Times of Insight: Conscience, Corporations, and the Common Good

This open access book traces the research and teaching contributions of Kenneth Goodpaster over more than 45 years of his career. The book shows the content and the progression of these themes over the years identifying four insights in applied ethics: the moral insight, the institutional insight, the anthropological insight, and the Socratic insight. It highlights such concepts as conscience, corporate responsibility, corporations as agents and as recipients, stockholders, stakeholders, comprehensive moral thinking, and ethics education. In addition, Goodpaster explains phrases such as teleopathy, moral projection, human dignity, and the common good. Finally, the book examines with concern the implications of the foregoing for the polarizing and partisan trends in contemporary business behavior

Times of Insight: Conscience, Corporations, and the Common Good

This open access book traces the research and teaching contributions of Kenneth Goodpaster over more than 45 years of his career. The book shows the content and the progression of these themes over the years identifying four insights in applied ethics: the moral insight, the institutional insight, the anthropological insight, and the Socratic insight. It highlights such concepts as conscience, corporate responsibility, corporations as agents and as recipients, stockholders, stakeholders, comprehensive moral thinking, and ethics education. In addition, Goodpaster explains phrases such as teleopathy, moral projection, human dignity, and the common good. Finally, the book examines with concern the implications of the foregoing for the polarizing and partisan trends in contemporary business behavior. Kenneth Goodpaster’s new book, Times of Insight: Conscience, Corporations, and the Common Good reflects the culmination of 50 years of incredible philosophical insights forming the basis of business ethics. His concept of ‘corporate conscience’ as a moral projection from individual conscience to organizational behavior is both an original as well as a most worthwhile approach to organizational responsibility. Coupling that with a clear notion of the common good, Goodpaster provides substantive grounds for a creative analysis of ethical issues in business. This is one of the most exciting new books in the field. - Patricia H. Werhane, Professor Emerita, University of Virginia and Professor Emerita, DePaul University. "Beginners beware. “Wickedly interdisciplinary” describes corporate ethics. More than “interdisciplinary,” the field asks questions that range across disciplines, nations and centuries. Who better to cut this Gordian Knot than Ken Goodpaster, a true giant in the field, who mixes a prodigious knowledge of contemporary corporations with a deep understanding of intellectual history to produce a new and stunning amalgam. A must-read." - Thomas Donaldson, The Mark O. Winkelman Professor, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania As one of the pioneers in business ethics, Kenneth Goodpaster has given us a great gift of synthesizing 50 years of philosophical reflection and corporate practice on some of the most important questions and issues for business today. This work is not nostalgia, but an important source of wisdom for leaders today and into the future. - Dr. Michael Naughton, Director, Center for Catholic Studies, Koch Chair in Catholic Studies, University of St. Thoma

Times of Insight: Conscience, Corporations, and the Common Good

This open access book traces the research and teaching contributions of Kenneth Goodpaster over more than 45 years of his career. The book shows the content and the progression of these themes over the years identifying four insights in applied ethics: the moral insight, the institutional insight, the anthropological insight, and the Socratic insight. It highlights such concepts as conscience, corporate responsibility, corporations as agents and as recipients, stockholders, stakeholders, comprehensive moral thinking, and ethics education. In addition, Goodpaster explains phrases such as teleopathy, moral projection, human dignity, and the common good. Finally, the book examines with concern the implications of the foregoing for the polarizing and partisan trends in contemporary business behavior. Kenneth Goodpaster’s new book, Times of Insight: Conscience, Corporations, and the Common Good reflects the culmination of 50 years of incredible philosophical insights forming the basis of business ethics. His concept of ‘corporate conscience’ as a moral projection from individual conscience to organizational behavior is both an original as well as a most worthwhile approach to organizational responsibility. Coupling that with a clear notion of the common good, Goodpaster provides substantive grounds for a creative analysis of ethical issues in business. This is one of the most exciting new books in the field. - Patricia H. Werhane, Professor Emerita, University of Virginia and Professor Emerita, DePaul University. "Beginners beware. “Wickedly interdisciplinary” describes corporate ethics. More than “interdisciplinary,” the field asks questions that range across disciplines, nations and centuries. Who better to cut this Gordian Knot than Ken Goodpaster, a true giant in the field, who mixes a prodigious knowledge of contemporary corporations with a deep understanding of intellectual history to produce a new and stunning amalgam. A must-read." - Thomas Donaldson, The Mark O. Winkelman Professor, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania As one of the pioneers in business ethics, Kenneth Goodpaster has given us a great gift of synthesizing 50 years of philosophical reflection and corporate practice on some of the most important questions and issues for business today. This work is not nostalgia, but an important source of wisdom for leaders today and into the future. - Dr. Michael Naughton, Director, Center for Catholic Studies, Koch Chair in Catholic Studies, University of St. Thoma

Business ethics, ideology, and the naturalistic fallacy

This paper addresses the relationship between theoretical and applied ethics. It directs philosophical attention toward the concept of ‘ideology’, conceived as a bridge between high-level principles and decision-making practice. How are we to understand this bridge and how can we avoid the naturalistic fallacy while taking ideology seriously?Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42522/1/10551_2004_Article_BF00381763.pd

Using UNPRME to Teach, Research, and Enact Business Ethics: Insights from the Catholic Identity Matrix for Business Schools

We address how the leaders of a Catholic business school can articulate and assess how well their schools implement the following six principles drawn from Catholic social teaching (CST): (1) produce goods and services that are authentically good; (2) foster solidarity with the poor by serving deprived and marginalized populations; (3) advance the dignity of human work as a calling; (4) exercise sub-sidiarity; (5) promote responsible stewardship over resources; and (6) acquire and allocate resources justly. We first discuss how the CST principles give substantive content and meaning to the Good Goods, Good Work, and Good Wealth framework in The Vocation of the Business Leader (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Vocation of the business leader, Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Vatican City, 2012) and then discuss their congruencies and tensions with the UNGC and UNPRME principles. Next, we describe the Catholic Identity Matrix an assessment tool that provides a quantitative and qualitative portrait of how well a Catholic business school integrates, within the scope of its mission and capacities, the three goods and related CST principles in its strategies, policies, activities, and processes. The concluding section discusses implications for ongoing UNGC and UNPRME assessment, reporting, and development efforts, and addresses the generalizability of our approach to business schools who draw their inspiration and moral principles from other faith-based or secular traditions

A Baldrige Process for Ethics?

In this paper we describe and explore a management tool called the Self-Assessment and Improvement Process (SAIP). Based upon the Caux Round Table Principles for Business – a stakeholder-based, transcultural statement of business values – the SAIP assists executives with the task of shaping their firm’s conscience through anorganizational self-appraisal process. This process is modeled after the self-assessment methodology pioneered by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. After briefly describing the SAIP, we address three topics. First, we examine similarities and differences between the Baldrige approach to corporate self-assessment and the self-assessment process utilized within the SAIP. Second, we report initial findings from two beta tests of the tool. These illustrate both the SAIP’s ability to help organizations strengthen their commitment to ethically responsible conduct, and some of the tool’s limitations. Third, we briefly analyze various dimensions of the business scandals of 2001-2002 (Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, etc.) in light of the ethical requirements articulated with the SAIP. This analysis suggests that the SAIP can help link the current concerns of stakeholders – for example, investors and the general public – to organizational practice, by providing companies with a practical way to incorporate critical lessons from these unfortunate events

Increased Skeletal Muscle 11βHSD1 mRNA Is Associated with Lower Muscle Strength in Ageing

Background: Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and function with age, is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Current understanding of the underlying mechanisms is limited. Glucocorticoids (GC) in excess cause muscle weakness and atrophy. We hypothesized that GC may contribute to sarcopenia through elevated circulating levels or increased glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling by increased expression of either GR or the GC-amplifying enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11βHSD1) in muscle. Methods: There were 82 participants; group 1 comprised 33 older men (mean age 70.2years, SD 4.4) and 19 younger men (22.2years, 1.7) and group 2 comprised 16 older men (79.1years, 3.4) and 14 older women (80.1years, 3.7). We measured muscle strength, mid-thigh cross-sectional area, fasting morning plasma cortisol, quadriceps muscle GR and 11βHSD1 mRNA, and urinary glucocorticoid metabolites. Data were analysed using multiple linear regression adjusting for age, gender and body size. Results: Muscle strength and size were not associated with plasma cortisol, total urinary glucocorticoids or the ratio of urinary 5β-tetrahydrocortisol +5α-tetrahydrocortisol to tetrahydrocortisone (an index of systemic 11βHSD activity). Muscle strength was associated with 11βHSD1 mRNA levels (β -0.35, p = 0.04), but GR mRNA levels were not significantly associated with muscle strength or size. Conclusion: Although circulating levels of GC are not associated with muscle strength or size in either gender, increased cortisol generation within muscle by 11βHSD1 may contribute to loss of muscle strength with age, a key component of sarcopenia. Inhibition of 11βHSD1 may have therapeutic potential in sarcopenia