Interpreting Friedman's View of Business

Authors

  • Darlene O'Leary Galilee Centre, Arnprior ON

Keywords:

Friedman, Lonergan

Abstract

I have decided to focus this discussion on the famous article by Milton Friedman, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits.” This article was originally published in 1970 and has been reproduced in many sources since then. So the article is over 30 years old. However, the perspective that Friedman promotes in this article is one that is still very much a part of discussions about business, business ethics, and ethics and economics. It seems legitimate to me to try to get an insight into some of Friedman’s insights and oversights.

Author Biography

Darlene O'Leary, Galilee Centre, Arnprior ON

Dr. Darlene O’Leary graduated from Saint Paul University with her PhD (Th.) in the Ethics concentration in 2007. Her thesis was titled “An Integral Vision of Economic Transformation: The Relevance of Bernard Lonergan to Debates in Canadian Catholic Social Ethics on the Relationship of Ethics and Economics and the Function of Profit”. Darlene received her MA in Theology from Regis College in Toronto in 1999. Her MA thesis was also on the work of Bernard Lonergan, SJ, and was titled “Lonergan’s Practical View of History”. Darlene is now the Executive Director of Galilee Centre a spiritual retreat centre sponsored by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate located in Arnprior, Ontario.

Downloads