W. Christopher Stewart is a philosophy professor at Houghton College in Houghton, NY, where he teaches courses on aesthetics, the history of philosophy, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, philosophy of science, and business ethics. He is the author of, among other things, an essay on magic and technology forthcoming in The Hobbit and Philosophy, and earlier co-authored an essay on magic, science, and the ethics of technology for Harry Potter and Philosophy. He has served as a consultant for Pfizer, where he advised a team of marketing experts on the relationship between clinical research, consumer behavior, and Pascal’s wager.
TILE: What does philosophy have to do with money?
Chris: One very large and important branch of philosophy has to do with human happiness or well-being, and what money or wealth (among other things) contribute to human life. We all want what the ancient philosophers called “the good life,” but we’re often confused about where to find it. What are the key ingredients of the good life? Can a human being be truly happy without friends, music, beauty, meaningful work, or money?
Socrates famously challenged his fellow Athenians to examine their values and priorities, warning them against placing the pursuit of wealth or honor or power above virtue and the health of their “souls.” So philosophers have said quite a lot about what money properly contributes to the good life, and how it can sometimes get in the way.
TILE: One of the areas of philosophy that you’ve studied is business ethics. Tell us about it. Why is it important for young adults in particular to be able to identify good business practices or understand a company’s core mission?
Chris: As human beings, we don’t just do things, we evaluate the things we do. There’s more than one way to do this. We might ask, for example, what’s the best thing to do from a legal point of view. Is what I’m doing legal or not? Or we might ask what’s the best thing to do from a business point of view? How can I make the most money? Or we might ask what’s the best thing to do from an ethical point of view? How will my actions affect others (not just me)? Business ethics explores how all of these kinds of questions relate to one another, which is particularly important because what’s best from an ethical point of view isn’t always the same as what’s best from a business point of view. Business ethics goes beyond simply not breaking the law, and helps you make good decisions within the realm of what the law permits you to do.
Also, who we become as people is shaped by the environments in which we work. So when you’re deciding who to work with, or what to invest in, check out the way that people within a given organization treat one another, and how they treat the people they claim to be serving. Look for evidence in a company’s core mission statement for a clear understanding of how the product or service that company provides makes the world a better place, not just for its owners or employees, but for everyone. That’s where you’ll find the moral justification of any business, not in whatever philanthropic causes the business supports, which however worthy (think Ronald McDonald Houses) might have nothing at all to do with its core business.
It’s becoming more and more apparent that not-just-for-profit business, more than government or philanthropy, is the most important engine for solving problems in our world. By the same token, it can also cause tremendous harm. So businesses, and those who invest in them, must have a clear understanding of why they exist, one that goes well beyond making money for their owners.
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