implications for Institutions  11.3 Professional Ethics and the Personal Point of View  11.4 Social Contract Theory: Liberty and Equality Joined  11.5 Rawls’s Theory of Justice  11.6 Beyond Rawls: Businesses and the Social Contract  11.7 Integrative Social Contracts Theory  11.8 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  12 What People Deserve  12.0 Introduction  12.1 The Concept of Desert  12.2 Deserved Wages  12.3 Desert and Professional Ethics  12.4 Capitalism and Debates About the Relevance of Desert  12.5 Deserving Anything at All  12.6 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  13 Personal Relationships and Character  13.0 Introduction  13.1 Relationships  13.2     Criticisms of Markets and Capitalism Based on Relationships and Character  13.3 Virtue Ethics  13.4 Ayn Rand and Virtuous Rational Egoism  13.5 The Ethics of Care  13.6 Religious and Non-Western Ethical Approaches: Less of the Self  13.7 Integrating Earlier Debates on Relationships and Character  13.8 Advocating Markets and Capitalism Based on Relationships and Character  13.9 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  14 Community and the Common Good  14.0 Introduction  14.1     Creative Destruction and Community: Institutional Perspective  14.2 Change and Tradition From the Personal Point of View  14.3 Markets That Undermine Communities  14.4 Markets That Build Communities  14.5 The Meaning of the Common Good  14.6 Communitarianism  14.7 Justice and the Common Good: Complementary or Conflicting Values?  14.8 Summary  Discussion Questions  Further Readings  Supplemental Materials  I. A Primer on Ethics  II. The Overall Approach of the Book  III. Syllabi Suggestions  IV.Summary  Key Terms

Editorial Reviews

"The 3rd Edition of Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics offers a comprehensive introduction to the ethical, economic, and political study of markets, and of the people who affect and are affected by them. It speaks directly to students and readers, taking them on an intellectual journey through the diversity and complexity of ethical thought, without dumbing ideas down, or offering facile solutions. This latest edition extends itself to include current research discussions, such as the growth and implications of Artificial Intelligence in business. As such, it is an ideal text for students interested in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels."

-Prof. David Silver, Chair of Business and Professional Ethics in the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, co-appointed to the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, Canada, author of ‘Corporations and Persons: a theory of the firm in democratic society’ (Forthcoming).

"Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics, Third Edition, is still the go-to introductory text for classes in business ethics and Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law programs. Professor Scalet raises all the right issues and ethical questions, and he’s always clear about why we’re asking these questions in the first place. The book’s integrative nature allows students to make connections between theory and practice in ways that will improve their own thinking and behavior in social and economic life."

-Terry L. Price, Coston Family Chair in Leadership and Ethics, Professor of Leadership Studies and PPEL, University of Richmond, USA.

"Steve Scalet's Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics is the first Business Ethics textbook to take seriously the relationship between business, economics, and political theory. By setting the questions of business ethics in a broader context this book has improved student understanding and deliberation of the important issues it addresses.This is by far the best and most practically valuable business ethics text I have encountered."

-Prof. Clark Wolf, Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, Director of Bioethics, and Chair of Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, USA.

"The 3rd Edition of Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics offers a comprehensive introduction to the ethical, economic, and political study of markets, and of the people who affect and are affected by them. It speaks directly to students and readers, taking them on an intellectual journey through the diversity and complexity of ethical thought, without dumbing ideas down, or offering facile solutions. This latest edition extends itself to include current research discussions, such as the growth and implications of Artificial Intelligence in business. As such, it is an ideal text for students interested in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels."

-Prof. David Silver, Chair of Business and Professional Ethics in the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, co-appointed to the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, author of ‘Corporations and Persons: a theory of the firm in democratic society’ (Forthcoming).

"Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics, Third Edition, is still the go-to introductory text for classes in business ethics and Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law programs. Professor Scalet raises all the right issues and ethical questions, and he’s always clear about why we’re asking these questions in the first place. The book’s integrative nature allows students to make connections between theory and practice in ways that will improve their own thinking and behavior in social and economic life."

-Terry L. Price, Coston Family Chair in Leadership and Ethics, Professor of Leadership Studies and PPEL, University of Richmond, USA.

"Steve Scalet's Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics is the first Business Ethics textbook to take seriously the relationship between business, economics, and political theory. By setting the questions of business ethics in a broader context this book has improved student understanding and deliberation of the important issues it addresses.This is by far the best and most practically valuable business ethics text I have encountered."

-Prof. Clark Wolf, Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, Director of Bioethics, and Chair of Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, USA.

From the Publisher