 Reputational EthicsWayne Eastman ()
A chapter in Lectures on Business Ethics, Political Ethics, and Reputational Ethics, 2026, pp 161-195 from Springer Abstract: Abstract This lecture focuses on the distinctive challenges of ethical competition. Against the claim that ethical excellence is negated if it is conjoined with concern for reputation, I will claim that it is ethically acceptable if not noble to wish to be distinctively good at ethics (and relatedly at religion) and to strive to be recognized as such, just as it is fine to wish to be distinctively good at art, science, or intellectual endeavor in general, and to strive to be respected for being so. I argue that the domain of ethics is distinctive because of the universality of the obligation to participate in ethics games with other people, which contrasts with the elective quality of capitalist, political, scientistic, artistic, and academic games in adult life. The universality of ethics games, I will suggest, supports a Tocquevillian form of reputational ethics (self-interest rightly understood, or SIRU) that is more tilted toward the average person and less star-oriented than prevalent forms of business ethics, political ethics, and cultural ethics are. As in the preceding lectures, I reflect on my own actions and inactions, focusing on my past, present, and potential future involvement in religion. Date: 2026 There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-032-13618-3_6 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-13618-3_6 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Springer Books from Springer |
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