Philosophy of management -

Abstract

The paper investigates the relevance that philosophy can have for management beyond management or business ethics. Since managers can be very powerful leaders humankind’s old ideal of that power should always be linked to wisdom becomes relevant beyond the political realm to the realm of management and entrepreneurship. The paper demonstrates this link between power and wisdom at the manager’s duty to realize the common good of the firm. It further shows how cultural philosophy becomes relevant for the management of consumer goods in satiated markets since the cultural surplus value of goods becomes more and more the decisive comparative advantage for a firm and its cultural branding. In the second part, the paper investigates the challenge that management poses to philosophy. If philosophy wants to understand modern society it must understand the impact of organization and of the organizational man. It must overcome the assumed hiatus between life world, lebenswelt, and rational organization and strive for a reconciliation of the life world and the world of rational organization.