
The Library
The bankers and 'the nameless virtue'
Tools
Sorell, Tom (2019) The bankers and 'the nameless virtue'. In: Cowton, C. and Dempsey, J. and Sorell, T., (eds.) Business Ethics After the Financial Crisis. Routledge Studies in Business Ethics . New York: Routledge , pp. 141-164. ISBN 9781138330504
|
PDF
WRAP-bankers-nameless-virtue-Sorell-2019.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (774Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: https://www.crcpress.com/Business-Ethics-After-the...
Abstract
I shall try to say something about the limits of expansive self - blame as a virtue. Sometimes that sort of blame is in sufficient for taking responsibility appropriately, even when it is accompanied by public expressions of remorse or regret. One reason is that taking responsibility appropriately sometimes requires an agent to submit to judgement by others, paradigmatically through legal proceedings and, in particular, by exposing themselves to proportionate punishment determined by independently devised and independently applied standards. Self - blame often does not meet these independence requirements. Again, except where it is psychologically so far - reaching that it dominates one’s consciousness and is, for a time at least, inescapable, self - blame need not reach the threshold for being punishing at all. Minimal self - blame — a matter - of - fact acknowledgement of fault — is sometimes not enough for taking responsibility appropriately, even when self - blame is heartfelt and is expressed publicly.
This point seems particularly compelling where an agent — either an individual or an organisation — takes blame for a very bad outcome but is so rich or powerful that bearing even major money costs is easy and hardly alters the quality of life. In cases like these, self - blame by itself seems not to register on the scale for appropriately taking responsibility. Even if rich and powerful wrongdoer s feel so bad about something that they are put off their champagne and caviar for a week, that cost may be so slight and forgettable for them, all things considered, as to be hardly any payment at all.
Item Type: | Book Item | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory |
||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009 -- Moral and ethical aspects, Banks and banking -- Moral and ethical aspects | ||||
Series Name: | Routledge Studies in Business Ethics | ||||
Publisher: | Routledge | ||||
Place of Publication: | New York | ||||
ISBN: | 9781138330504 | ||||
Book Title: | Business Ethics After the Financial Crisis | ||||
Editor: | Cowton, C. and Dempsey, J. and Sorell, T. | ||||
Official Date: | 8 February 2019 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Number of Pages: | 200 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 141-164 | ||||
Status: | Not Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | "This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Business Ethics After the Financial Crisis on 8/02/2019, available online: http://www.routledge.com/Business-Ethics-After-the-Global-Financial-Crisis-Lessons-from-The-Crash/Cowton-Dempsey-Sorell/p/book/9781138330504.” | ||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 21 January 2019 | ||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 8 September 2020 | ||||
Related URLs: |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year