Proximity and Rationalisation: The Limits of a Levinasian Ethics in the Context of Corporate Governance and Regulation |
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Authors: | Samuel Mansell |
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Institution: | (1) Accounting, Finance and Management, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, U.K. |
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Abstract: | In this article, I explore how the ideas of French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas offer insights into a debate often held today
in the field of corporate governance, concerning the relative merits of statutory and voluntary approaches to the regulation
of business. The philosophical position outlined by Levinas questions whether any rule-based systematisation of ethical responsibility,
either statutory or voluntary, can ever equate to a genuine responsibility for the other person. I reflect on how various
authors have adapted Levinas’s philosophy to form a critique of bureaucracy and rule following in business, and the lack of
ethical authenticity in corporate codes. However, this article also considers the question of whether a theoretical separation
can be made between an ethical responsibility based on sensibility (as is suggested by Levinas) and a rational conceptualisation
of how one is required to act. Considering the difficulty of disentangling these notions of ethics, I return to the problem
of corporate governance and suggest an approach to stakeholder conflict based on mediation and dialogue, which rules out neither
principles of conduct nor an openness of responsibility to the Other. |
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Keywords: | Levinas corporate governance corporate regulation the Other dialogue mediation rationality bureaucracy |
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