Envisioning Profit-Seeking as a Practice: On the Possibility of Managing the For-Profit Corporation with Virtue
Department(s)
Business Administration
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-13-2025
Abstract
Managers of for-profit corporations are required to seek profits, which entails organizing the corporation’s activities for the sake of realizing a profit. This prioritization of profit-seeking seems to invert the proper ordering of ends, thus undermining the possibility of managing the for-profit corporation with virtue. This article argues that such a threat can be avoided without jettisoning the traditional virtue ethics framework by envisioning profit-seeking as a practice that aims at engaging in a collective deliberation with market participants to promote an improvement in the way we allocate resources in society.
Publication Title
Philosophy of Management
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-025-00350-6
Recommended Citation
Lee, J. Envisioning Profit-Seeking as a Practice: On the Possibility of Managing the For-Profit Corporation with Virtue. Philosophy of Management (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-025-00350-6
Comments
Publication can be accessed at this link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-025-00350-6