Naturalism plagues the world of business in a culture where postmodernism is steadily on the rise. Worldviews underlie presuppositions that infect daily life. In the world of business, the desire to increase profit margins takes precedence over many moral and ethical principles. This goal to maximize profit propels job creation, business deals, investment, advertising, etc. Money is deeply valued and desired in business, making profit an essential need for personal and corporate survival. The roots of Naturalism flood the profit-driven mindset, causing those in the financial world to operate out of autonomy, with disregard for any god or moral code. A worldview is a person’s philosophy of life, which in turn influences their decisions and outlook on life itself. The naturalistic worldview fuels the businessman’s presupposition of the business goal; he values profit over people.
Valuing selfish gain over caring for people stems from deeper roots of belief. At the root of Naturalism’s metaphysical components, is rejection of any existence of god. Science and math are highly valued by naturalists. Concrete evidence is their basis for reality. “In traditional philosophical terms, Naturalism is a form of Monism. It holds, in some order of interdependence, that reality, knowledge and method each are of only one basic kind. That is, there are not two radically different kinds of reality or knowledge or method. It is fundamentally opposed to Pluralism, and most importantly to
John Steinbeck 's novel Of Mice and Men is a famous Naturalist work in American literature. Various elements of Naturalism is exhibited in this novel through its character types and story plot. Charles Darwin, an English Naturalist proposed a theory called natural selection, meaning that nature selects the best adapted varieties to survive and reproduce. Darwin also identified this theory as survival of the fittest. Steinbeck incorporated this belief of natural selection in many instances throughout Of Mice and Men using characters and their circumstances. One character named Candy has an injury and is old in age. They were leading factors in his fear of being unemployed. His dog’s old age and uselessness also resulted in its death.
“In the state of nature, Profit is the measure of Right”(Hobbes). This quote is talking about the nature people, and how they measure if something is “right” based on how profitable it is for them. As Thomas Hobbes did, I believe that people are generally selfish and will only try to benefit themselves as shown in the article “The Dying Girl No One Helped” where a girl was stabbed and no one helped her even though people saw her dying.
Business ethics and values have developed through time and crosswise over orders into a field, which is a standout amongst the most vital subjects in the field of business. For the authentic improvement of business morals, it is vital, to begin with, a meaning of business ethics and values in a worldwide setting (Savage, 2005). The study characterize business ethics and values from an administrative viewpoint as choices about what is correct or wrong (worthy or unsuitable) in the authoritative setting of arranging and actualizing business exercises in a worldwide business condition to profit (Child, 2015). The development
Groothuis, Douglas R.. Christian apologetics: a comprehensive case for biblical faith. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic ;, 2011.
Literature has opened up into deeper thinking as the timeline progressed in the early 1900s, naturalism was an offspring of the event. This theme plays a role into a philosophical standpoint, where certain concepts of life are scrutinized and/or built up to certain events with probable inclusion of supernatural principles. The substance that builds the structure of the book Ethan Frome is based of Naturalism, and what will be observed is how Naturalism can disrupt human communication as witnessed in the novel. Naturalism shaped how the individuals live in the story. It open rights up in the prologue as the narrator describes the isolation-prone, depressing vibe the town possesses.
From as early as 408 B.C.E., iterations of the adage ‘misery loves company’ have appeared in written texts. First attributed to Sophocles in Athens, this popular dictum has traveled far from Greece, and has found itself at the core of Ethan Frome. In Edith Wharton’s tragic novella Ethan Frome (1911), the titular protagonist’s infliction of suffering encompasses the key principles of Naturalism. Illustrating this, Ethan forces Zeena, his wife, to disengage from her environment and retreat into silence. Further, he recklessly pursues Mattie, Zeena’s exuberant cousin, and dulls the radiance which first attracted him. And as the final nail, Ethan cages himself in obligation, desperately rattling its bars, but never stepping past them.
Popularizing the claim that naturalism and evolution are mutual self-defeaters, Alvin Plantinga argues, in Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism (1993), that given unguided evolution, our beliefs have no intrinsic relation to the truth.
Not Business As Usual is a documentary that explores the beginnings of “conscious capitalism” and its unintentional price of success. The film offers an alternative view of businesses by tracking the movement of a few entrepreneurs that aspire to include social and environmental considerations in addition to seeking profit in their businesses. A free market for goods and services, capitalism is substantial. It drives innovation, progress, and prosperity. However, should “profit” be the only metric to measure success?
Business for the Glory of God is a book that helps Christians work in Business for God. Wayne Grudem did an excellent job of sharing and providing the purpose and meaning of business and ways to glorify God while conducting said business. The main themes Grudem talks about include; ownership, productivity, employment, commercial transactions, profit, money, inequality of possessions, competition, borrowing and lending, attitudes of the heart and the effect on world poverty. He kept his thoughts short and to the point, allowing for the important information to be shared with his readers. I agreed with all of his main thoughts, especially when he spoke about his discussion on money and attitudes of the heart; however, there is significant neglect in the area of government regulations throughout the book. In this review I will discuss the good and the neglect.
Mind-body theories, specifically monism and dualism, in relation to kinesiology, differ in the level of involvement of the brain and the body in the act of movement. Monism is the belief that the mind and body are indivisible and work together while dualism is the theory that both the mind and body are independent of each other, although sometimes having an influence on each other. While comparing Charles H. McCloy’s How About Some Muscle? and Eleanor Metheny’s The Third Dimension in Physical Education, there are ideas both authors agree as well as disagree on. While both authors have differing approaches to physical education and the way it should be approached, there are some similarities presented: Metheny is somewhat more subjective regarding
another flaw in the belief of naturalism is that there is no real thought or soul. Because of this there would be no need for ethics or morals because if we have no control over our own thought because they are not real than we cant be responsible for our own actions. If this is true than we should not be sending criminals to prisons because they did not truly commit the crimes themselves.
We must change the focus of business ethics away from primary emphasis on Western ethics toward a deeper understanding of value systems that stem from different conceptions of human nature. We need to abandon the project of universalizing ethics along Western lines.
Beginning in the late 19th century, two separate movements spread across America know as realism and naturalism. While the two were very similar in their beliefs and ideals there were still many apparent distinctions to differentiate the two. Realism and naturalism showed themselves in many aspects of life, from art and sciences to new math techniques and even religion. However, above all else these movements may have been most evident in the literature of this time. Reading through American literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it becomes perceptible which short stories portray realism and which represent nationalism.
Throughout history, many buzzwords have been used to describe the primary focus of businesses. Milton Friedman first said that a company’s main goal is to make a “profit” (Plenert, 1995). Focus then shifted to “productivity” and “quality” when China and Japan emerged as industry leaders (Plenert, 1995). Attention is now geared towards the idea of corporate social responsibility and ethics, even though, the golden rule has guided moral behavior for thousands of years. The rule simply says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Suranovic, 2001). If a person does not follow the golden rule, their actions are considered unjust, immoral, and sinful. The rule is found and followed in all the major religions of the world, but there is much debate on whether the rule is followed in the world of business.
Naturalism is a philosophy which emphasizes “the effect of heredity and environment on human nature and action” (Zhang) and incorporates realism to “suggest that social conditions… and environment [have] inescapable force in shaping human character” (Zhang). Furthermore, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Natural Philosophy explains that to Naturalists, “reality is exhausted by nature, containing nothing ‘supernatural’, and that the scientific method should be used to investigate all areas of reality” (Papineau). Naturalism (in literature) is an idea that suggests everything about humanity is measurable, detectable, manipulatable, and traceable to a cause, and therefore the characters of Naturalist literature would be illustrated as simply the products of their environments; vessels devoid of spiritual guidance or fate that are subject only to their environments. An example of a Naturalistic novel is The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton; a novel set in late 19th century New York that follows Lily Bart: a young woman who was born rich but is slowly losing both her societal status and her money whilst she repeatedly avoids marriage, her only option to escape her fate: a life of poverty. With this in mind, The House of Mirth is an exemplary example of a Naturalistic novel because of its portrayal of characters as the product of their environments.