The Empirical-Normative Split in Business Ethics: A Pragmatic Alternative

Abstract

Abstract:The empirical-normative split in business ethics is another manifestation of the fact-value problem that has existed between science and philosophy for several centuries. This paper explores classical American pragmatism’s understanding of the fact-value distinction, showing how it offers a different way of understanding the empirical business ethics–normative business ethics issue. Unfolding the pragmatic perspective on this issue involves a focus on its understanding of both the nature of empirical inquiry and the nature of normative inquiry.

Integrating Ethics and Strategy: A Pragmatic Approach

“…Albritton, 2003;Webb, 2007) but also within the mainstream management literature (e.g. Buchholz and Rosenthal, 2005;Freeman, 2008;Margolis, 1998;McVea, 2008;Rosenthal and Buchholz, 2000a, b;Wicks and Freeman, 1998;Zanetti and Carr, 2003, to mention a few). market-limitations, systems or models (i.e.…”

“…This re-casting is very much in the spirit of classical American pragmatism (e.g. Rosenthal and Buchholz, 2000a, b), a philosophy in which diagrammatic representations of relationships per se are seen to constitute an important part of scientific inquiry. In addition, because a set of bi-polar components that lies at its core, such as 'efficiency vs. justice' the framework is also plainly evocative of European dialectics (e.g.…”

“…Later, Karl Popper, a forceful proponent of positivism, considered that it was dialectics (rather than rule-based ethics) that fostered totalitarian modes of thought, just as contemporary contributions on the other side sometimes refer to 'totalitarian corporatism'. 11 According to pragmatists, even the distinction between normative vs. empirical 'emerged within …a relational whole' and only because it is itself useful in inquiry (Rosenthal and Buchholz, 2000a, b). Like ethics and strategy, these two constructs only gain their full meaning and significance 'within the context of each other'.…”

Normative and Descriptive Aspects of Management Education: Differentiation and Integration

“…An example of rational vs. administrative and political models of decision-making was provided earlier. In the field of business ethics there is a clear and well-recognized division between normative and descriptive ethics (Fukukawa, 2003;Rosenthal & Buchholz, 2000;Trevino & Weaver, 1994;Werhane, 1994). Normative ethics involves ethical principles -the Kantian principle of the categorical imperative, the utilitarian principle, the Confucian golden rule principle, principles of procedural and distributive justice, etc.…”

“…Yet even in these areas differentiation is not coupled sufficiently with synthesis. Scholars in business ethics have long recognized that the two dimensions gain significance only in connection with each other, and that it is essential to find synergy between them (Rosenthal & Buchholz, 2000;Victor & Stephens, 1994).…”