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10Correction to: Food Vendor Beware! On Ordinary Morality and Unhealthy MarketingFood Ethics 5 (1-2): 1-21. 2019.The title of the article in the initial online publication was mixed up with copy editing information. The original article has been corrected.
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252Bridging the Gap between Individual and Corporate Responsible Behaviour: Toward a Performative Concept of Corporate CodesPhilosophy of Management 16 (2): 117-136. 2017.We reflect on the nature of corporate codes of conduct is this article. Based on John Austin’s speech act theory, four characteristics of a performative concept of corporate codes will be introduced: 1) the existential self-performative of the firm identity, 2) which is demanded by and responsive to their stakeholders; 3) Because corporate codes are structurally threatened by the possibility of failure, 4) embracing the code not only consists in actual corporate responsible behaviour in light of…Read more
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297Hybrids and the Boundaries of Moral Considerability or Revisiting the Idea of Non-Instrumental ValuePhilosophy and Technology 34 (2): 223-242. 2019.The transgressive ontological character of hybrids—entities crossing the ontological binarism of naturalness and artificiality, e.g., biomimetic projects—calls for pondering the question of their ethical status, since metaphysical and moral ideas are often inextricably linked. The example of it is the concept of “moral considerability” and related to it the idea of “intrinsic value” understood as a non-instrumentality of a being. Such an approach excludes hybrids from moral considerations due to…Read more
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324What Is (Business) Management? Laying the Ground for a Philosophy of ManagementPhilosophy of Management 19 (2): 173-189. 2020.In this article, we philosophically reflect on the nature of business management. We move beyond the political paradigm of the conceptualization of management in order to lay the ground for a philosophy of business management. First, we open-up the self-evident conceptualization of business management in contemporary management practices by comparing ancient and contemporary definitions of management. Second, we develop a framework with six dimensions of the nature of business management that ca…Read more
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286Hybrids and the Boundaries of Moral Considerability or Revisiting the Idea of Non-Instrumental ValuePhilosophy and Technology 34 (2): 223-242. 2019.The transgressive ontological character of hybrids—entities crossing the ontological binarism of naturalness and artificiality, e.g., biomimetic projects—calls for pondering the question of their ethical status, since metaphysical and moral ideas are often inextricably linked. The example of it is the concept of “moral considerability” and related to it the idea of “intrinsic value” understood as a non-instrumentality of a being. Such an approach excludes hybrids from moral considerations due to…Read more
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252Responsible Innovation for Life: Five Challenges Agriculture Offers for Responsible Innovation in Agriculture and Food, and the Necessity of an Ethics of InnovationJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 32 (5): 673-679. 2019.In this special issue we will investigate, from the perspective of agricultural ethics the potential to develop a Responsible Research and Innovation approach to agriculture, and the limitations to such an enterprise. RRI is an emerging field in the European research and innovation policy context that aims to balance economic, socio-cultural and environmental aspects in innovation processes. Because technological innovations can contribute significantly to the solution of societal challenges lik…Read more
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466Stakeholder Dialogue as Agonistic Deliberation: Exploring the Role of Conflict and Self-Interest in Business-NGO InteractionBusiness Ethics Quarterly 30 (1): 3-30. 2020.ABSTRACT:Many companies engage in dialogue with nongovernmental organizations about societal issues. The question is what a regulative ideal for such dialogues should be. In the literature on corporate social responsibility, the Habermasian notion of communicative action is often presented as a regulative ideal for stakeholder dialogue, implying that actors should aim at consensus and set strategic considerations aside. In this article, we argue that in many cases, communicative action is not a …Read more
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212Politics versus Economics Philosophical Reflections on the Nature of Corporate GovernancePhilosophy of Management 19 (1): 69-87. 2020.In this article, we philosophically reflect on the nature of corporate governance. We raise the question whether control is still a feasible ideal of corporate governance and reflect on the implications of the epistemic insufficiency of economic institutions with regard to grand challenges like of global warming for our conceptualization of corporate governance. We first introduce the concept of corporate governance from the perspective of economics and politics. We then trace the genealogy of t…Read more
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241Seeing Through the Fumes: Technology and Asymmetry in the AnthropoceneHuman Studies 42 (4): 621-646. 2019.This paper offers a twofold ontological conceptualization of technology in the Anthropocene. On the one hand, we aim to show how the Anthropocene occasions an experience of our inescapable inclusion in the technological structuring of reality that Martin Heidegger associates with cybernetics. On the other hand, by confronting Heidegger’s thought on technology with Georges Bataille’s consideration of technological existence as economic and averted existence, we will criticize Heidegger’s account …Read more
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195Nothing Else MattersResearch in Phenomenology 49 (1): 65-87. 2019.If the world in which we are intentionally involved is threatened by climate change, this raises the question about our place on Earth. In this article, we argue that the ecological crisis we face today draws our attention to the Earth as ontic-ontological condition of our being-in-the-world. Because the Earth is often reflected upon in relation to human existence, living systems or material entities in the philosophical tradition, we argue for an ontological concept of the materiality of the Ea…Read more
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349In this conceptual paper, the traditional conceptualization of sustainable entrepreneurship is challenged because of a fundamental tension between processes involved in sustainable development and processes involved in entrepreneurship: the concept of sustainable business models contains a paradox, because sustainability involves the reduction of information asymmetries, whereas entrepreneurship involves enhanced and secured levels of information asymmetries. We therefore propose a new and integ…Read more
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311Agricultural technologies as living machines: toward a biomimetic conceptualization of technologyEthics, Policy and Environment 21 (2): 246-263. 2018.Smart Farming Technologies raise ethical issues associated with the increased corporatization and industrialization of the agricultural sector. We explore the concept of biomimicry to conceptualize smart farming technologies as ecological innovations which are embedded in and in accordance with the natural environment. Such a biomimetic approach of smart farming technologies takes advantage of its potential to mitigate climate change, while at the same time avoiding the ethical issues related to…Read more
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17"Digital" plants and the rise of responsible precision agricultureIn Angela Kallhoff, M. Di Paola & M. Schörgenhumer (eds.), Plant Ethics, Routledge. pp. 213-220. 2018.Although agricultural mechanization, hybrid cultivars, the Green Revolution, and modern biotechnology have been implemented on a global scale, conventional farmers still have to face a lot of ethical debate and criticism. From a plants ethics perspective, they are challenged by organic farmers to reorganize their practices in a responsible way, and no longer consider plants as mere instruments. However, by embracing the development of precision farming, conventional crop production seems to turn…Read more
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325Understanding political responsibility in corporate citizenship: towards a shared responsibility for the common goodJournal of Global Ethics 13 (1): 90-108. 2017.ABSTRACTIn this article, we explore the debate on corporate citizenship and the role of business in global governance. In the debate on political corporate social responsibility it is assumed that under globalization business is taking up a greater political role. Apart from economic responsibilities firms assume political responsibilities taking up traditional governmental tasks such as regulation of business and provision of public goods. We contrast this with a subsidiarity-based approach to …Read more
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435Contextualizing Individual Competencies for Managing the Corporate Social Responsibility Adaptation Process: The Apparent Influence of the Business Case LogicBusiness and Society 58 (2): 369-403. 2019.Companies committed to corporate social responsibility should ensure that their managers possess the appropriate competencies to effectively manage the CSR adaptation process. The literature provides insights into the individual competencies these managers need but fails to prioritize them and adequately contextualize them in a manner that makes them meaningful in practice. In this study, we contextualized the competencies within the different job roles CSR managers have in the CSR adaptation pr…Read more
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223Appraising Asymmetries: Considerations on the Changing Relation between Human Existence and Planetary Nature—Guest Editors’ IntroductionJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 31 (6): 635-644. 2018.
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276A critical hermeneutic reflection on the paradigm-level assumptions underlying responsible innovationSynthese 198 (Suppl 19): 4635-4666. 2018.The current challenges of implementing responsible innovation can in part be traced back to the assumptions behind the ways of thinking that ground the different pre-existing theories and approaches that are shared under the RI-umbrella. Achieving the ideals of RI, therefore not only requires a shift on an operational and systemic level but also at the paradigm-level. In order to develop a deeper understanding of this paradigm shift, this paper analyses the paradigm-level assumptions that are be…Read more
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283The turbulent age of innovationSynthese 198 (Suppl 19): 1-17. 2018.The concept of innovation has entered a turbulent age. On the one hand, it is uncritically understood as ‘technological innovation’ and ‘commercialized innovation.’ On the other hand, ongoing research under the heading responsible research and innovation suggests that current global issues require innovation to go beyond its usual intent of generating commercial value. However, little thought goes into what innovation means conceptually. Although there is a focus on enabling outcomes of innovati…Read more
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242Entrepreneurship education with a focus on sustainable development primarily teaches students to develop a profit-driven mentality. As sustainable development is a value-oriented and normative concept, the role of individual ethical norms and values in entrepreneurial processes has been receiving increased attention. Therefore, this study addresses the role of moral competence in the process of idea generation for sustainable development. A mixed method design was developed in which would-be ent…Read more
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180In this article, we critically reflect on the responsibilities that the food industry has for public health. Although food companies are often significant contributors to public health problems, the mere possibility of corporate responsibility for public health seems to be excluded in the academic public health discourse. We argue that the behavior of several food companies reflects a split corporate personality, as they contribute to public health problems and simultaneously engage in activitie…Read more
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249Technocratic Management Versus Ethical Leadership Redefining Responsible Professionalism in the Agri-Food Sector in the AnthropoceneJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 31 (5): 583-591. 2018.In this contribution, we argue that three related developments provide economic, environmental and social challenges and opportunities for a new responsible professionalism in the food chain: the Anthropocene; the bio-based economy; Precision Livestock Farming. These three interrelated developments indicate a transition in the way we understand the role and function of the food chain on the micro-, the meso- and the macro-level. This transition can be understood in two fundamental different ways…Read more
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12The practice of killing day-old chicks in the Dutch egg sector is a recurrent subject of societal debate. Preventing the killing of young animals and in ovo sex determination are the two main alternatives for this problem available. An online questionnaire was held to ask the opinion of the Dutch public about these alternatives. The results show that no alternative will be fully accepted, or accepted by more than half of Dutch society. However, the survey does provide an insight to what people t…Read more
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1240“Massive Voluntarism” or Heidegger’s Confrontation with the WillStudie Phaenomenologica 13 (1): 449-465. 2013.One of the controversial issues in the development of Heidegger’s thought is the problem of the will. Th e communis opinio is that Heidegger embraced the concept of the will in a non-critical manner at the beginning of the thirties and , in particular, he employed it in his political speeches of 1933–1934. Jacques Derrida for instance speaks about a “massive voluntarism” in relation to Heidegger’s thought in this period. Also Brett Davis discerns a period of “existential voluntarism” in 1930–193…Read more
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464Saving Earth: encountering Heidegger's philosophy of technology in the anthropoceneTechné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 21 (2/3): 222-242. 2017.In this paper, we argue that the Anthropocene is relevant for philosophy of technology because it makes us sensitive to the ontological dimension of contemporary technology. In §1, we show how the Anthropocene has ontological status insofar as the Anthropocenic world appears as managerial resource to us as managers of our planetary oikos. Next, we confront this interpretation of the Anthropocene with Heidegger’s notion of “Enframing” to suggest that the former offers a concrete experience of Hei…Read more
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58Toward a Terrestrial Turn in Philosophy of TechnologyTechné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 21 (2/3): 114-126. 2017.
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253A Public Survey on Handling Male Chicks in the Dutch Egg SectorJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 31 (1): 93-107. 2018.In 2035 global egg demand will have risen 50% from 1985. Because we are not able to tell in the egg whether it will become a male or female chick, billons of one day-old male chicks will be killed. International research initiatives are underway in this area, and governments encourage the development of an alternative with the goal of eliminating the culling of day-old male chicks. The Netherlands holds an exceptional position in the European egg trade, but is also the only country in the Europe…Read more
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170Thinking the EarthEnvironmental Ethics 38 (4): 441-462. 2016.Quentin Meillassoux’s call for realism is a call for a new interest in the Earth as un-correlated being in philosophy. Unlike Meillassoux, Martin Heidegger has not been criticized for being a correlationist. To the contrary, his concept of the Earth has to be understood as un-correlated being, as it is opposed to the world as correlated being. First, this interpretation of Heidegger’s concept of the Earth solves various problems of interpretation that are present in the secondary literature. Se…Read more
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730Realism without Speculation: Heidegger, Meillassoux and the Question of Philosophical MethodStudia Phaenomenologica 17 381-404. 2017.In this article, we evaluate Meillassoux’s criticism of correlationism in general and of Heidegger’s correlationism in particular. Contrary to earlier contributions, we argue that Meillassoux’s reflections on uncorrelated being not only serve an epistemological but also an ontological interest; both Meillassoux and Heidegger are interested in the way we have access to uncorrelated being as well as in the nature of uncorrelated being itself. After introducing Meillassoux’s criticism of the correl…Read more
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Wageningen University and ResearchCommunication, Philosophy and Technology (CPT)Associate Professor
Wageningen, GE, Netherlands
Areas of Interest
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