Corporate Social Responsibility in the Encyclical Caritas in Veritate

Abstract

Argandoña, professor at IESE Business School, Barcelona, analyzes the main traits of Corporate Social Responsability (CSR), showing that they are compatible with the encyclical Caritas in Veritate. He understands CSR as an ethical and not merely social responsibility, centered in the human person and thus deriving not from abstract principles but from decisions made by the economic agents in business firms. These decisions are based upon the well-educated conscience of the individual as well as upon objective rules, including the nature of the good intended in the action and on the circumstances of time and place. An ethical conception of CSR requires the exercise of virtues in the firm. The author underscores two virtues: justice and love, which he considers to be more than mere philanthropy. The proposed conception implies a real effort of the managers and their organizations to build the common good.