Lütge / Strosetzki The Honorable Merchant - Between Modesty and Risk-Taking

Intercultural and Literary Aspects
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-3-030-04351-3
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 56, 198 Seiten

Reihe: Ethical Economy

This volume explores the concept of the honest merchant, taking a broad perspective and covering a wide range of aspects. It looks at the different types of “honest merchant” conceptions originating from different cultures and literary traditions. The book covers Japanese, Islamic, Scandinavian, Russian, German, Spanish, as well as other aspects, and studies different disciplinary backgrounds of the honest merchant, such as philosophical, economic, neuroethical, sociological and literary ones.
The concept of the honest merchant has a long tradition in business ethics. In the Hanseatic League and in medieval Italy, the ideal of the honest businessman was taught since the late Middle Ages. It originated during a time when travelling merchants were often regarded with a sceptical eye. The honest merchants of their time however held clear principles in their business and took responsibility for their community. In later times, the religious notions of the concept lost their pivotal place to reason and morality. This book goes beyond the tradition of discussing business ethics in association with concepts from the Hanseatic League and medieval Italy, and puts the central concept of business ethics in a much greater perspective.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lütge, Christoph

Strosetzki, Christoph

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Introduction;6
2;Contents;8
3;Contributors;10
4;Part I: The Image of the Merchant Contemplated Across Times;11
4.1;Chapter 1: The Merchant from Patristics to the Honnête Homme in the Writings of Savary;12
4.1.1;1.1 The Negative Image of the Merchant;12
4.1.2;1.2 The Change in the Evaluation of the Merchant;15
4.1.2.1;1.2.1 Plato and the Patristics;16
4.1.2.2;1.2.2 Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle;17
4.1.2.3;1.2.3 The Merchant and Trade in the Works of Aristotle;18
4.1.3;1.3 The Appraisal of the Merchant: Nanteser und Savary;20
4.1.4;Works Cited;25
4.2;Chapter 2: The Honorable Merchant and the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement;27
4.2.1;2.1 Introduction;27
4.2.2;2.2 Order Ethics: Pre-modern and Modern;28
4.2.3;2.3 Ethics in Competition;30
4.2.4;2.4 Morality in a Company: Corporate Social Responsibility;33
4.2.5;2.5 Corporate Social Responsibility and the Honorable Merchant;33
4.2.6;2.6 Conclusion;34
4.2.7;Literature;35
4.3;Chapter 3: The Legend of Excellent Businessman. A Neuroethical Perspective;37
4.3.1;3.1 The Business Entrepreneurial Spirit;37
4.3.2;3.2 Telling Stories and Not Just Giving Accounts;39
4.3.3;3.3 We Live from Stories and in Stories;40
4.3.4;3.4 In Spain the Businessman Is Not a Moral Ideal;42
4.3.5;3.5 The Meaning of Business Activity;44
4.3.6;3.6 From Statements to Actions. True Stories;46
4.4;Chapter 4: The Honest Businessperson: Cosmopolitan Theory and Cultural Praxis (The Example of Denmark and Scandinavia);48
4.4.1;4.1 Cosmopolitan Theory of the Honest Businessperson;48
4.4.2;4.2 Cultural Practice of the Honorable Businessperson: Perspectives from Scandinavia;55
4.4.3;References;59
4.5;Chapter 5: Voluntary Business Regulation for Sustainability: Intends, Norms and Motivations of Building Public Trust of Corporate Managers;61
4.5.1;5.1 From Stockholm to Paris: Failures of International Environmental Treaty-Making;61
4.5.2;5.2 Voluntary Business Regulation for Sustainability: Objections and Approvals;67
4.5.3;References;75
5;Part II: The Image of the Merchant in Europe from Late Middle Ages Until Early Modern Times;80
5.1;Chapter 6: The Honest Merchant Before Adam Smith: The Genesis and Rise of a Literary Prototype in Britain;81
5.1.1;6.1 Adam Smith’s Homo Oeconomicus as Point of Reference;81
5.1.2;6.2 Rejection of Commercial Life in the Middle Ages;84
5.1.3;6.3 The Merchant in the Elizabethan Age (c. 1600): Elevating a Still Ambivalent Character;86
5.1.4;6.4 Individualism vs. the Common Good in Elizabethan Drama;88
5.1.5;6.5 Different Perspectives of the Seventeenth Century;90
5.1.6;6.6 The Paradoxical Nature of Puritanism as a Driving Force Behind Commercial Life;92
5.1.7;6.7 The Rise of the Merchant after the Glorious Revolution;92
5.1.8;Primary Literature;94
5.1.8.1;Secondary Literature;95
6;Part III: The Image of the Merchant in Europe from Early Modern Times Until Nineteenth Century;97
6.1;Chapter 7: The Long Journey from “Deceiver and Conman” to “Honorable Merchant.” The Image of the Merchant in Spanish Literature and Its Contexts from the Sixteenth to the End of the Eighteenth Century;98
6.1.1;7.1 Preliminary Thoughts on the Negative Image of the Merchant in the Spanish Literature and the Mindset of El Siglo de Oro;99
6.1.2;7.2 The Historical Dignification and Theological Legitimation of the Merchant in the Reality of the Spanish Sixteenth Century;103
6.1.3;7.3 The Long Journey to the Secularization of the Image of the Honorable Merchant from the Seventeenth to the Eighteenth Century;109
6.1.4;7.4 Case Studies on External and Self-Portrayals of the Merchant in the Age of Spanish Enlightenment: From the Theoretician Valentín de Foronda and the Practitioners Juan de Eguino and Isidoro de la Fuente Pérez;111
6.1.5;References;117
6.2;Chapter 8: The Figures of the Honorable Merchant and the Philanthropic Entrepreneur-Paternalist in Eighteenth Century Spanish Sentimental Comedies;121
6.2.1;8.1 The Merchant and the Sentimental Comedy: Reception Processes from England to France, and Then to Spain;122
6.2.2;8.2 El hombre agradecido (1796) by Luciano Comella: The Merchant, the Time Lag, and the Trusted Chain of Correspondents;126
6.2.3;8.3 The Blurring of Lines Between Gift and Investment in El hombre agradecido;133
6.2.3.1;8.3.1 The Role of Friendship as an Allegory for Spanish Economic Reform Discourse;136
6.2.4;8.4 Durán’s La industriosa madrileña, y El fabricante de Olot: The Character of Esteban as a Philanthropic Entrepreneur-Paternalist and the Value of Work;137
6.2.5;8.5 Conclusion;140
6.2.6;References;142
6.3;Chapter 9: The Homo Oeonomicus, Merchant Ethos, and Liberalism in Spain Under Enlightened Absolutism;145
6.3.1;9.1 Introduction;145
6.3.2;9.2 Economic Reforms Based on Christian Anthropology;148
6.3.3;9.3 The Honorable Merchant in Juan Enrique Graef;152
6.3.4;9.4 Regulation of Emotions and Interests Under the Banner of “Policey”: Campillo y Cossío;155
6.3.5;9.5 Exponents of Early Liberalism in Spain: Valentín de Foronda, Jovellanos and the “Holy Interest”;158
6.3.6;9.6 Conclusion and Outlook;161
6.3.6.1;9.6.1 Common Good;161
6.3.6.2;9.6.2 Natural Law;162
6.3.6.3;9.6.3 Merchant’s Honor;162
6.3.7;Bibliography;163
6.4;Chapter 10: “A Traveling Salesman from Hades”. On the Critique of the Acquisitive Mindset in Nikolai V. Gogol’s Novel Dead Souls (1842);165
6.4.1;10.1 The Honorable Merchant in Russian Literature;165
6.4.2;10.2 Gogol’s Dead Souls: The Planned Credit Fraud;167
6.4.3;10.3 Dead Souls in Historical Context;170
6.4.4;10.4 Anthropology and Utopia of Dead Souls;172
6.4.5;10.5 Gogol’s Dead Souls and the Financial Crises of the Present;173
6.4.6;Bibliography;175
7;Part IV: The Image of the Merchant in Non-European Contexts;176
7.1;Chapter 11: The Ethics of the Merchant in the Islamic Faith: From Ibn Khaldoun to Islamic Finance;177
7.1.1;11.1 Introduction;177
7.1.2;11.2 The Three Monotheistic World Religions, Wealth, and Money;178
7.1.3;11.3 Ibn Khaldoun (1331/732–1406/808), Theorist of Commercial Activities;180
7.1.4;11.4 The Islamic Economy: Some Effects of the Ban on Credit for Commercial Activities;186
7.1.5;Literature;190
7.2;Chapter 12: The Most Successful and Moralistic Merchant at the Dawn of Japanese Capitalism. Shibusawa and His Confucianism;191
7.2.1;12.1 Brief Career;191
7.2.2;12.2 Confucian Background;193
7.2.3;12.3 Some Theoretical Considerations;195
7.2.3.1;12.3.1 Consequentialism?;195
7.2.3.2;12.3.2 Profit and Social Contribution;196
7.2.3.3;12.3.3 Confucian Twist;197