Skip to main content
Log in

The Land of Realism and the Shipwreck of Idea-ism: Thomas Aquinas and Milton Friedman on the Social Responsibilities of Business

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The views of thirteenth century Catholic thinker Thomas Aquinas and twentieth century economist Milton Friedman on the social responsibility of business are contrasted by probing the foundations of their positions. The basis of Aquinas’ normative stance in political economy is found in the metaphysical and moral realism of the classic tradition. The role Descartes and Hobbes played in overturning this philosophical starting point and ushering in an age of ideology is traced out. Friedman’s commitment to Comte’s vision of positivism is revealed and what this entails for metaphysics, ethics, and economics is given.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alford, H., C. M. A. Clark, S. A. Cortright and M. J. Naughton (eds.): 2006, Rediscovering Abundance (University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN)

  • Alford, H. J., & Naughton, M. J. (2001). Managing as if Faith Mattered: Christian Social Principles in the Modern Organization. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Aquinas, St. Thomas: 1948, Summa Theologica, 5 Volumes (Fathers of the English Dominican Province, trans.) (Benziger Brothers, New York) (Original work published in 1911)

  • Aquinas, St. Thomas: 1955, Summa Contra Gentiles. Book One: God (A. C. Pegis, trans.) (Image Books, Garden City, NY)

  • Aquinas, St. Thomas: 1956a, Summa Contra Gentiles. Book Two: Creation (J. F. Anderson, trans.) (Image Books, Garden City, NY)

  • Aquinas, St. Thomas: 1956b, Summa Contra Gentiles. Book Three: Providence (V. J. Bourke, trans.) (Image Books, Garden City, NY)

  • Aquinas, St. Thomas: 1957, Summa Contra Gentiles. Book Four: Salvation (C. J. O’Neil, trans.) (Image Books, Garden City, NY)

  • Aquinas, St. Thomas: 1968, On Being and Essence (A. Maurer, trans.) (2nd rev. edition) (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, ON)

  • Aristotle: 1980, Aristotle’s Categories and Propositions (H. G. Apostle, trans.) (Peripatetic Press, Grinnell, IA)

  • Azar, L. (1983). Philosophy and Ideology: An Adventure (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall

    Google Scholar 

  • Azar, L. (1990). Twentieth Century in Crisis: Foundations of Totalitarianism. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrera, A. (2005). Economic Compulsion and Christian Ethics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, W. (1986). Death of the Soul: From Descartes to the Computer. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. S.: 1976, The Economic Approach to Human Behaviour (University of Chicago Press, Chicago)

  • Bellamy, R., & Hollis, M. (1995). Liberal Justice: Political and Metaphysical. The Philosophical Quarterly, 45(178), 1–19. doi:10.2307/2219845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1993). The Revenge of Homo Economicus: Contested Exchange and the Revival of Political Economy. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 7(1), 83–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandt, F. (1927). Thomas Hobbes Mechanical Conception of Nature. Copenhagen, Denmark: Levin & Munksgaard

    Google Scholar 

  • Busch, L. (2000). The Eclipse of Morality. New York: Aldine de Guyter

    Google Scholar 

  • Camenisch, P. F.: 1981, ‹Business Ethics: On Getting to the Heart of the Matter’, Business and Professional Ethics Journal (Fall), 1(1), 59–69

  • Canavan, F. (1995). The Image of Man in Catholic Thought. In K. L. Grasso, G. V. Bradley, R. P. Hunt (Eds.) Catholicism, Liberalism, and Communitarianism: The Catholic Intellectual Tradition and the Moral Foundations of Democracy (pp. 15–27). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield

    Google Scholar 

  • Carson, T. (1993). Friedman’s Theory of Corporate Social Responsibility. Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 12(1), 3–32. Medline

    Google Scholar 

  • Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC]: 1992, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ottawa, ON

  • Chervin, R., & Kevane, E. (1988). Love of Wisdom. San Francisco: Ignatius Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesterton, G. K. (1956). Saint Thomas Aquinas. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. M. A. (2006). Christian Morals and the Competitive System Revisited. Journal of Economic Issues, 40(2), 261–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Coelho, P. R., McClure, J. E., & Spry, J. A. (2003). The Social Responsibility of Corporate Management: A Classical Critique. Mid-American Journal of Business, 18(1), 15–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Copelston, F. C. (1955). Aquinas. Middlesex, Great Britain: Penguin Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Danley, J. R. (1991). Polestar Refined: Business Ethics and Political Economy. Journal of Business Ethics, 10(12), 915–933. doi:10.1007/BF00383797

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eschmann, I. T. (1956). A Catalogue of St. Thomas’ Works: Bibliographical Notes. In E. Gilson (Ed.), The Christian Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas (pp. 381–439). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzioni, A. (1996). A Moderate Communitarian Proposal. Political Theory, 24(2), 155–171. doi:10.1177/0090591796024002001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleckenstein, M. P. (2002). The “Right to Associate” in Catholic Social Thought. Journal of Business Ethics, 38(1/2), 55–64. doi:10.1023/A:1015773013528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. (1953). Essays in Positive Economics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M.: 1970, ‹The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits’, New York Times Magazine, pp. 32, 33, 122, 124, 126

  • Friedman, M. (1991). Essay on Centisimus Annus. National Review, 43(11), S3–S4

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher, S.: 2005, A Strategic Response to Friedman’s Critique of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Strategy 26(6), 55–60. doi:10.1108/02756660510633028

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gannon, T. M. (ed.). (1987). The Catholic Challenge to the American Economy. New York: Macmillan

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilson, E. (1937). The Unity of Philosophical Experience. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilson, E. (1952). Being and Some Philosophers. Toronto, ON: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilson, E. (1956). The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodpaster, K. E. (1998). Ethical Frameworks for Management. In K. E. Goodpaster & L. Nash (Eds.), Policies and Persons: A Casebook in Business Ethics (pp. 516–529). New York: McGraw-Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, C. (1991). Friedman Fallacies. Journal of Business Ethics, 10(12), 907–914. doi:10.1007/BF00383796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, R. M. (ed.): 1952, ‹Descartes, Spinoza’, in Great Books of the Western World (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago), pp. 1–463

  • John Paul II: 1981, Laborem Exercens (On human work) (St. Paul Books & Media, Boston) [LE]

  • John Paul II: 1987, Sollicitudo rei socialis (On Social Concern) (St. Paul Books & Media, Boston) [SRS]

  • John Paul II: 1991, Centissimus Annus (One Hundred Years) (St. Paul Books & Media, Boston) [CA]

  • John Paul II: 2005, Memory and Identity (Rizzoli, New York)

  • Keynes, J. M. (1936). The General Theory of Interest, Employment and Money. London, UK: MacMillan

    Google Scholar 

  • Koehn, D. (1996). The Ethics of Business: Moving Beyond Legalism. Ethics & Behavior, 6(1), 1–16. doi:10.1207/s15327019eb0601_1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laing, J. A. (2004). Law, Liberalism, and the Common Good. In D. Oderberg & T. Chappell (Eds.), Human Values: New Essays on Ethics and Natural Law. London, England: Palgrave Macmillan

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, D. R., & McKenzie, R. B. (1994). Corporate Failure as a Means to Corporate Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 13(12), 969–978. doi:10.1007/BF00881666

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leijenhorst, C. (2007). Sense and Nonsense About Sense: Hobbes and the Aristotelians on Sense Perception and Imagination. In P. Springborg (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes Leviathan (pp. 82–108). New York: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Leo XIII: 1891, Rerum Novarum (Daughters of St. Paul, Boston) [RN]

  • Lewis, C. S. (1947). The Abolition of Man. New York: MacMillan

    Google Scholar 

  • Liechty, D. (1985). On the Social Responsibilities of Business: Contra Milton Friedman. Management Decision, 23(4), 54–63. doi:10.1108/eb001385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowi, T. J. (2001). Our Millennium: Political Science Confronts the Global Corporate Economy. International Political Science Review, 22(2), 131–150. doi:10.1177/0192512101222001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maritain, J. (1958). St. Thomas Aquinas. New York: Meridian Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, C. (2005). In Defense of Corporate Responsibility. ZFWU, 6(3), 359–373

    Google Scholar 

  • McAleer, S. (2003). Friedman’s Stockholder Theory of Corporate Moral Responsibility. Teaching Business Ethics, 7(4), 437–451. doi:10.1023/B:TEBE.0000005711.70399.51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Médaille, J. (2007). The Vocation of Business. New York: Continuum

    Google Scholar 

  • Michel, V. (1939a). Ownership and the Human Person. The Review of Politics, 1(2), 155–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michel, V. (1939b). Liberalism Yesterday and Tomorrow. Ethics, 49(4), 417–434. doi:10.1086/290105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molesworth, Sir W. (ed.): 1839, The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Vol. 1 (John Bohn, London) [Originally published 1655] [DeCorpore]

  • Mulligan, T.: 1986, ‹A Critique of Milton Friedman’s Essay “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits’”, Journal of Business Ethics 5, 265–269. doi:10.1007/BF00383091

  • Mulligan, T. (1990). Justifying Moral Initiative by Business, with Rejoinders to Bill Shaw and Richard Nunan. Journal of Business Ethics, 9(2), 93–103. doi:10.1007/BF00382658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, M. L. (1983). The Soul of Modern Economic Man. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Naughton, M. J. (1995). Participation in the Organization: An Ethical Analysis from the Papal Social Tradition. Journal of Business Ethics, 14(11), 923–935. doi:10.1007/BF00882070

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, A. (2002). Discovering Aquinas. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunan, R. (1988). The Libertarian Conception of Corporate Property: A Critique of Milton Friedman’s Views on the Social Responsibility of Business. Journal of Business Ethics, 7(12), 891–906

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M. C. (1997). Flawed Foundations: The Philosophical Critique of (A Particular Type of) Economics. The University of Chicago Law Review, 64(4), 1197–1214. doi:10.2307/1600214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Boyle, E. J. (2004). Getting the Hard-Core Concepts of Economics Right. Logos, 7(1), 147–173. doi:10.1353/log.2004.0007

    Google Scholar 

  • Persky, J. (1995). Retrospectives: The Ethology of Homo Economicus. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9(2), 221–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Pesch, H.: 1998, Heinrich Pesch on Solidarist Economics: Excerpts from the Lehrbuch der Nationalökonomie (R. J. Erderer, trans.) (University Press of America, Lanham, MD)

  • Pesch, H. S. J.: 2002, Lehrbuch der nationalökonomie/Teaching guide to economics, Vols. 1–5 (R. J. Erderer, trans.) (Lewiston, NY: Mellen Press) (Original work published 1905–1926)

  • Pesch, H. S. J.: 2004, Ethics in the National Economy (R. J. Erderer, trans.) (IHS Press, Norfolk, VA) (Original work published 1918)

  • Peterson, D. J. (1999). Revoking the Moral Order. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Pontifical Council for Social Communications: 1997, Ethics in advertising. Retrieved March 20, 2008 from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_coun-cils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_2

  • Post, F. R. (2003). A Response to “The Social Responsibility of Corporate Management: A Classical Critique” Mid-American Journal of Business, 18(1), 25–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Redpath, P. A. (1997a). Cartesian Nightmare: An Introduction to Transcendental Sophistry. Atlanta, GA: Rodopi

    Google Scholar 

  • Redpath, P. A. (1997b). Wisdom’s Odyssey: From Philosophy to Transcendental Sophistry. Atlanta, GA: Rodopi

    Google Scholar 

  • Redpath, P. A. (1998). Masquerade of the Dream Walkers: Prophetic Theology from the Cartesians to Hegel. Atlanta, GA: Rodopi

    Google Scholar 

  • Rommen, H. A. (1965). Natural Law: Man and Society. Fordham Law Review, 24(1), 128–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, H. W. (ed.): 1958, Leviathan (Liberal Arts Press, New York) [Originally published 1651] [Lev.]

  • Schumacher, E. F. (1977). A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: Harper and Row

    Google Scholar 

  • Shorris, E. (1981). Scenes from Corporate Life: The Politics of Middle management. New York: Penguin Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A.: 1981, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Liberty Classics, Indianapolis, IN) [Originally published 1759]

  • Smith, A.: 1982, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Liberty Classics, Indianapolis, IN) [Originally published 1776]

  • Spragens, T. A. (1973). The Politics of Motion: The World of Thomas Hobbes. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, D. J. (1992). An Introduction to Philosophy. Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers

    Google Scholar 

  • Tönnies, F. (ed.): 1969, The Elements of Law: Natural and Politic, 2nd Edition (Barnes & Noble, New York) [Originally published 1640]

  • Torrell, J.-P.: 2003, Saint Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master (R. Royal, trans.) (Catholic University of America Press, Washington, DC)

  • Torrell, J.-P.; 2005, Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Person and His Work (R. Royal, trans) (Catholic University of America Press, Washington, DC)

  • Verdon, M. (1982). On the Laws of Physical and Human Nature: Hobbes’ Physical and Social Cosmologies. Journal of the History of Ideas, 43(4), 653–663. doi:10.2307/2709348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warrender, H. (ed.): 1983, De Cive (Oxford University Press, New York) [Originally published 1642; First English Translation, 1651]

  • Waters, W. R. (1988). Social Economics: A Solidarist Perspective. Review of Social Economy, XLVI, (2), 113–143. doi:10.1080/00346768800000024

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, J. W. N. (1955). Philosophy and Politics in Hobbes. The Philosophical Quarterly, 5(19), 125–146. doi:10.2307/2217139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiteside, K. H. (1988). Hobbes Ultranominalist Critique of Natural Right. Polity, 20(3), 457–478. doi:10.2307/3234871

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilcke, R. W. (2004). An Appropriate Ethical Model for Business and a Critique of Milton Friedman’s Thesis. The Independent Review, 9(2), 187–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Wishloff, J. (2003). Responsible Free Enterprise: What It is and Why We Don’t Have it. Teaching Business Ethics, 7, 229–263. doi:10.1023/A:1025021203317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuengert, A.: 2007, ‹Free Markets and the Culture of Consumption’, in Catholic Social Teaching and the Market Economy (The Institute of Economic Affairs, London, UK), pp. 145–163

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jim Wishloff.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wishloff, J. The Land of Realism and the Shipwreck of Idea-ism: Thomas Aquinas and Milton Friedman on the Social Responsibilities of Business. J Bus Ethics 85, 137–155 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9753-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9753-9

Keywords

Navigation