The Good Company

I just returned last night from Rome, where I participated in a conference devoted to exploring "The Good Company: Catholic Social Thought and Corporate Social Responsibility in Dialogue."  More than 250 scholars and professionals from around the world gathered for a conversation on CST's contribution to a deeper understanding of the corporation in society.  For me, one highlight was Villanova law prof Robert Miller's presentation in which he criticized CST for unhelpfully dabbling in both deontological ethics and virtue ethics, leading (in his view) to a mish-mash of incommensurable normative principles.  As a proponent of virtue ethics, he laid out his vision of the corporation as serving its end most effectively when it maximizes shareholder value.  As you can imagine at a conference devoted to CST and CSR, it sparked a riveting discussion.

I presented a paper on "Moral Identity, Subsidiarity, and the Good Company," in which I suggested that, if our society values the free exercise of conscience, the frequently overlooked relational dimension of conscience compels us to maintain space for corporations to function as venues for conscience, even (especially) when they embody counter-cultural norms.  (E.g., Wal-Mart refusing to sell the morning-after pill; Catholic Charities refusing to cover contraceptives for their employees and refusing to include same-sex couples as adoptive parents.)  Hopefully, the paper will be suitable for posting in the near future.

Kudos to the conference organizers (including our own Mark Sargent).

Rob