The liberal paradigm

pp. 67-102

in: Claus Dierksmeier, Reframing economic ethics, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

This chapter begins from the premise that we cannot go back behind the insights of the Enlightenment era. The plurality of convictions in the contemporary world determines—factually as well as normatively—the way we conceptualize ethics at present. No longer is there but one conception of "the good" for each and every one. People deserve the chance to make up their own minds about the values that guide their lives. With individual freedom as its base, the "Liberal Paradigm," does not, however, exclude teleological orientation, as demonstrated by the ethics of Immanuel Kant. After a brief overview of Kant's ethics, the explication of the liberal paradigm proceeds by establishing a distinction between quantitative and qualitative concepts of freedom. The application of these conceptions to current management conundrums—in the areas of corporate strategy and culture, leadership, and organizational governance—helps to separate the wheat from the chaff in the field of contemporary management theories.