Abstract
This paper criticizes De George's portrayal of theological ethics and its purported inability to make a distinctive contribution to business ethics with the following theses. (1) De George's understanding of the nature of theological ethics is faulty. Consequently his typology of the field is not an adequate description of the range of prevailing approaches. (2) A constructive proposal for religious ethics is offered which takes as its starting points (a) an aspect of human experience (self-transcendence) and (b) the human capacity to reason in order to claim (via Kant, Rahner, Gamwell, and others) that practical reason is religious in nature. As such, a distinctive contribution of religious ethics is its capacity to evaluate business activity in terms of its consistency with our most fundamental, all-inclusive human loyalities and affirmations about the nature of reality itself.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beauchamp, Tom L. with Norman Bowie: 1983, Ethical Theory and Business, 2nd ed., (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs).
Bowie, Norman: 1982, Business Ethics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs).
Bresnahan, James: 1980, ‘An Ethics of Faith’, in ed. Leo O'Donovan, A World of Grace (Seabury, New York), pp. 169–184.
Carr, Anne: 1973, ‘Theology and Experience in the Thought of Karl Rahner’, The Journal of Religion 55, 359–376.
Davis, Charles: 1983, ‘Reason, Tradition, Community: The Search for Ethical Foundations’, in ed. Leory S. Rounder, Foundations of Ethics (University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame).
De George, Richard T.: 1982, Business Ethics (Macmillan, New York).
De George, Richard T. 1986, ‘Theological Ethics and Business Ethics’, (this issue, 421–432) paper for a symposium entitled Religious Studies and Business Ethics: New Directions in an Emerging Field, DePaul University, (April 1984).
Donaldson, Thomas: 1982, Corporations and Morality, (Prentice-Hall, New York).
Donaldson, Thomas: 1983, Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach (with Patricia Werhane) 2nd ed., (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs).
Gamwell, Franklin I.: 1982, ‘Region and the Public Purpose’, The Journal of Religion 62, 272–288.
1986, ‘Freedom and the Economic Order: A Foreword to Religious Evaluation’, in Bruce Grelle and David A. Krueger (eds.), Christianity and Capitalism: Perspectives on Religion, Liberalism and the Economy, Chicago: Center for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Geertz, Clifford: 1973, The Interpretation of Cultures, (Basic Books, New York).
Goodpaster, Kenneth: 1983, ‘Morality and Organizations’, in eds. Donaldson and Werhane, Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs).
Green, Ronald: 1978, Religious Reason: The Rational and Moral Basis of Religious Belief (Oxford University Press, New York).
Gustafson, James M.: 1974, Theology and Christian Ethics (Pilgrim Press, Philadelphia).
1975, Can Ethics Be Christian? (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
Kant, Immanuel: 1788, Critique of Practical Reason, trans. by Lewis White Beck, (Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis).
Ladd, John: 1983, ‘Morality and the Ideal of Rationality in Formal Organizations’, in eds. Donaldson and Werhane, Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs).
Niebuhr, H. Richard: 1943, Radical Monotheism and Western Culture (Harper and Row, New York).
Niebuhr, Reinhold: 1942, ‘Religion and Action’, in ed. Ruth Nada Anshen, Science and Man (Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York).
O'Donovan, Leo J.: 1980, A World of Grace (Seabury, New York).
Ogden, Schubert: 1979, Faith and Freedom (Abingdon, Nashville).
Rahner, Karl: 1968, Spirit in the World (Herder & Heder, New York).
1969, Hearers of the World (Herder & Herder, New York).
Tillich, Paul: 1951–63, Systematic Theology (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
David A. Krueger is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is executive Director of the Center for Ethics and Corporate Policy in Chicago.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Krueger, D.A. The religious nature of practical reason: A way into the debate. Journal of Business Ethics 5, 511–519 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00380757
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00380757