The Internal Morality of Contacting: Redeeming the Contractualist Endeavor in Business Ethics

J. van Oosterhout, P.P.M.A.R. Heugens and S.P. Kaptein

No 03-15, Working Papers from Utrecht School of Economics

Abstract: Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT) is arguably the most promising theory of business ethics to date, but it is often criticized for its inability to produce substantive norms. Rather than abandoning the contractualist endeavor in business ethics altogether, we undertake to redeem it by exploring the internal morality of contracting. We demonstrate that substantive norms for guiding and constraining business conduct can be produced without relying on sources of normativity that are external to the contractualist framework

Keywords: Contractualism & contractarianism; Business ethics; Integrative social contracts theory; Internal morality; Institutional safeguards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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