Abstract
The chapter presents the liberal and republican tradition in France in relation to business ethics and philosophy of management. In fact, since the discussion of Marxism in the 1940s and 1950s there had already been a strong liberal tradition in French philosophy and political theory. This was a liberal and rationalistic political philosophy that defended the republican institutions and liberal market economics in Western societies against the Marxist belief in revolution. In particular we focus on Raymond Aron, but also Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort and Marcel Gauchet, and indeed also the followers Aron Luc Ferry and Alain Renaut who were very critical of the 68 Marxist tradition. Indeed, the liberal tradition can be said to have importance for reflection on business ethics and the ethics of organizations because it defends liberal economy and argues for the importance of the private market economy for society. The liberal tradition also analyzes the importance of liberal virtues of integrity and trust in business behavior; therefore, this tradition contributes to the foundations of business ethics by showing how the organization is placed within the framework of a liberal democracy and market economy.
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Notes
- 1.
Bernard Waldenfels: Phänomenologie in Frankrich, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main (1983), 1987, pp. 455–456.
- 2.
There has been done very little work on the application of this tradition to business ethics and philosophy of management so this work on the potentialities of the tradition of political philosophy in France is really very innovative with regard to the proposal of the foundations of business ethics.
- 3.
Nicolas Baverez: Raymond Aron: Un moraliste au temps des idéologies, Flammarion, Paris 1993, p. 63.
- 4.
Ibid., p. 105.
- 5.
Ibid., p. 127.
- 6.
Ibid., p. 148.
- 7.
Ibid., p. 236.
- 8.
Raymond Aron: Le grand Schisme, Gallimard, Paris 1948 and Raymond Aron: Les Guerres en cha^ine, Gallimard, Paris 1951.
- 9.
Raymond Aron: L’essai sur les libertés, Calmann-Lévy, Paris 1965.
- 10.
Raymond Aron: Paix et geurre entre les nations, Calmann-Lévy, Paris 1962, p. 35.
- 11.
Ibid., p. 35.
- 12.
Ibid., p. 65.
- 13.
Ibid., p. 113.
- 14.
Ibid., p. 16.
- 15.
Nicolas Baverez: Raymond Aron: Un moraliste au temps des idéologies, Flammarion, Paris 1993, p. 328.
- 16.
Raymond Aron: L’histoire et la dialectique de la violence, Paris, PUF, 1973, p. 269ff.
- 17.
Raymond Aron: Penser la guerre, Clausewitz: I: L’âge européen, II: L’a^ge planétaire, Paris Gallimard 1976, tôme 1, p. 109.
- 18.
Ibid., p. 105.
- 19.
Ibid., tôme 1, p. 111.
- 20.
Ibid., tôme II, p. 184.
- 21.
Ibid., tôme II, p. 59.
- 22.
Ibid., tôme II, p. 176.
- 23.
Cornelius Castoriadis: La société bureaucratique, Paris, 1973. Cornelius Castoriadis: L’institution imaginaire de la société, Paris, 1975. Cornelius Castoriadis: Les carrefours du labyrinthe I–V, Paris, 1978. Cornelius Castoriadis, La cité et les lois. Ce qui fait la Grèce, 2. Séminaires 1983–1984. La création humaine III, Paris, 2008.
- 24.
An earlier version of this section on Cornelius Castoriadis has been published as Jacob Dahl Rendtorff: “Castoriadis’ Concept of Institution and Democracy”, Nordicuum-Mediterraneum, December 2008, Volume 3, Number 2.
- 25.
Cornelius Castoriadis: L’institution imaginaire de la société, Èditions du Seuil, (1975), Paris 1999, p. 16.
- 26.
Ibid., p. 105ff.
- 27.
Cornelius Castoriadis: L’institution imaginaire de la société, Èditions du Seuil, (1975), Paris 1999. II. L’imaginaire social et l’institution, p. 251.
- 28.
Cornelius Castoriadis: Les Carrefours de labyrinthe I–II, 1978/1986/1990, Bind I–II, Le Seuil, Paris 1999.
- 29.
Cornelis Castoriadis: L’institution imaginaire de la société, Èditions du Seuil, (1975) Paris 1999. II. L’imaginaire social et l’institution, p. 520.
- 30.
Cornelius Castoriadis: La cité et les lois. Ce qui fait la Grèce, 2, Séminaires 1983–1994. La creation humaine 3. Texte établi, présenté et annoté par Enrique Escobar, Myrto Gondicas et Pascal Vernay. Précédé de “Castoriadis et la Grèce anicenne” par Pierre Vidal-Naquet. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2004.
- 31.
Jean-Paul Sartre: “Réponse à Claude Lefort”, (1953) Situations VII, Problèmes du marxisme, 2, Gallimard, Paris 1965, p. 81.
- 32.
Jean-Paul Sartre: “Réponse à Claude Lefort”, (1953) Situations VII, Problèmes du marxisme, 2, Gallimard, Paris 1965, p. 20.
- 33.
Ibid., p. 92.
- 34.
Claude Lefort: Sur une Colonne absente. Écrits autour de Merleau-Ponty, Gallimard, Paris 1978.
- 35.
Ibid., p. 18.
- 36.
Ibid., p. 41.
- 37.
Ibid., pp. 46–47.
- 38.
Jan Ifversen: “En tænkning af det politiske – Claude Leforts politiske filosofi i Carsten Bagge Laustsen og Anders Berg-Sørensen”. Det ene, den anden, det tredje, København 1999, p. 83ff.
- 39.
Claude Lefort: Un homme en trop: Réflexions sur L’archipel du Goulag, Le Seuil, Paris 1976.
- 40.
Claude Lefort: L’invention démocratique. Les limites de la domination totalitaire, Fayard, Paris 1981.
- 41.
Etienne de la Boétié: Discours de la servitude volontaire, (1548), Paris 1976: Postface de Pierre Clastre et Claude Lefort.
- 42.
Marcel Gauchet: Le désenchantement du monde, Editions Gallimard, Paris 1985.
- 43.
Marcel Gauchet: La Religion dans la démocratie. Parcours de la laicité, Editions Gallimard, Paris 1998.
- 44.
See Kirsten Marie Bovbjerg: “The Ethics of Sensitivity: Towards a New Work Ethic. New Age in Business Life” in Jacob Dahl Rendtorff (ed.): Power and Principle in the Market Place. On Ethics and Economics, Ashgate, London 2010, pp. 169–178.
- 45.
Luc Ferry & Alain Renaut: La pensée 68. Essai sur l’antihumanisme contemporain, (1982) Paris, Folio Essai, Gallimard 1988, p. 17ff.
- 46.
Ibid., p. 29.
- 47.
Ibid., p. 53.
- 48.
Ibid., p. 117.
- 49.
Ibid., pp. 118–119.
- 50.
Ibid., p. 316.
- 51.
Ibid., p. 327.
- 52.
Ibid., p. 333.
- 53.
Ibid., p. 338.
- 54.
Ferry, Luc og Renaut, Alain: Philosophie Politique 1–3, P.U.F., Paris 1984–1991.
- 55.
Ibid., Tôme 1.
- 56.
Ibid., Tôme 2.
- 57.
Ferry, Luc og Renaut, Alain: Philosophie Politique 1–3, P.U.F., Paris 1984–1991 (Tôme 2).
- 58.
Luc Ferry: Le nouvel ordre écologique, Grasset, Paris 1992.
- 59.
Emmanuel Picavet: La Revendication des droits. Une étude de l’équilibre des raisons dans le libéralisme, Classiques Garnier, Paris 2011.
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Rendtorff, J.D. (2014). The Tradition of Political Philosophy: From Raymond Aron and Democratic Institutionalism to Republican Liberalism. In: French Philosophy and Social Theory. Ethical Economy, vol 49. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8845-8_9
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