A Communitarian Model of Business: A Natural-Law Perspective

Abstract:     
This article compares and contrasts a communitarian view of business with business models under the liberalist and socialist doctrines. Specifically, it attempts to define a communitarian view that is based on natural-law principles. The communitarian view represents the proper balance and order between the claims of liberal and socialist views, and provides assistance to private initiative, while at the same time correcting its abuses and respecting its rights. The theoretical framework developed in this article utilizes a metaethical approach in specifying the underlying philosophical assumptions about rationality, primary purpose, basic unit, supreme value, market characteristics, dynamics of market regulatory mechanism, and juridical order. Today, there is need for a new humanism based on an integral view of the human person. Natural-law communitarianism recaptures the metaphysical certitude of the human person and thereby provides a philosophy of authentic human development. By its very nature, it defines the business organization that incorporates its social purposes.

Keywords: natural law, communitarianism, liberalism, socialism

JEL Classification: M140

Accepted Paper Series