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Is Rationality Reasonable? How Ancient Logos Changes Management Theory

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Abstract

Rationality and reason are often used as synonyms, although they are very different concepts. In this article we argue that rationality is the concept of reason that has been stripped of its human elements. Ancient and medieval philosophers such as Aristotle and Aquinas stressed that the concept of reason is composed of sensitive, discursive, and moral elements. Post-Enlightenment thinkers instead, building on the works of René Descartes and Isaac Newton, took these out and claimed that rationality must be based on an external logic devoid of value-concepts such as perfection, harmony, meaning and aim (Koyré in From the closed world to the infinite universe, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1957). The purpose of this essay is to highlight this shift in Western thought and its consequences for management theories. While explaining the ancient concept of reason in contrast with modern rationalism (Klein in: Williamson RB, Zuckerman E (eds) Jacob Klein—lectures and essays, St. John’s College Press, Annapolis, 1985), we aim at raising awareness of the differences between building a research programme (especially in business sciences like economics and management) on rationality or on reason.

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Notes

  1. For rhetorical purposes, we will use both terms to denote very different concepts. In the philosophical literature on what we call reason, very often both terms are used interchangeably, unless, like for instance John Hacker-Wright (2023, p. 2), they, like we, want to argue that reason “goes beyond instrumental rationality”.

  2. In German-language scholarship, business administration is defined as a subfield of economics that uses the same epistemic lens and merely looks at a micro level of economics (Wöhe, 1960/2020).

  3. Rationalism is Klein’s (1985) term for the idea that there is a logic independent from humans.

  4. The infamous F-Twist followed this logic: the more absurd and contrary to reality the assumptions underlying a science, the more scientific it is, or in Friedman’s (1953, p. 14) words, “[t]ruly important and significant hypotheses will be found to have “assumptions” that are wildly inaccurate descriptive representations of reality, and, in general, the more significant the theory, the more unrealistic the assumptions.”.

  5. It is important to note that Aristotle’s philosophy is based on the bipartite soul (some Aristotelians also say a tripartite soul including the vegetative soul), i.e. that we have reason and emotion in our soul, but that the view of the roles and the relationships between the two parts is not Manichaean (Fortenbaugh, 2006, p. 2, 67). Positive psychology subscribes more to Aristotle’s view (Schwartz & Sharpe, 2006).

  6. Most Aristotelians would not use “create”, but “discover”.

  7. We will ignore the differences between NE and EE when it comes to indignation and its status as a virtue.

  8. For the purposes of this essay, broad brushstrokes will suffice, and when we refer to positive emotions/passions/desires we mean the human emotions that aim for the good.

  9. Ironically, envy is a vice and an emotion.

  10. As explained above, mathematics belongs to formal sciences, and thus is based on completely different assumptions than the two other branches, moral philosophy and natural philosophy.

  11. Drucker, in the 1994 edition’s preface, says that scholarship studiously ignored this book because “it was not ‘politically correct’” as he saw the same problem in national as in international socialism: the destruction of the individual.

  12. This is reminiscent of virtue ethicist and pioneer management writer Henri Fayol’s (1911/2016) famous principle that a manager must make sure that throughout the organization (that is for every individual) responsibility and authority are in balance.

  13. Wise leaders consider “reputable opinions” (doxai) when they approach ethical issues.

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  1. Mary S. Carey Chair of Ethics and Catholic Social Teaching, Saint Vincent College, 300 Fraser Purchase Road, Latrobe, PA, 15650, USA

    Matthias P. Hühn

  2. ESSCA School of Management, 23, rue de la Haye, 67300, Schiltigheim, France

    Sara Mandray

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  1. Matthias P. Hühn
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Correspondence to Matthias P. Hühn.

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Hühn, M.P., Mandray, S. Is Rationality Reasonable? How Ancient Logos Changes Management Theory. J Bus Ethics (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05487-w

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