Business Commons^™

Collective Choice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

This short nontechnical article reviews the Arrow Impossibility Theorem and its implications for rational democratic decisionmaking. In the 1950s, economist Kenneth J. Arrow proved that no method for producing a unique social choice involving at least three choices and three actors could satisfy four seemingly obvious constraints that are practically constitutive of democratic decisionmaking. Any such method must violate such a constraint and risks leading to disturbingly irrational results such and Condorcet cycling. I explain the theorem in plain, nonmathematical language, and discuss the history, range, and prospects of avoiding what seems like a fundamental theoretical challenge to the possibility …

Taxonomy Of Business Ethics Theories, Grace S. Thomson

Dr. Grace S. Thomson

An increasing interest on ethics in business has resulted in a fruitful production of scholarly research that provides business leaders and decision-makers with references to bridge theory and practice (Cherry, Lee, and Chien, 2003). For an effective application of business ethics theories, it is necessary to comprehend their domains, their external and internal logic, and the specific applications to the ethical issues under analysis (Wempe, 2008).

This document presents a taxonomy of 11 ethical theories applied to business ethics that incorporate grounded theory and conceptual frameworks. As a basis for the construction of this taxonomy, the selection of the theories …

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

THIS PAPER IS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FRED BERGER PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW FOR THE 1999 AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED PAPER IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.

The conflict between liberal legal theory and critical legal studies (CLS) is often framed as a matter of whether there is a theory of justice that the law should embody which all rational people could or must accept. In a divided society, the CLS critique of this view is overwhelming: there is no such justice that can command universal assent. But the liberal critique of CLS, that it degenerates into …