Economics makes the incommensurable commensurable by money prices. On the other hand, there are varieties of goodness like the ethical that seem not to fit into the scale of prices of economics, but cannot be neglected in economizing. Ways of integrating ethics into economics must therefore be found. The aim of this book is the integration of the ethical discourse into the economic discourse about the economical and efficient. It investi§ gates into the structure of goodness. The contribution of this volume to the current debate in economic ethics and business ethics lies in its analysis of the different meanings of the good and in its reflection on the possibilities of implementing ethical goods into the practice of the economist and the manager of the firm. Its essays investigate the role of ethics in social and individual choice. They examine and compare the cultural determinants of the Western and the Japanese economies, their ethical and cultural foundations. They look into the principles of good management. How can the management incorporate human goods and consider the virtues of impartiality and of due consideration to the particular in its business practice? The book develops the idea of an ethical economizing in economics and of an ethical managing in business administration. The business of business is ethical business.

Inhalt

The Business of Business is Ethical Business. Introduction.- One Social and Individual Choice: Utilitarianism and Beyond.- 1 A Non-Utilitarian Interpretation of Pigou's Welfare Economics.- Discussion Summary.- 2 The Impossibility of Utilitarianism.- Discussion Summary.- 3 Goodness is Reducible to Betterness: The Evil of Death is the Value of Life.- Discussion Summary.- Two Ethical Economy and Cultural Economics.- 4 Economy Bounded. Reflections About Peter Koslowski's Program of Ethical Economy.- Discussion Summary.- 5 Two Possible Approaches to the Building of Moral Standards in the Modern World.- Discussion Summary.- 6 Hermeneutics of Culture and the Universality of Ethics: Beyond the Formalism and Culturalism of Economic Philosophy and Social Ethics.- Discussion Summary.- Three Managing the Good.- 7 Human Goods in Ethical Business.- Discussion Summary.- 8 Impartiality and Particularity in Business Ethics.- Discussion Summary.- List of Authors.- Index of Names.