Education in virtues as goal of business ethics instruction
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African Journals of Business Ethics
Abstract
The moral development paradigm underlying a particular business ethics curriculum design plays a
significant role in determining the goals of business ethics instruction. Concretely, the view of moral
development advanced by cognitive developmental psychology that dominates business ethics literature
identifies moral development with cognitive processes, but disregards educating students in virtues.
The aim of the present paper is to propose an alternative paradigm of moral development to that of
cognitive developmental psychology and presents Aquinas’ view of moral development as a suitable
framework for a curriculum design that focuses on virtues as a possible goal of business ethics instruction.
Description
Article published in African Journal of Business Ethics
The moral development paradigm underlying a particular business ethics curriculum design plays a significant role in determining the goals of business ethics instruction. Concretely, the view of moral development advanced by cognitive developmental psychology that dominates business ethics literature identifies moral development with cognitive processes, but disregards educating students in virtues. The aim of the present paper is to propose an alternative paradigm of moral development to that of cognitive developmental psychology and presents Aquinas’ view of moral development as a suitable framework for a curriculum design that focuses on virtues as a possible goal of business ethics instruction.
The moral development paradigm underlying a particular business ethics curriculum design plays a significant role in determining the goals of business ethics instruction. Concretely, the view of moral development advanced by cognitive developmental psychology that dominates business ethics literature identifies moral development with cognitive processes, but disregards educating students in virtues. The aim of the present paper is to propose an alternative paradigm of moral development to that of cognitive developmental psychology and presents Aquinas’ view of moral development as a suitable framework for a curriculum design that focuses on virtues as a possible goal of business ethics instruction.
Keywords
Goals, moral development, teaching business ethics, Thomas Aquinas, virtues