IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v113y2013i4p627-638.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Virtue and Commerce in Domingo de Soto’s Thought: Commercial Practices, Character, and the Common Good

Author

Listed:
  • André Alves
  • José Moreira

Abstract

This paper draws from the work of sixteenth century theologian, philosopher, and ethicist Domingo de Soto and considers his virtue-based approach to the ethical evaluation of commerce within an Aristotelian–Thomistic framework for the articulation of business and the common good. Particular attention is given to the fundamental emphasis placed by Soto in distinguishing between commerce as an activity and the specific conduct of persons engaging in commercial activity. The distinction between the material and the formal parts of the common good is then employed to shed light on the way Soto articulates commercial practices, virtuous character, and the common good. It is concluded that Soto’s major contribution for business ethics is clarifying that the key element for the ethical evaluation of commerce is the embodiment of virtuous personal conduct in the exercise of commercial activity. In this framework, the fulfillment of commerce’s potential to contribute to the common good is thus fundamentally interconnected with putting virtues into practice. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Suggested Citation

  • André Alves & José Moreira, 2013. "Virtue and Commerce in Domingo de Soto’s Thought: Commercial Practices, Character, and the Common Good," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(4), pages 627-638, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:113:y:2013:i:4:p:627-638
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1681-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-013-1681-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-013-1681-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moore, Geoff, 2005. "Corporate Character: Modern Virtue Ethics and the Virtuous Corporation," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 659-685, October.
    2. Koehn, Daryl, 1995. "A Role for Virtue Ethics in the Analysis of Business Practice," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 533-539, July.
    3. Juan Elegido, 2009. "The Just Price: Three Insights from the Salamanca School," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 29-46, November.
    4. Raymond de Roover, 1955. "Scholastic Economics: Survival and Lasting Influence from the Sixteenth Century to Adam Smith," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 69(2), pages 161-190.
    5. Alejo Sison & Joan Fontrodona, 2011. "The Common Good of Business: Addressing a Challenge Posed by «Caritas in Veritate»," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(1), pages 99-107, March.
    6. Gary chan, 2008. "The Relevance and Value of Confucianism in Contemporary Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(3), pages 347-360, February.
    7. Edwin Hartman, 2008. "Socratic Questions and Aristotelian Answers: A Virtue-Based Approach to Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 313-328, March.
    8. Dierksmeier, Claus & Celano, Anthony, 2012. "Thomas Aquinas on Justice as a Global Virtue in Business," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 247-272, April.
    9. David K. Levine & Steven A. Lippman (ed.), 1995. "The Economics Of Information," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 567.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joan Fontrodona & Alejo Sison & Boudewijn Bruin, 2013. "Editorial Introduction: Putting Virtues Into Practice. A Challenge for Business and Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(4), pages 563-565, April.
    2. Kevin Morrell & Stephen Brammer, 2016. "Governance and Virtue: The Case of Public Order Policing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 385-398, June.
    3. Fernando Hernández Fradejas, 2015. "Liberal Economics in Spain," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 12(2), pages 221–232-2, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Domènec Melé, 2009. "Integrating Personalism into Virtue-Based Business Ethics: The Personalist and the Common Good Principles," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 227-244, August.
    2. Joan Fontrodona & Alejo Sison & Boudewijn Bruin, 2013. "Editorial Introduction: Putting Virtues Into Practice. A Challenge for Business and Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(4), pages 563-565, April.
    3. Sandrine Frémeaux, 2020. "A Common Good Perspective on Diversity," Post-Print hal-03232779, HAL.
    4. Andrew Abela & Ryan Shea, 2015. "Avoiding the Separation Thesis While Maintaining a Positive/Normative Distinction," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 31-41, September.
    5. Andrew West, 2018. "After Virtue and Accounting Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 21-36, March.
    6. Marina Balboa & Germán López-Espinosa & Antonio Rubia, 2012. "Non-linear Dynamics in Discretionary Accruals: An Analysis of Bank Loan-Loss Provisions," Faculty Working Papers 07/12, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    7. Domènec Melé, 2016. "Re-thinking Capitalism: What We can Learn from Scholasticism?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 293-304, January.
    8. Chris Provis, 2010. "Virtuous Decision Making for Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(1), pages 3-16, February.
    9. Patricia Grant & Surendra Arjoon & Peter McGhee, 2018. "In Pursuit of Eudaimonia: How Virtue Ethics Captures the Self-Understandings and Roles of Corporate Directors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 389-406, December.
    10. Subrata Chakrabarty & A. Erin Bass, 2015. "Comparing Virtue, Consequentialist, and Deontological Ethics-Based Corporate Social Responsibility: Mitigating Microfinance Risk in Institutional Voids," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 487-512, February.
    11. Lamberto Zollo & Massimiliano Matteo Pellegrini & Cristiano Ciappei, 2017. "What Sparks Ethical Decision Making? The Interplay Between Moral Intuition and Moral Reasoning: Lessons from the Scholastic Doctrine," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(4), pages 681-700, November.
    12. João Neves & Domènec Melé, 2013. "Managing Ethically Cultural Diversity: Learning from Thomas Aquinas," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 769-780, September.
    13. David Oliver & Matthew Statler & Johan Roos, 2010. "A Meta-Ethical Perspective on Organizational Identity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 427-440, July.
    14. Kevin T. Jackson, 2016. "Economy of Mutuality: Merging Financial and Social Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 499-517, February.
    15. Li Yuan & Robert Chia & Jonathan Gosling, 2023. "Confucian Virtue Ethics and Ethical Leadership in Modern China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 119-133, January.
    16. David McPherson, 2013. "Vocational Virtue Ethics: Prospects for a Virtue Ethic Approach to Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 283-296, August.
    17. Roberta Sferrazzo & Renato Ruffini, 2021. "Are Liberated Companies a Concrete Application of Sen’s Capability Approach?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(2), pages 329-342, May.
    18. George Gotsis & Zoe Kortezi, 2010. "Ethical Considerations in Organizational Politics: Expanding the Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(4), pages 497-517, June.
    19. Dulce Redín & Reyes Calderón & Ignacio Ferrero, 2014. "Exploring the Ethical Dimension of Hawala," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(2), pages 327-337, October.
    20. Alejo Sison & Joan Fontrodona, 2011. "The Common Good of Business: Addressing a Challenge Posed by «Caritas in Veritate»," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(1), pages 99-107, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:113:y:2013:i:4:p:627-638. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.