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Journal of Business Ethics

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27-10-2020 | Original Paper

Socratic Ignorance and Business Ethics

Author: Santiago Mejia

Published in: Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 3/2022

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Abstract

Socrates’ inquiry into the nature of the virtues and human excellence led him to experience Socratic ignorance, a practical puzzlement experienced by his recognition that his central life commitments were conceptually problematic. This practical perplexity was not, however, an epistemic weakness but a reflection of his wisdom. I argue that Socratic ignorance, a concept that has not received scholarly attention in business ethics, is a central aim that business practitioners should seek. It is what a truthful, thorough, and courageous inquiry into their professional roles and commitments leads to. It wakes them up from the moral complacency engendered by organizations, forcing them to become much more critical of their day-to-day activities and more intentional about living virtuously. It curbs the corrupting potential of authority positions and prevents the tendency of subordinates to routinely conform to sanctioned norms and expectations. Finally, it opens up novel and creative moral avenues and provides a promising model to deal with the conflicts posed by our globalized and increasingly polarized world.

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I will rely on Grube’s translation of Plato’s Apology (Plato 2002) and Cooper’s edition for all the other dialogues (Plato 1997).

For a detailed list of the differences between the Socrates of the early and later dialogues, see Vlastos (1991a, pp. 47–49).

Following the scholarly standard to refer to Plato’s works, I cite by providing the name of the dialogue followed by the number/letter in the canonical Stephanus edition. The number indicates the page number in this edition, and the letter indicates the specific section on the page where the cited passage occurs.

I thank Iakovos Vasiliou and an anonymous reviewer for helping me refine my account here.

For a detailed account of how Socrates made decisions in the here and now, see Vasiliou (2008, pp. 46–90).

This worry could be a specific worry concerning specific industries (such as, say, tobacco or armament) or a more general worry about the social institution of capitalism.

I thank Kevin Jackson for pressing me to articulate a response to this objection.

A ground that, as the legal scholarship shows, is far from firm (Elhauge 2005; Hansmann and Kraakman 2001; Easterbrook and Fischel 1996; Horton 2020; Blair and Stout 1999; Stout 2012).

Of course, Socratic examination should be deployed not only in contexts where we may be ethically suspicious. Socrates would also question social entrepreneurs and stakeholder-oriented executives on their commitments and aspirations, raising fundamental difficulties in the central concepts that define their roles. You can imagine Socrates pushing them to clarify what they mean by a “stakeholder,” getting them to draw unwanted conclusions from their commitment to the “social” dimension of the enterprise, and ultimately leading them to become perplexed about their fundamental professional commitments.

One may object that this response fails to recognize that this dogged pursuit of truthfulness may endanger other important moral values. I discuss this worry in the section “Nihilism and Moral Corruption”.

I thank an anonymous reviewer for pressing me to clarify this.

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Title: Socratic Ignorance and Business Ethics
Author: Santiago Mejia
Publication date: 27-10-2020
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 3/2022
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04650-x

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