Extant Social Contracts and the Question of Business Ethics

Journal of Business Ethics · 2009 · Volume 88 · Issue 4

Abstract

ISCT arguably forms the most promising impetus to a contractarian theory of business ethics presently available. In this article, I want to pay tribute to the lasting significance of Dunfee’s contribution to the field of business ethics by analyzing the vital role of the idea of extant social contracts (ESCs) in the conceptual set up of the ISCT project. The construct of ESCs can be shown to shape the problem statement from which the ISCT project proceeds – indeed it helps to conceptualize the basic question which defines and delineates the domain of business ethics.

Keywords

extant social contracts, fact-value divide, integrative social contracts theory, justification, relativism, value pluralism

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