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Journal of Business Ethics

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01-04-2015

Richard De George and the Use of Ethical Theory in Applied Ethics

Author: Norman E. Bowie

Published in: Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 4/2015

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It is an honor and a pleasure to contribute to this festschrift in recognition of the outstanding accomplishments of Richard De George. His contributions range across a wide range of philosophy. From the philosophical perspective Richard is one of the founders of the field of business ethics. He organized one of the first business ethics conferences, wrote the first book by a philosopher in partnership with a business professor and possibly edited the first anthology Ethics, Free Enterprise and Public Policy with Joseph A Pichler. De George was one of first to publish on issues in international business ethics (1993) Competing with Integrity in International Business, (Donaldson was earlier 1989) and he was one of the first to see the importance of computer ethics and to publish on it. …

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De George (1978, p. 3).

De George (1993, p. 21).

Ibid.

DeGeorge (1993).

Ibid., 80.

De George (1990, p. 41).

Ibid., 39.

Ibid 39, 40.

Ibid., 40.

Ibid., 40–41.

An exception here is with the moral rules that make a society possible, “rules against lying, the arbitrary killing of members of the society by other members, and violations of the rules of property, whatever they are.” Ibid., 42.

Ibid. 50. Much of the remainder of De George’s Presidential address defends this notion of ethics as coherence against charges of pluralism and ethical indeterminism. It seems to me that De George is showing how his theory of coherence does not commit him to relativism and I think he is successful in his defense. If coherence is successful at all three levels at any point in time the moral judgment is correct for that point in time. When new evidence is introduced or new scientific discoveries relevant to ethical issues are made, then the balancing begins anew until coherence is once again achieved.

De George (1993, p. 37).

Ibid. 50.

De George (1990, p. 40).

Ibid., 44.

I do think you need to take the scientific views of others in the society into account. Thus I did not include global warming deniers in the list of persons whose views I think I ought not take into account or at least not take into account equally. Most global warming deniers are unreasonable and I do not take their views seriously. However, I think the views of bona fide scientists should be taken into account.

De George (1990, p. 48–50).

The remarks I make on this topic may be found in Chapter 4 of my book (2013).

Baron (2003, pp. 37–45).

Korsgaard (2009, p. 12).

Ibid. 18.

Wood (2008, p. 145).

Ibid., 146.

Korsgaard, op,cit.,17.

Ibid., 15.

Wood, op.cit, Chapter 3.

Herman (2007, p. 21).

M. Baron (2003), Manipulativeness, Newark, DE: Proceeding and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 77/2, pp. 37–54 .

De George, R. (1978). Moral issues in business. In R. T. De George & J. A. Pichler (Eds.), Ethics free enterprise and public policy. New York: Oxford University Press.

R. T. De George (1990) Ethics and coherence. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 64 #3 (Nov., 1990), p. 41.

De George, R. T. (1993). Competing with integrity in international business. New York: Oxford University Press.

De George, R. T. (2013). Business ethics in the twentyfirst century. London: Springer.

DeGeorge, R. T. (1993). Developing ethical standards for international business: What roles for business and government. In P. M. Minus (Ed.), The ethics of business in a global economy. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Herman, Barbara. (2007). Moral Moral (p. 21). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Korsgaard, Christine M. (2009). Self-Constitution: Agency, Identity and Integrity (p. 12). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRef

Wood, Alan Kantian. (2008). Ethics (p. 145). Cambridge: Cambridge University.

Title: Richard De George and the Use of Ethical Theory in Applied Ethics
Author: Norman E. Bowie
Publication date: 01-04-2015
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 4/2015
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2179-7

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