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827Fundamentals of Order Ethics: Law, Business Ethics and the Financial CrisisArchiv für Rechts- Und Sozialphilosophie Beihefte 130 11-21. 2012.During the current financial crisis, the need for an alternative to a laissez-faire ethics of capitalism (the Milton Friedman view) becomes clear. I argue that we need an order ethics which employs economics as a key theoretical resource and which focuses on institutions for implementing moral norms. I will point to some aspects of order ethics which highlight the importance of rules, e.g. global rules for the financial markets. In this regard, order ethics (“Ordnungsethik”) is the complement o…Read more
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517Popper als EthikerAllgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie 26 (2): 149-162. 2001.Karl Popper hat eine Erkenntnis- und Wissenschaftstheorie, eine Philosophie der Naturwissenschaften, eine Sozialphilosophie, eine Philosophie des Geistes und sogar Beiträge zur Ästhetik geliefert. Lediglich eine Ethik fehlt, was bei Popper, der sich immer als Philosoph der Aufklärung bezeichnete, doch etwas erstaunt. Ich werde versuchen, Elemente einer solchen Ethik zu rekonstruieren. Karl Poppers Beiträge zur Ethik sind relativ wenig bekannt. Dies dürfte vor allem daran liegen, dass sich kein…Read more
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469AI4People—an ethical framework for a good AI society: opportunities, risks, principles, and recommendationsMinds and Machines 28 (4): 689-707. 2018.This article reports the findings of AI4People, an Atomium—EISMD initiative designed to lay the foundations for a “Good AI Society”. We introduce the core opportunities and risks of AI for society; present a synthesis of five ethical principles that should undergird its development and adoption; and offer 20 concrete recommendations—to assess, to develop, to incentivise, and to support good AI—which in some cases may be undertaken directly by national or supranational policy makers, while in oth…Read more
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249Key ethical challenges in the European Medical Information FrameworkMinds and Machines 29 (3): 355-371. 2019.The European Medical Information Framework project, funded through the IMI programme, has designed and implemented a federated platform to connect health data from a variety of sources across Europe, to facilitate large scale clinical and life sciences research. It enables approved users to analyse securely multiple, diverse, data via a single portal, thereby mediating research opportunities across a large quantity of research data. EMIF developed a code of practice to ensure the privacy protect…Read more
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217The German Act on Autonomous Driving: Why Ethics Still MattersPhilosophy and Technology 35 (2): 1-13. 2022.The German Act on Autonomous Driving constitutes the first national framework on level four autonomous vehicles and has received attention from policy makers, AI ethics scholars and legal experts in autonomous driving. Owing to Germany’s role as a global hub for car manufacturing, the following paper sheds light on the act’s position within the ethical discourse and how it reconfigures the balance between legislation and ethical frameworks. Specifically, in this paper, we highlight areas that ne…Read more
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188The German Ethics Code for Automated and Connected DrivingPhilosophy and Technology 30 (4): 547-558. 2017.The ethics of autonomous cars and automated driving have been a subject of discussion in research for a number of years :28–58, 2016). As levels of automation progress, with partially automated driving already becoming standard in new cars from a number of manufacturers, the question of ethical and legal standards becomes virulent. For exam-ple, while automated and autonomous cars, being equipped with appropriate detection sensors, processors, and intelligent mapping material, have a chance of b…Read more
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122Economic ethics, business ethics and the idea of mutual advantagesBusiness Ethics 14 (2): 108-118. 2005.Many traditional conceptions of ethics use categories and arguments that have been developed under conditions of pre-modern societies and are not useful in the age of globalisation anymore. I argue that we need an economic ethics which employs economics as a key theoretical resource and which focuses on institutions for implementing moral norms. This conception is then elaborated further in the area of business ethics. It is illustrated in the case for banning child labour.
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121Ordnungsethik als übergreifender methodischer Ansatz zur Analyse von bereichsethischen FragestellungenIn M. Maring (ed.), Bereichsethiken im interdisziplinären Dialog, Kit Scientific Publishing. 2014.Ziel dieses Papiers ist es die Ordnungsethik – einen bereichsethischen Ansatz, der derzeit vor allem für wirtschaftsethische Fragestellungen benutzt wird – als eine universelle Methode zur Analyse von bereichsethischen Fragestellungen vorzustellen. Um das Vorhaben handhabbar zu machen, muss es in zweierlei Hinsicht eingeschränkt werden. Zum einen kann es sich hier natürlich nicht um eine voll ausgearbeitete Methodologie für die Analyse von bereichsethischen Fragestellungen handeln, sondern nur u…Read more
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89Civil Society and Tobacco Control in Indonesia: The Last ResortOpen Ethics Journal 7 (1): 11-18. 2013.In many countries around the world, the mechanisms of civil society have become very commonplace. Large companies are under constant pressure from civil society organizations to change their policies, strategies and approaches. The tobacco industry in particular is under heavy pressure in many parts of the world. Smoking has been prohibited in many public as well as private or semi-private areas in a large number of countries. However, while smoking as an addiction seems to be declining in some …Read more
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86Experimental Ethics: Toward an Empirical Moral Philosophy (edited book)Palgrave-Macmillan. 2014.This volume gives an overview of the rising field of Experimental Ethics. It is organized into five main parts: PART I – Introduction: An Experimental Philosophy of Ethics? // PART II – Applied Experimental Ethics: Case studies // PART III – On Methodology // PART IV – Critical Reflections // PART V – Future Perspectives. Among the contributors: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Eric Schwitzgebel, Ezio di Nucci, Jacob Rosenthal, and Fernando Aguiar.
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84Order Ethics: An Ethical Framework for the Social Market Economy (edited book)Springer. 2016.This book examines the theoretical foundations of order ethics and discusses business ethics problems from an order ethics perspective. Order ethics focuses on the social order and the institutional environment in which individuals interact. It is a well-established paradigm in European business ethics. The book contains articles written by leading experts in the field and provides both a concise introduction to order ethics and short summary articles homing in on specific aspects of the order-…Read more
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68Order Ethics: Bridging the Gap Between Contractarianism and Business EthicsJournal of Business Ethics 136 (4): 687-697. 2016.Contract-based approaches have been a focus of attention in business ethics. As one of the grand traditions in political philosophy, contractarianism is founded on the notion that we will never resolve deep moral disagreement. Classical philosophers like Hobbes and Locke, or recent ones like Rawls and Gaus, seek to solve ethical conflicts on the level of social rules and procedures. Recent authors in business ethics have sought to utilize contract-based approaches for their field and to apply it…Read more
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63Ethics of AI-Enabled Recruiting and Selection: A Review and Research AgendaJournal of Business Ethics 178 (4): 977-1007. 2022.Companies increasingly deploy artificial intelligence technologies in their personnel recruiting and selection process to streamline it, making it faster and more efficient. AI applications can be found in various stages of recruiting, such as writing job ads, screening of applicant resumes, and analyzing video interviews via face recognition software. As these new technologies significantly impact people’s lives and careers but often trigger ethical concerns, the ethicality of these AI applicat…Read more
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63Autonomous Driving Ethics: from Trolley Problem to Ethics of RiskPhilosophy and Technology 34 (4): 1033-1055. 2021.In 2017, the German ethics commission for automated and connected driving released 20 ethical guidelines for autonomous vehicles. It is now up to the research and industrial sectors to enhance the development of autonomous vehicles based on such guidelines. In the current state of the art, we find studies on how ethical theories can be integrated. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no framework for motion planning has yet been published which allows for the true implementation of any practic…Read more
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63An Economic Rationale for a Work and Savings Ethic? J. Buchanan’s Late Works and Business EthicsJournal of Business Ethics 66 (1): 43-51. 2006.This article discusses the possibility of an economic foundation for a work and savings ethic. In particular, James M. Buchanan has, in his late works, endorsed traditional 'Puritan' demands for working and saving more, while arguing that this is beneficial for all members of a society. I will question Buchanan's analysis of the 'Puritan' ethic both in normative and methodological respects before aiming at a constructive interpretation.
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57The Systematic Place of Morals in Markets [Letter]Science 341 (6147): 714. 2013.Comment on Armin Falk & Nora Szech "Morals and Markets", Science 340(6133), 707-711, 2013.
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44Experimentelle und Evolutionäre Ethik: Eine neue Synthese in der Moralphilosophie?In Matthias Maring (ed.), Bereichsethiken im interdisziplinären Dialog, Kit Scientific Publishing. pp. 163-179. 2014.Dieser Beitrag widmet sich der Darstellung des systematischen Zusammenhangs des mit dem Aufkommen der Experimentellen Philosophie neu entstandenen Teilbereichs der Experimentellen Ethik mit der spätestens seit den 1980er Jahren wieder populär gewordenen Evolutionären Ethik, einer Teildisziplin des philosophischen Naturalismus. Nach einer kurzen Charakterisierung beider ethischer Teilbereiche wird am Beispiel der metaethischen Frage nach der Objektivität moralischer Urteile dafür argumentiert, da…Read more
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41Spillovers from Coordination to Cooperation – Evidence for the Interdependence Hypothesis?Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences 10 (4): 284-296. 2016.It has recently been proposed that the evolution of human cooperativeness might, at least in part, have started as the cooptation of behavioral strategies evolved for solving problems of coordination to solve problems with higher incentives to defect, i.e. problems of cooperation. Following this line of thought, we systematically tested human subjects for spillover effects from simple coordination tasks (2x2 Stag Hunt games, SH) to problems of cooperation (2x2 Prisoner’s Dilemma games, PD) in a …Read more
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40Business Ethics and Risk Management (edited book)Springer. 2013.This volume explores various aspects of risk taking. It offers an analysis of financial, entrepreneurial and social risks, as well as a discussion of the ethical implications of empirical findings. The main issues examined in the book are the financial crisis and its implications for business ethics. The book discusses unethical behaviour as a reputational risk (e.g., in the case of Goldman Sachs) and the question is raised as to what extent the financial crisis has changed the banks’ entreprene…Read more
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40Responsibility, Order Ethics, and Group AgencyArchiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 100 (2): 176-186. 2014.Those who invoke the notion of moral responsibility in ethical discourse seem to be faced with a dilemma. Apparently, they either have to violate the “control principle” which says that nobody can be held responsible for what is beyond one's control. Or they have to concede that in many cases there is a “responsibility void” which means that nobody is responsible. The first option seems unjustifiable. The second renders the concept of moral responsibility useless. This dilemma may be taken to su…Read more
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38The Idea of a Contractarian Business EthicsIn Christopher Luetege (ed.), Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics, Springer. pp. 647--658. 2013.This chapter discusses two major approaches to business ethics which rest on the foundation of social contract theory: the contractualist position of Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT) and the contractarian position of Order Ethics. Both are summarized and analyzed critically. It turns out that Order Ethics might remedy some defects of ISCT.
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35Risk Taking and the Ethics of EntrepreneurshipIn Johanna Jauernig & Christoph Lütge (eds.), Business Ethics and Risk Management, Springer. pp. 3--14. 2014.
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32The Ethical Dimension of the German Federal Constitutional Court's Decision Concerning Data RetentionOpen Ethics Journal 3 (1): 8-12. 2009.In March 2008, the German Federal Constitutional Court (GFCC) has passed an important, even though preliminary, decision concerning data retention. The GFCC’s decision accepts the storage of data, but greatly restricts their use to serious offenses like murder and organized crime. From an ethical point of view, it is particularly interesting to look at the justification given by the GFCC, which relies heavily on the argument that the “impartiality” (Unbefangenheit) of communication will be thor…Read more
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32Chances, Problems, and Limits of Experimental EthicsIn Experimental Ethics, Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 26-37. 2014.Throughout its age-old tradition, philosophy has continuously been presented with new challenges. The latest one in this series comes from the experimental disciplines and their methodology: experimental philosophy has, during the last 10 to 15 years, increasingly gained reputation, and it has certainly been a controversial issue. Within this movement, the field of ethics deserves more attention. This article aims to give not a complete overview of, but at least an introduction to, the newly ris…Read more
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31Economics in philosophy of science: Can the dismal science contribute anything interesting?Synthese 140 (3): 279-305. 2004.This paper draws a connection between recent developments in naturalized philosophy of science and the Buchanan research program in economics. Economic approaches in naturalized philosophy of science can be combined to form an economic philosophy of science. After giving an overview of some of these approaches, I lay out the fundamentals of the Buchanan research program. I argue that its main elements are a theory of interactions and a normative foundation in consensus which help to answer some …Read more
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28Order Ethics or Moral Surplus: What Holds a Society Together?Lexington Books. 2015.This book questions the often implicit assumption of many contemporary political philosophers that a society needs its citizens to adopt some shared basic qualities, views, or capabilities. Christoph Luetge provides an alternative view, which relies on mutual advantages as the fundamental basis of society
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28The Honorable Merchant – Between Modesty and Risk-Taking: Intercultural and Literary Aspects (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2019.This volume explores the concept of the honest merchant, taking a broad perspective and covering a wide range of aspects. It looks at the different types of “honest merchant” conceptions originating from different cultures and literary traditions. The book covers Japanese, Islamic, Scandinavian, Russian, German, Spanish, as well as other aspects, and studies different disciplinary backgrounds of the honest merchant, such as philosophical, economic, neuroethical, sociological and literary ones. T…Read more
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27Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics (edited book)Springer. 2013.The Handbook of Business Ethics: Philosophical Foundations is a standard interdisciplinary reference handbook in the field of business ethics. Articles by notable philosophers and economists examine fundamental concepts, theories and questions of business ethics: Are morality and self-interest compatible? What is meant by a just price? What did the Scholastic philosophers think about business? The handbook will cover the entire philosophical basis of business ethics. Articles range from historic…Read more
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24The conception of organizational integrity: A derivation from the individual level using a virtue‐based approachBusiness Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility 32 (S1): 25-33. 2023.This paper extends previous attempts at understanding the nature of organizational integrity and its increasingly important role for companies which, after all, bear a moral and societal responsibility. Interpretations of organizational integrity in business ethics literature incorporate aspects ranging from the behavior of managers and employees to corporate structures and incentive systems. We argue that virtue ethics builds an indispensable framework for understanding the origin of the concep…Read more
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