What are Ethicists Doing in Corporations?

  • Geert Demuijnck EDHEC Business School, Lille, France
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18662/lumproc/gekos2020/02
Keywords: Ethicists; applied ethics; business ethics

Abstract

This paper focuses on the following questions: What exactly is the function of an ethicist in a company or in its ethics committee? What should he or she do in this environment What are the limits of their actions? It is argued that the legitimate role of the ethicist is not primarily that of an expert in moral philosophy, but rather that of an advisor whose contribution consists in helping the company to meet certain key conditions that allow the company to genuinely address ethical issues. Other roles will be distinguished as well. They can be characterized as vacillating from the one extreme, where an ethicist acts as a moralizing guide to another extreme where they play the role of a facilitator. 

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Published
2020-07-10
How to Cite
Demuijnck, G. (2020). What are Ethicists Doing in Corporations?. LUMEN Proceedings, 11, 04-13. https://doi.org/10.18662/lumproc/gekos2020/02
Issue
Vol 11 (2020): 1st International Conference Global Ethics - Key of Sustainability (GEKoS)
Section
Keynote papers

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