The Moral Background: An Inquiry into the History of Business Ethics
The Moral Background: An Inquiry into the History of Business Ethics
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道德背景：商业伦理史探究
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发表时间：
2014
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通讯作者：
G. Abend
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作者：
G. Abend
近年来，许多学科对道德的科学研究产生了兴趣。然而，这项工作仍然缺乏一个概念框架。在《道德背景》一书中，加布里埃尔·阿本德 (Gabriel Abend) 开发了这样一个框架，并用它来调查 1850 年代至 1930 年代美国商业道德的历史。阿本德认为，道德包括三个层次：道德和不道德行为，或称行为层次；道德理解和规范，或规范水平；道德背景，包括社会存在哪些道德观念、可以采用什么道德方法、可以给出什么理由、可以道德评价什么对象等。这种背景是行为和规范水平的基础；它支持、促进和实现它们。通过这个视角，阿本德历史性地考察了众多商业伦理学家和组织（例如新教牧师、商业协会和商学院）的工作，并确定了两种类型的道德背景。 “实践标准”的特点是其科学的世界观、道德相对主义以及对个人行动和决定的重视。 “基督教商人”类型的特点是基督教的世界观、道德客观主义和人的生命作为一个整体的概念。 《道德背景》既提供了对商业道德历史的原始描述，也提供了理解和研究一般道德的新颖框架。
In recent years, many disciplines have become interested in the scientific study of morality. However, a conceptual framework for this work is still lacking. In The Moral Background, Gabriel Abend develops just such a framework and uses it to investigate the history of business ethics in the United States from the 1850s to the 1930s. According to Abend, morality consists of three levels: moral and immoral behavior, or the behavioral level; moral understandings and norms, or the normative level; and the moral background, which includes what moral concepts exist in a society, what moral methods can be used, what reasons can be given, and what objects can be morally evaluated at all. This background underlies the behavioral and normative levels; it supports, facilitates, and enables them. Through this perspective, Abend historically examines the work of numerous business ethicists and organizations—such as Protestant ministers, business associations, and business schools—and identifies two types of moral background. “Standards of Practice” is characterized by its scientific worldview, moral relativism, and emphasis on individuals’ actions and decisions. The “Christian Merchant” type is characterized by its Christian worldview, moral objectivism, and conception of a person’s life as a unity. The Moral Background offers both an original account of the history of business ethics and a novel framework for understanding and investigating morality in general.