From Personal To Interpersonal Responsibility
Can the Concept of Social Responsibility in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Debate be Enriched?
Keywords:
CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ethics, Universal Love, Social Interest, Interpersonal Responsibility, Governance, Corporate CitizenshipAbstract
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an important issue investigated academically since 1950. Many theorists do research related to CSR, its elements and relevant spheres from different viewpoints. Besides all investigations, philosophical-theological teachings can be considered as a resource that can elaborate and enrich the debate. According to this panorama, the person, who detaches from traditional notions of subject, ego, mind, psyche etc., has been introduced as the image and caliph of God. He has at least three different states. These states of the person, which have been named cognitive, emotional and behavioral states, are intertwined and integrative. Society, where the person lives in, then, will be a larger reflection of God. It has three states and works as a whole. Accordingly, theories that neglect the states of society or support dualism and the border between corporations and the person will be replaced by those that go beyond the egoistic-personal state and consider the person’s unity and interpersonal states. As this claim implies, social responsibility should thus be understood in connection with the person’s and the society’s integrative states. It means that CSR theories are obliged to know, love and help society in a way the integrative states of the person and the concept of society as a whole would require. As such, an egoistic-personal-based viewpoint in social responsibility will be replaced by interpersonal-social responsibility that has at least three states. By taking into account the aforementioned states, and the view in which the society is a larger reflection of God, egoistic, (self) love and self-interest standpoints in CSR theories may be replaced by universal-love and social-interest viewpoints respectively.
Author Biography
Dr. Mohammad Mohammadi, Monarch Business School Switzerland
EMail: [email protected]
Dr. Mohammad Mohammadi is an Assistant Professor of Ethics and a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance at Monarch Business School Switzerland. He holds a PhD Summa Cum Laude in Philosophy from the Taras Schevchenko National University of Kiev, Ukraine. He also holds a MA Summa Cum Laude in Islamic Ethics from the Theology Department of the University of Qom as well as a BA in Business Administration from Rey University and BA in Islamic Teachings at the Islamic Seminary.
He is presently an Assistant Professor at the School of Applied Ethics of the Theology Department of Amirkabir University in Tehran, Iran. He also sits on the Management faculty at the University of Tehran and has been on faculty at the Department of Moral Philosophy at the University of Qom. Dr. Mohammadi is a published researcher with several articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as several books within the publication process.
Link: Faculty Biography
