The morality of belief in the profits of virtue

Abstract

This article deals with a business ethic which requires multinationals to observe, in the countries in which they set up, the rules of justice, accountability, and human rights. This model rethinks the conception of corporate ethics, and the reasons for its propagation have to do with the transformation of international relations after the Cold War. Underpinning its development are the language games which the moral entrepreneurs decide to use, and finance is the social space in which the various elements of this communication link up. The present inquiry is both explanatory and normative in its aim. The text discusses the morality of “honesty pays”, placing it in the context of the culturally and historically situated forms of utilitarianism that it espouses. The inquiry concludes by stressing the deeply religious character of its appeal, the effectiveness and validity of which rest on self‐fulfilling prophecies.