Aristotle’s Economic Ethics

Aristotle has in recent years enjoyed much attention in business and management journals (Collins, 1987; Dyck and Kleysen, 2001; Solomon, 2004; Wijnberg, 2000). Whether in relation to total quality management (Schoengrund, 1996), knowledge management (Demarest, 1997), crisis management (Darling, 1994), networking (Schonsheck, 2000), in psychological literature on well- being (Waterman, 1990), or as a general reference point for business ethics scholars (for example, Fontrodona and Mele, 2002; Gimbel, 2005; Solomon, 1992; Solomon, 2004; Wijnberg, 2000), Aristotle’s philosophy enjoys enthusiastic attention in the business field. In order to understand the significance of this, it is imperative that we do not isolate the tenets of his business ethics from their wider philosophical context but, rather, explain the former by the latter.