As an economist, I was raised on the milk of prescriptive consequentialism. The theoretical architecture of rational choice, welfare economics, and its applied version—benefit-cost analysis—was offered up as the definitive answer to a wide range of public policy problems. Welfare economics was alleged to offer value-free solutions to value-laden policy debates. Symbolic of this confidence is the claim by Milton Friedman:[C]urrently in the Western world, and especially in the United States, differences about economic policy among disinterested citizens derive predominantly from (...) different predictions about the economic consequences of taking action—differences that in principle can be eliminated by the progress of.. (shrink)

Using classical American pragmatism, the authors provide a philosophical framework for rethinking the nature of the corporation--how it is embedded in its natural, technological, cultural, and international environments, emphasizing throughout its pervasive relational and moral dimensions. They explore the relationship of this framework to other contemporary business ethics perspectives, as well as its implications for moral leadership in business and business education.

This book examines the role that the traditional understanding of science plays in how we understand the capitalistic system and how it informs business and business school education. Science serves many purposes in business organizations; it is much more than just a method to gain knowledge about business problems. It acculturates students to a certain way of thinking about the world and provides a rationale for the things business does and a justification for its purposes in society. It then utilizes (...) the philosophy of Classical American Pragmatism to view science in a different manner, reconceptualizing the multiple environments in which business functions. Author Rogene Buchholz traces the implications of this view for our understanding of the corporation, how science is used in business organizations, the recent financial crisis, and finally what it means for management and management education. No other book examines capitalism and the business system from this unique and timely perspective. (shrink)