Don Quixote and the Problem of Idealism and Realism in Business Ethics

Sherwin Klein

Business Ethics Quarterly, 1998, vol. 8, issue 1, 43-63

Abstract: I discuss the characters Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and their relationship in order to understand better the place of idealistic theory and realistic practice in business ethics. The realism of Sancho Panza is required to made the idealism of Don Quixote effective. Indeed, the interaction and development of these characters can serve as a model for both the effective communication between and blending of the idealistic moral theoretician and the practical businessperson. Specifically, I argue that a quixotified Sancho Panza, as a combination of theoretical idealism and practical realism, is necessary for managerial statesmanship. I first consider the position that this concept is unrealistic. In the final section, however, I show that a number of leadership and business theorists believe that managerial statesmanship requires a quixotified Sancho Panza. I also consider the question, what helps to make a quixotic vision for business ethical, and what is its content?

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:buetqu:v:8:y:1998:i:01:p:43-63_00

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Business Ethics Quarterly from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().