Dialogic ethics for business

Abstract

The search in philosophy for a meaningful wholeness, an all -embracing principle, which relates the reason of human endeavor with the universal basis and the order of things and meanings, was a common trait of several metaphysical conceptions and also a matter of endless debates between philosophers with different convictions. Thus the idea of such a wholeness, or basic order has become for now subject to a justified suspicion, as a result of our experience in centuries of abusing the construed notions of generality. The basic problem of social cooperation and contemporary social philosophy is the interpretation of social relatedness, of the nature of social ties. Social research and common thinking equally lack a widely accepted term, which would be able to formulate the legitimate frame of social cooperation, while maintaining the freedom of action and self realization of different individuals and cultures. As contemporary philosopher, Michael Gardiner, stated, the disintegration of the cultural and ideological homogeneity characteristic of modernity has resulted in a relativizing of moral discourses, and a concomitant proliferation of values, lifestyles and worldviews. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.