Hegel’s Moral Corporation This page intentionally left blank Hegel’s Moral Corporation Thomas Klikauer University of Western Sydney, Australia © Thomas Klikauer 2016 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-54738-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2016 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-56253-4 ISBN 978-1-137-54740-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137547408 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. To Rosa Luxemburg (Rosalia Luxemburg, Polish: Róz˙a Luksemburg; 5 March 1871, Zamos´c´, Vistula Land, Russia – 15 January 1919, Berlin, Germany) Before World War I, Rosa Luxemburg advocated that German workers should not shoot at French workers. But German conservatism and nationalism decided otherwise. Instead of following Rosa Luxemburg, they started two World Wars and created Nazism. Today, a German call to arms against France would be met with utter disbelief. Finally, Rosa Luxemburg’s dream is reality. If only German conservatism would have listened to Rosa Luxemburg instead of murdering her . . . This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Tables and Figures ix Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii 1 Introduction: Hegel’s Philosophy of Corporations 1 Hegel and Hegelianism 8 Hegel’s corporation and the modern corporation 13 The thought experiment: two versions of the corporation 16 Sittlichkeit and corporations: the structure of the book 23 2 Modern Corporations and Hegel’s Ethical Corporation 25 Corporations and philosophy’s love of wisdom 37 3 The Morality of Management Studies 49 The relevance of ethics to corporations 63 4 Corporations and Hegel’s Ethical Institutions 73 Institutions of civil society and corporations 83 Corporations, poverty, and the Pöbel 92 5 The Morality of Corporate Relationships 99 Supervising corporations 102 Hegel on property and investment 108 Hegel’s political economy, markets, and Willkür 118 6 Corporate Governance and Sittlichkeit 125 Hegel and the business community 129 Moral corporate governance 138 7 Corporate Governance Rationality and Morality 151 Corporate governance and Hegel’s concept of the whole 159 Work and labour in Hegel’s moral corporation 171 8 Corporations and Sittlichkeit 175 Corporate bonds and economic freedom 178 From corporate spirit to universal spirit 190 viii Contents 9 Conclusion: The Moral Corporation 201 The morality of Hegel and Kohlberg 215 Notes 227 Bibliography 253 Index 299 List of Tables and Figures Tables 1.1 The Hegelians 9 1.2 Twenty similarities between business corporations and sittliche corporations 18 2.1 Hegel’s sittliche corporations and his system of Sittlichkeit 34 2.2 The shaping of corporations via Sittlichkeit 45 3.1 The link between management schools and management 52 3.2 The four forms of management 56 3.3 Management and key Hegelian ethics themes 59 3.4 The relevance of ethics to corporations 69 4.1 The corporation in Hegel’s Sittlichkeit and freedom 75 5.1 Corporate rationality and legitimacy 100 5.2 The two main contradictions of corporations 101 5.3 Three centuries of capitalism 111 6.1 The four institutions reflective of Hegel’s corporations 130 6.2 Hegel’s three forms of corporate governance 133 6.3 The corporation and corporate governance 139 7.1 Three freedoms and three challenges 153 7.2 Hegel’s four conditions for rational institutions 156 7.3 Hegel’s ethics and the stakeholders of corporate governance 160 7.4 Six elements defining work in Hegelian philosophy 172 8.1 Three versions of moral bonds 179 8.2 Three moral bonds and three freedoms 180 ix