Central European University A Program for University Teachers, Advanced Ph.D. Students, Researchers and Professionals in the Social Sciences and Humanities Summer University

Course Director: László Zsolnai (Business Ethics Center, Budapest University of Economic Sciences)

Resource  Persons: 

Thomas Donaldson (Warthon School, University of Pennsylvania, USA)
Edward E. Freeman (Darden Business School, University of Virginia, USA)
Wojcieh W. Gasparski (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland)
Peter Koslowski (Hannover Institute for Philosophy, Germany)
Lubomir Mlcoch (Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic)
 

Course Description
The Summer Course is focusing on the moral foundation of capitalism in the context of the late 20th century realities. The legitimacy of purely profit-seeking business activities has been questioned on various ground.

The stakeholder theory is central in examining the issue. The main message of the theory is that in corporate and public policy-making every individual, group or organisation, which can be affected by the policy, should be taken seriously. Not only the legitimate interests of the affected parties should be respected but also their moral rights. Corporate decision makers and public administrators have primary duties and obligations concerning the well-being of their stakeholders. Hence the ideal of Kantian capitalism emerges.

To discuss the moral foundation of capitalism is especially important in Central and Eastern Europe where the legitimacy of the market economy is weak and vulnerable. Privatisation and restitution schemes have presented difficult social and ethical issues. The trade-off between economic efficiency and social security produces hard choices for politicians and business managers day by day. The success of the economic transition in the region depends not only on material pay-offs for the people but also on the social and ethical acceptability of the transforming process.

The goal of the course is to get together leading scholars from the USA and Europe for providing a fair picture about the new directions of capitalism and its relevance and applicability in Central and Eastern Europe.