The responsibility of the companies in the market system:a moral foundation

Abstract

The author shows the ethical basis of a criterion for business' social responsibility. This criterion is taken from Ernest Tugendhat's critic to the libertarian concept of freedom. Using this concept, Milton Friedman defends an economical model that rejects any form of interventionism in the market system, and he also defends a restrictive concept of business' social responsibility. The article contents in its first part Friedman's statements about liberalism and private firms' responsibility. The second part sumarizes Keneth Arrow's critic to Friedman's belief in the good consequences of the application of the restrictive concept of social responsibility. Finally, the paper contents Tugendhat's critic to Friedman's concept of freedom. By this last part, one can be aware of the ethical reliability of a criterion of non-unilateral dependency. Such a criterion is explained as necessary to legitimate economical activities in a modern society.