The Moral Case for Profit Maximization

(Hardback)

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The Moral Case for Profit Maximization argues that profit maximization is moral when businessmen seek to maximize profit by creating goods or services that are of objective value. Traditionally, profit maximization has been defended on economic grounds. Profit, economists argue, incentivizes businessmen to produce goods and services. In this view, businessmen do not need to be virtuous so long as they deliver the goods. This book challenges the traditional defense of profit maximization, arguing that profit maximization is morally ambitious because it requires businessmen to form normative abstractions and to cultivate a virtuous character. In so doing, this book also challenges the moral basis of corporate social responsibility. Proponents of CSR argue that businessmen can do good while doing well. This book argues that businessmen already do good by maximizing profit. This book draws upon the histories of the wheel, the refrigerator, and the shipping container to demonstrate the role of values in the creation of material goods. This book also draws upon the biographies of J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Thomas Edison to demonstrate the role of the virtues in value creation. This controversial book challenges readers to rethink the relationship between profit, value, and virtue.

Reviews

"Robert White writes elegantly. The economic function of profit is well understood, yet, still often needed is explanation of the ethical significance of profit as reward-both material and symbolic-for productive achievement within a system of voluntary transactions. White argues forthrightly with compelling examples and clear logic." -- Stephen Hicks, Rockford University

Author Bio

Robert White is dean of faculty and assistant professor of philosophy at the American University in Bulgaria.