Abstract
Entrepreneurship, defined as judgmental decision-making under conditions of uncertainty, is studied in many different disciplines across the social sciences and humanities. Despite the growth of the field, however, there is still relatively little research on the philosophical foundations of entrepreneurial action. This chapter highlights some connections between this entrepreneurial judgment and practical wisdom. It first examines the roots of entrepreneurial decision-making as explained through the framework of “Austrian” economics, especially with regard to action, choice, and uncertainty. It then compares entrepreneurial judgment and practical wisdom in light of Aristotle’s five intellectual virtues, noting some similarities and tensions. Finally, it discusses some moral aspects of entrepreneurial action and their relation to human flourishing, and the institutional foundations that support this relationship.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Baumol, W. J. (1990). Entrepreneurship: Productive, unproductive, and destructive. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5), 893–921.
Bjørnskov, C., & Foss, N. J. (2016). Entrepreneurship, institutions and economic growth. Academy of Management Perspectives, 30, 292–315.
Brenkert, G. (2009). Innovation, rule breaking and the ethics of entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(5), 448–464.
Bruni, L., & Sugden, R. (2013). Reclaiming virtue ethics for economics. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27(4), 141–164.
Cavarnos, C. (2001). Aristotle’s theory of the fine arts: With special reference to their value in education and therapy. Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies.
Crespo, R. F. (2002). Reappraising Austrian economics’ basic tenets in the light of Aristotelian ideas. Review of Austrian Economics, 15, 313–333.
Fetter, F. A. (1915). Economic principles. The Century Co.
Fetter, F. A. (1977). In M. N. Rothbard (Ed.), Capital, interest, and rent: Essays in the theory of distribution. Institute for Humane Studies.
Foss, N. J. & Klein, P. G. (2012). Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment. A New Approach to the Firm. Cambridge University Press.
Glasner, D. (2021). Between Walras and Marshall: Menger’s third way. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3964127 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.396412.
Harris, J. D., Sapienza, H. J., & Bowie, N. E. (2009). Ethics and entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(5), 407–418.
Hursthouse, R. (1999). On virtue ethics. Oxford University Press.
Kirzner, I. M. (1973). Competition and entrepreneurship. University of Chicago Press.
Kirzner, I. M. (1979). Perception, opportunity, and profit. University of Chicago Press.
Kirzner, I. M. (1985). Discovery and the capitalist process. University of Chicago Press.
Klein, P. G. (2008). Opportunity discovery, entrepreneurial action, and economic organization. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2(3), 175–190.
Knight, F. H. (1964). Risk, uncertainty and profit. August M. Kelley.
Martin, D. T. (1979). Alternative views of Mengerian entrepreneurship. History of Political Economy, 11(2), 271–285.
McCaffrey, M. (2016). Good judgment, good luck: Frank Fetter’s neglected theory of entrepreneurship. Review of Political Economy, 28(4), 504–522.
McCaffrey, M. (2018). William Baumol’s “entrepreneurship: Productive, unproductive, and destructive”. In G. Javadian, V. K. Gupta, D. K. Dutta, G. C. Guo, A. E. Osorio, & B. Ozkazanc-Pan (Eds.), Foundational research in entrepreneurship studies: Insightful contributions and future pathways (pp. 179–201). Palgrave Macmillan.
McCaffrey, M., Foss, N. J., Klein, P. G., & Salerno, J. T. (2021). Breaking out of the Kirznerian box: A reply to Sautet. Review of Austrian Economics. Forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11138-021-00552-x.
McCloskey, D. (2016). Bourgeois equality: How ideas, not capital or institutions, enriched the world. University of Chicago Press.
Menger, C. (1976). Principles of economics (trans: Dingwall, J., & Hoselitz, B. F.). Institute for Humane Studies.
Mises, L. v. (1951). Socialism: An economics and sociological analysis. Yale University Press.
Mises, L. v. (1998). Human action: A treatise on economics. Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Mises, L. v. (2003). Epistemological problems of economics (3rd ed.). Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Mises, L. v. (2007). Theory and history: An interpretation of social and economic evolution (originally published 1957). Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Mises, L. v. (1944). Bureaucracy. Yale University Press.
Rothbard, M. N. (1976). New light on the pre-history of the Austrian school. In E. Dolan (Ed.), The foundations of modern Austrian economics (pp. 52–74). Sheed & Ward.
Rothbard, M. N. (1995). An Austrian perspective on the history of economic thought, volume I: Economic thought before Adam Smith. Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Rothbard, M. N. (1998). The ethics of liberty. New York University Press.
Rothbard, M. N. (2009). Man, economy, and state with power and market (2nd Scholar’s ed.). Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Salerno, J. T. (1990). Ludwig von Mises as social rationalist. Review of Austrian Economics, 4(1), 25–54.
Salerno, J. T. (1993). Mises and Hayek dehomogenized. Review of Austrian Economics, 6(2), 113–146.
Salerno, J. T. (2008). The entrepreneur: Real and imagined. Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, 11(3), 188–207.
Sirico, R. A. (1998). The late-scholastic and Austrian link to modern Catholic economic thought. Journal of Markets and Morality, 1(2), 122–129.
Smith, B. (1990). Aristotle, Menger, Mises: An essay in the metaphysics of economics. History of Political Economy, 22(5), 263–288.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Topan, MV., McCaffrey, M., Foss, N.J. (2022). The Practical Wisdom of Entrepreneurial Judgment. In: Schwartz, B., Bernacchio, C., González-Cantón, C., Robson, A. (eds) Handbook of Practical Wisdom in Business and Management. International Handbooks in Business Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00140-7_25-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00140-7_25-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-00140-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-00140-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities