Jacob Dahl Rendtorff

The present book comprises thirteen chapters written by Nordic scholars in the human and social sciences, and developed out of conference papers presented at regular winter and summer symposia held by two research groups emanating from the Nordic Summer University. Born within and informed by this specific milieu, the chapters address significant sociopolitical implications for contemporary societies emerging from the ethical reflections of leading 20th century thinkers (e.g. Michel Foucault and Jürgen Habermas), important procedural as well as substantive aspects of democracy, and pivotal ethico-political issues arising from the abstract logic and concrete manifestations of market economies. Though by no means devoid of their own economic, cultural and political problems, the Nordic countries are still paramount examples of humane prosperity, democratic civility, environmentally sound policy, and peaceful resolution of social and industrial conflicts. Year after year, if not decade after decade, they keep topping the international charts for socio-economic indicators about sostainable development, healthcare quality and accessibility, educational levels, crime control, preceived happiness and much else. As such, the scholarly and scientific reflections orginating within the Nordic Summer University might prove to be useful sources of insight for policy-makers, intellectuals and interested persons outside the Nordic context, and not solely inside it.

This chapter discusses the theoretical foundations of bioethical decision-making and provides the basis for bioethical judgment in bioethics and biolaw. The age of technology challenges the ethical views of humanity of earlier times. At the same time, developments in biomedicine, biotechnology and human genetics require reflection on the appropriateness and consequences of biomedical and biotechnological interventions. Therefore, it is important with a bioethical turn in ethics where we include the whole living world in ethical reflections. Here, the chapter discusses bioethics, bioethical judgment, and responsibility in relation to the person, body and its boundaries. Ethical theory of the good life, utility, biomedical principles, freedom and justice in health care are presented in order to formulate a theory of bioethical judgment and applied bioethics. On this basis, the chapter develops reflections on the foundations of bioethical decision-making based on the philosophy of the basic ethical principles in bioethics and biolaw. This approach to bioethical decision-making can also be considered as the basis for bioethical decisions in ethics committees and for ethics and values-driven management in hospitals and health care organizations.

Due to the global environmental crisis and problems of climate change, but also the economic problems of neoliberalism and inequality, it is important to rethink our ideas about society, business, and economic organization in the context of a transition to a more sustainable society. Important themes of a political economy of sustainability are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the philosophical underpinnings of governance and sustainability management. Reforming global economic and political institutions means finding new, creative, and imaginative solutions for managers, administrators, and members of government critically to evaluate our political economy and management concepts and values. It is important to rethink policies and strategies in the light of challenges of the global society. We will do this in what follows by focusing on important topics such as 1) The origin of our contemporary crisis 2) The political economy of the crisis 3) The transformation of governance for lasting change.

The market requires more focus on responsibility and business ethics. This article discusses the vision of the business company as a responsible company with focus on good corporate citizenship as an expression of the limits of the market with regard to social responsibility and values of business organizations. This includes discussion of the challenges of business legitimacy in a global society. These must also be seen in the relation between economics and religion. Social, spiritual and cultural values lie behind the search for business legitimacy and the republican conception of corporate citizenship, and this is also an expression of ethical values at the limits of economic rationality. But cosmopolitan business ethics can be criticized for moralizing the market so we move from economic religion to moral economy forgetting the importance of economic rationality.

L’article se concentre sur la pandémie de covid-19 dans une tentative d’évaluer la contribution éventuelle de l’analyse philosophique à la compréhension et à la résolution des problèmes éthiques, juridiques et sociopolitiques qu’elle soulève. On aborde une série de dilemmes cruciaux qui requièrent des décisions pratiques, avant et après la production et la disponibilité des vaccins, à la lumière des théories éthiques et politiques contemporaines. Il s’avère que dans la plupart des cas les conceptions déontologiques semblent l’emporter sur les considérations conséquentialistes, qui ne s’imposent à notre raisonnement que dans des situations d’urgence immédiate. La pandémie nous permet également d’apprécier le rôle important des vertus éthiques et épistémiques dans la prise des décisions critiques.

This book demonstrates how the conceptual resources of contemporary French philosophy from the early 20thCentury to the present day can be applied to give us new perspectives on business ethics and the ethics of organizations. In providing an overview of possible applications,the book covers a wide range of philosophers, philosophical movements and perspectives, and provides detailed analyses of core materials relevant to business ethics. It explores and analyzes French philosophy, taking into account phenomenology,existentialism, French epistemology, structuralism, post-structuralism,deconstruction and postmodernism as well as recent discussions of philosophy of organizations and management. Each chapter contains suggestions for further reading and educational illustrations of possible applications to the mainstream business ethics and ethics of organization literature.

In Cosmopolitan Business Ethics: Towards a Global Philosophy of Management, Jacob Dahl Rendtorff maps the concept of global business ethics, related to sustainability and corporate governance, via an examination of the major theories of business ethics and the philosophy of management. The book is based on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and the European tradition, which is applied as the foundation for the analysis of the contemporary European and Anglo-American debate on business ethics in order to formulate an up-to-date theory of global business ethics. The book will compare the different schools of business ethics, corporate citizenship and the philosophy of management and will address the modern-day issues of sustainability, business and human rights, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder management and corporate governance, offering insights on how to deal with these international challenges of global economics, the development and protection of human rights and the environment. This book proposes a decision-making model for Cosmopolitan business ethics as the foundation of management and leadership in dealing with the complexities of globalization. The case-studies will address the efforts of businesses to work with global and cosmopolitan business ethics at the levels of maintaining corporate integrity. Both the theoretical argument and case-studies presented in the book are supplemented with interviews with notable business ethicists, philosophers of management, business managers and public policy-makers.

In this book about the Economies for Sustainability: Limits and Potentials for Possible Futures we have presented different perspectives for sustainability in the economic transition of economy, politics and society. The focus has been the search for new economic models for a more sustainable future. The background of this is the ecological crisis, growing global inequality and the challenges to political and economic systems. Global crises like the financial crisis, the climate crisis, the poverty crisis of the global south and more recently the epidemic crisis of the spread of the global pandemic of COVID-19 means that it has been necessary to propose new concepts of ethics, economics and economic theory and philosophy to find new principles for organization of society. We have called this proposal of taking back the economy a search for a new kind of economy, sometimes called heterodox economics, meaning that it was necessary to move beyond neoclassical economics towards another kind of economics integrating economics in the other social sciences like political sciences, anthropology and sociology. These proposals for a sustainable economics and visions of new economic systems have moved beyond the traditional concepts and challenged the boundaries of different concepts of economic systems and society in the context of sustainable transitions towards new and more ethical economic systems.

This article searches to define a concept of the corporation that can function as the basis for a more sustainable concept of the economy. The chapter aims at discussing the possibility of a concept of the business organization that can deal with global problems of ecological crisis, introducing a sustainable vision of the business organization. In the context, the article proposes a heterodox concept of the business organization moving beyond the traditional neo-classical view of business as only being oriented towards economic returns for owners. The chapter proposes to move beyond the “shareholder corporation” towards a broader, heterodox concept of the “stakeholder corporation”. Given the present crisis of sustainability it is important to rethink the business corporation as situated in the social and cultural context of society. Thus, we need to situate the business corporation within the economy of the good life. With the new focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals businesses need to be directed toward the common good of society. Here, business organizations should contribute to make a difference for society. In order to provide the necessary basis for sharing economy, circular economy and community economics in business, we need a business organization that aims at the common good for human beings and society. Accordingly, the chapter proposes the concept of the stakeholder corporation as the basis for a new economy of responsible corporate citizenship.

This book brings together different perspectives on economy and organisation in a debate about sustainability and the role of economy, politics and society in working towards a more sustainable future. The ecological crisis, accompanied by increasing global inequality and the realization that financial and economics systems are vulnerable, have led to an upsurge of political movements and theoretical interventions articulating possible solutions to the perceived crisis. This includes a manifold of suggestions for how to rethink economy based on representations of more sustainable visions of economy and society. In the age of the Anthropocene humankind is foregrounded as a geological force or agent, it relevant to consider our dispositions and ways of organizing societies and economies. Climate change is a wake-up call that our economies cannot go on with business as usual. This new situation calls for scrutinizing and rethinking practices, including economic practices of production, exchange, consumption, as well as distribution, and how we organize these activities. Some advocate “taking back the economy”, by giving way to post-capitalist principles of organizing the economy that serve the needs of people and societies and respect ecological concerns, and that radically challenge the existing political-economic order. Another new approach, Raworth’s Doughnut Economics, aims to develop economics and to learn how “to think like a twenty-first century economist”. Such approaches suggest the need for a new economy, one which is based on different principles than those usually associated with the mainstream market economy and the growth paradigm. New efforts entail re-orienting economics towards humanities’ long-term goals and taking explicitly into consideration a social foundation of human well-being and an economic ceiling of planetary pressure. In other words, it calls for a reorientation of economy towards more sustainable ways for humans, societies and nature as an alternative to the growth paradigm. Amsterdam is the first city in the world to adopt the principles of Doughnut Economics to emerge from the current Covid-19 crisis and “rethink the future”. At the same time suggestions for environmentally attuned and socially oriented economic alternatives come from activists, development agencies, grass-roots organizations and from other proponents of greener capitalist alternatives such as green capitalism, Green Economy, regenerative capitalism alongside more radically alternative visions of economy.

This article is based on an exchange between Peter Kemp and Jacob Dahl Rendtorff on the occasion of Peter Kemp’s seventieth birthday in 2007. It presents the development of Kemp’s ethical philosophy from his philosophy of technology and technology ethics to his philosophy of bioethics and biolaw. It also discusses Kemp’s relation to Existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and Marxism with the development of a critical hermeneutic philosophy of engagement. This is related to Kemp’s work on humanistic ethics of technology in his book on the ethics of the irreplaceable. The article presents Kemp’s long discussion with Paul Ricœur about the ethics of the good life and about narrative ethics. Finally, it elaborates on the bioethical turn towards an ethics for the living world and discusses the role of basic ethical principles of autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability in relation to cosmopolitan and global responsibility for sustainability and humanity.

This article is based on an exchange between Peter Kemp and Jacob Dahl Rendtorff on the occasion of Peter Kemp’s seventieth birthday in 2007. It presents the development of Kemp’s ethical philosophy from his philosophy of technology and technology ethics to his philosophy of bioethics and biolaw. It also discusses Kemp’s relation to Existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and Marxism with the development of a critical hermeneutic philosophy of engagement. This is related to Kemp’s work on humanistic ethics of technology in his book on the ethics of the irreplaceable. The article presents Kemp’s long discussion with Paul Ricœur about the ethics of the good life and about narrative ethics. Finally, it elaborates on the bioethical turn towards an ethics for the living world and discusses the role of basic ethical principles of autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability in relation to cosmopolitan and global responsibility for sustainability and humanity.

This article presents the influence on Danish philosophy of the French phenomenologist and hermeneutic philosopher Paul Ricœur. Paul Ricœur’s poetic hermeneutics was an inspiration for Danish phenomenology and existentialist thought. Moreover, Ricœur had an influence on the development of poetic and narrative research in theology and the human and social sciences in Denmark. In addition, Ricœur provided a hermeneutic framework for research in the different disciplines of bioethics and biolaw, philosophy of law, philosophy of education and nursing philosophy. In particular, Peter Kemp has been important for presenting and promoting Ricœur’s narrative philosophy. The article gives an overview of the influence of the different aspects of Ricœur’s philosophy in Denmark, related to different schools of thought and to individual philosophers and researchers in theology and the human and social sciences in Denmark.

This article presents Jean-Paul Sartre’s concept of the tension between existence and politics and the role of political commitment in existentialist philosophy. Based on Sartre’s concept of engagement, the article analyzes the transition from the personal to the political perceived as a movement from personal moral consciousness to the awareness of the importance of the individual as a social actor and citizen in society. Sartre’s concept of political engagement can be characterized as critical intellectual commitment and “Socratic Citizenship.” Accordingly, this article is also an acknowledgment of the two important philosophers of ecoethica, Tomonbu Imamichi and Peter Kemp, both committed public intellectuals who said that the role of the philosopher is to contribute to the public affair of cosmopolitan society. Thus, the article presents the political engagement in four major parts: (1) From the existential to political engagement, (2) Political commitment as a struggle for human freedom, (3) The Socratic Citizenship, and (4). Conditions of authentic political action. Political engagement represents an effort to realize the respect owed to each individual as a universal singular, as well as that owed to freedom and democracy in the Kingdom of Ends.

This Handbook forms part of wider research in responsibility, ethics and legitimacy of corporations. Through an interdisciplinary perspective with comparative integration of sociological, politological, philosophical, theological, ethical, economic, legal, linguistic and communication theoretical approaches this Handbook will clarify how the interrelation between company and environment is mediated by legitimating notions in public spaces and public relations; how and why these notions have changed radically; how these transformations strike on the epistemological as well as practical dimension of business companies; and the problems involved in these transformations at the macro-, meso- and micro levels. The Handbook begins with a historical introduction and chronology of the development of business legitimacy, providing a comprehensive assessment of the concept’s evolution and identifying the most influential authors and their works. These may be divided into authors who follow a philosophical, sociological, or conceptual tradition in management and leadership in their treatment of legitimacy and those who belong to the research tradition of application of the concept in management science and leadership as well as in organizational theory and business practice in the interdisciplinary perspective of the different approaches. The Handbook continues with systematic approaches and major themes developed in the concept of business legitimacy. Contributions here may be conceptual, empirical/applied or case studies. The different parts of the volume deal with the different topics to which business legitimacy has been applied, with how legitimacy is relevant in the various operational areas of the firm, and with the legitimacy theory’s responses to some of the most important issues that businesses and organizations currently face.

As a scientific Rapporteur on a European Union Commission Project in the framework of the Research Programme Bio-Med II, I am currently writing a large report on basic bioethical and biolegal principles in Europe. The principles that are investigated are autonomy, dignity, integrity and vulnerability. Against this background, this paper is a clarification of the foundation and significance of these basic principles in bioethics and biolaw. The task of this paper is to elaborate on the philosophical and conceptual framework of these principles. The point of departure is a discussion of the choice of exactly these principles in the context of the law of the human person as well as of the ethical and legal status of the principles. This leads to the definition and explication of each concept and their mutual relations. It is important to emphasize that the principles, rather than being mutually exclusive, are interdependent and imply each other in the protection of human beings in biomedical research and application. Finally, the definition of these principles will be set in relation to social solidarity and responsibility in the modern welfare state where we experience a transformation of the legal system towards an extended notion of state responsibility and a concern and protection of the vulnerable and weak in European societies.

This article discusses the concept of globalization in relation to global justice with the aim of developing a cosmopolitan spirit as the basis for international justice. Globalization was in the beginning an economic concept but with the emergence of global problems of global poverty, environmental degradation, climate change and global social and political interdependence we need to rethink the concept of justice for the international community at a cosmopolitan level. The article considers that it is the task of political philosophy to reflect on this other concept of globalization, not only as a utopia but also as a real alternative for the global community. The dream of another globalization includes overcoming the misery of the world in the struggle for democracy and hope for cosmopolitan justice in the age of hypermodemity.

The author discusses the concept of equality in ethics and political economy. The first section presents a philosophical concept of equality of resources, as it is suggested by Ronald Dworkin. The second section looks at the concept of equality in relation to the factual distribution in our contemporary political economy. It relies on Thomas Piketty who argues that it is the concept of capital that reproduces inequality and that is still the most essential concept in our economic system. The third section discusses the conceptions and perspectives on the relation between ethics and political economy in our present society.