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Resumen
Ever since encountering Alasdair MacIntyre's
suggestion in "After Virtue" (1984) that a moral dark
age is upon us whose survival requires the "construction
of local forms of community within which civility and the intel-lectual
and moral life can be sustained" (p. 263) I have viewed
organizations generally, and business organizations specifically,
in a hopeful light. For what other contemporary institution can
fill the central position held in ancient Athens by the "polis":
guardian, parent and teacher in whose political life the virtues
are nourished for the sake of the lives of the individuals who
comprise its citizenry?
The point for reflection is that not just any pur-pose will do
if a business cares to fulfill its role of moral health club:
one it will play whether it chooses to or not because under modern
conditions, the
company is the "polis" for most people. Not just any
organizational purpose will do to build character, as not just
any contraption will do to build strength, because not just any
habit developed in the pursuit of purpose is a virtue. Only habits
that lead towards the goods of excellence are truly virtues.
And, ultimately, this matters because not just any purpose will
serve the person, whom, coincidentally, the business "polis"
is counting on to possess good character and who, lacking one,
may come back to haunt it.
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