Business Ethics and Catholic Social Thought

by Daniel K. Finn (Editor), Regina Wolfe (Contribution by), Jennifer Herdt (Contribution by), Mary Hirschfeld (Contribution by), David Cloutier (Contribution by)

Overview

Business Ethics and Catholic Social Thought provides a new and wide-ranging account of these two ostensibly divergent fields. Focusing on the agency of the business person and the interests of firms, this volume outlines fundamental issues confronting moral leaders and corporations committed to responsible business practices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647120733
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2021
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Daniel K. Finn is the William E. and Virginia Clemens Professor of Economics and the Liberal Arts in the Department of Economics and professor of theology, both at St. John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict. His books include Consumer Ethics in a Global Economy: How Buying Here Causes Injustice There (Georgetown University Press, 2019), Empirical Foundations of the Common Good: What Theology Can Learn from Social Science, and Distant Markets, Distant Harms: Economic Complicity and Christian Ethics.

Table of Contents

Introduction , Daniel K. Finn

Part I: Preliminary Evidence

1. CEO Perspectives on Morality and Business, Regina Wentzel Wolfe

2. Commerce and Communion in the History of Christian Thought, Jennifer A. Herdt

Part II: The Internal Dynamics of Business

3. Practical Wisdom and Management Science, Andrew M. Yuengert

4. What Are Agency and Autonomy, and What Difference Do They Make for Business?, Gregory R. Beabout

5. What Is the Technocratic Paradigm, and Must Business Be Structured by It?, Mary Hirschfeld

Part III: The Wider Responsibilities of Business

6. The Institutional Insight Underlying Shareholder/Stakeholder Approaches to Business Ethics, Kenneth E. Goodpaster and Michael J. Naughton

7. How Consumers and Firms Can Seek Good Goods, David Cloutier

8. Are Businesses Responsible for the Moral Ecology in Which They Operate?, Martin Schlag

9. The Social Mortgage on Business, Edward D. Kleinbard

10. When Are Market Decisions Morally Legitimate?,K.J. Martijn Cremers

Afterword, James L. Heft

Bibliography

Contributors

Index

What People are Saying About This

Thomas Massaro

To its great credit, this unique volume maintains a laser-like focus on the enduring tensions between Catholic social thought and standard business practices. The interviews with three Catholic business leaders and further enlightening essays help the reader navigate the treacherous waters that all too often divide profit-making firms from faith-based moral analysis. If you seek a bridge to link the two, start with this highly insightful book.

Andrew B. Gustafson

One would be hard-pressed to bring together a better group of scholars to consider a Catholic view on business. The breadth of the essays' topics–from historical to practical, philosophical, economic, and legal–and the depth of essays here serve as rich resources to anyone considering how business can contribute to the common good.

Editorial Reviews

Under the editorship of Finn (theology, St. John's Univ.), this volume of ten essays superbly puts thepractices of business and the market under a moral lens shaped to a large degree by the writings of recent popes and the long tradition of Catholic social thought.

Choice