R. Edward Freeman and Patricia H. Werhane, Editors

This volume brings together the ideas of those working in business ethics and scientists working in biology, evolution and evolutionary psychology. It represents the vision of William Frederick, who has argued for some time that business ethicists should learn more about the sciences and their implications for understanding the processes of value creation and trade. The papers in this volume begin a discussion of what business ethicists can learn from their colleagues in the sciences, and were originally prepared for the Ruffin Lectures in Business Ethics held at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business in 2002.

Jessica Flack and Frans de Waal suggest that the origins of morality can be found in our evolutionary cousins: non-human primates. Paul Lawrence suggests that the human sense of morality is innate, or at least has evolved over a long period of time, to fulfill our need to bond with and care for others. Leda Cosmides and John Tooby argue that the evolutionary psychology framework can be useful for understanding business ethics in its account of "cheater detection," participation in collective action, and how our minds socially construct groups. William Frederick suggests that we come to see firms as natural phenomena. Edwin Hartman argues that we should take an Aristotelian approach to understanding nature and evolution. In addition there are papers by Joshua Margolis, Robert Solomon, Timothy Fort, David Messick, Saras Sarasvathy, Mollie Painter-Morland, Sandra Waddock, Joseph DesJardins, Ronald Mitchell, and Tara Radin.

Table of Contents

• Introduction

• Section I: The Ruffin Lectures
  
  
  • Jessica C. Flack and Frans B. M. de Waal, "Monkey Business and Business Ethics: Evolutionary Origins of Human Morality"
  • Joshua Margolis, "Responsibility, Inconsistency, and the Paradoxes of Morality in Human Nature"
  • Robert C. Solomon, "Sympathy as a 'Natural' Sentiment"
  • Paul R. Lawrence, "The Biological Base of Morality?"
  • Timothy L. Fort, "A Deal, A Dolphin, and a Rock: Biological Contributions to Business Ethics"
  • Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, "Knowing Thyself: The Evolutionary Psychology of Moral Reasoning and Moral Sentiments"
  • David M. Messick, "Human Nature and Business Ethics"
  • Saras D. Sarasvathy, "Founding Moral Reasoning on Evolutionary Psychology: A Critique and an Alternative"
  • William C. Frederick, "The Evolutionary Firm and Its Moral (Dis)Contents"
  • Mollie Painter-Morland, "The Possibility of Moral Responsibility Within Corporations as Complex Systems"
  • Sandra A. Waddock, "A Developmental and Systemic Perspective on Frederick's 'The Evolutionary Firm and Its Moral (Dis)Contents'"
  • Edwin M. Hartman, "De Rerum Natura"
  • Lisa Newton, "Can Science Tell Us What is Right?"
  • Robert A. Phillips, "Brief Remarks on the Evolutionary Method"

• Section II: Variations on the Theme: Business, Science, and Ethics
  
  
  • Joseph DesJardins, "Explanation and Justification: The Relevance of the Biological and Social Sciences to Business Ethics"
  • Ronald K. Mitchell, "Evolutionary Biology Research, Entrepreneurship, and the Morality of Security-Seeking Behavior in an Imperfect Economy"
  • Tara J. Radin, "To Propagate and to Prosper: A Naturalistic Foundation for Stakeholder Theory"