John Douglas Bishop
Ph.D. (Edinburgh), PGCE (Cambridge), M.A., M.B.A. (McMaster), B.A. (New Brunswick)
Professor, Business Administration (retired)
E-mail: jbishop@trentu.ca
Areas of Expertise:
Business Ethics
Ethics and Capitalism
Rights of Corporations
Deconstructing Advertising
British Moral Philosophy
John Douglas Bishop is a moral philosopher trained at the University of New Brunswick, McMaster University (MA thesis on Berkeley's Philosophy of Science) and Edinburgh University in Scotland (PhD thesis on The Moral Philosophy of Francis Hutcheson). After teaching high school in Florenceville NB for three years, he entered the world of corporate business via a co-op MBA from McMaster University (thesis on Justifying the Foundations of Modern Financial Theory). He spent the next 7 years working for large international mainframe computer companies and developed a keen interest in business ethics. He returned to academia in 1991 when Trent University offered him a position as a business ethicist.
John Bishop’s current research interests centre on the ethical implications of the structures of business, especially for-profit corporations. He has recently published articles in the Business Ethics Quarterly on the rights of for-profit corporations and corporate obligations towards human rights. His other main area of research interest is the ethics of free-market capitalism; he has edited a book entitled Ethics and Capitalism (University of Toronto Press, 2000).
John Bishop has also published articles on such topics as ethics and advertising, normative theories of business ethics, résumé embellishing, and the moral responsibility of corporate executives for disasters. In the history of British moral philosophy, he has published articles on Locke, Francis Hutcheson and Adam Smith.
At Trent, Prof. Bishop teaches courses on personal ethics in business, ethics of corporate policy, and ethics and sustainability of capitalism. He also teaches a course on how to deconstruct advertising, which he enjoys immensely.
John Douglas Bishop was the editor of the Corporate Governance Section and later of the Philosophical Foundations section of the Journal of Business Ethics (2005-2012).
Selected Publications
Edited Books:
Bishop, John Douglas, ed. Ethics and Capitalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
Articles:
“The Limits of Corporate Human Rights Obligations and the Rights of For-Profit Corporations” Business Ethics Quarterly. V 22, N 1, January, 2012
“Business Practices and Agent Virtue”, in Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, 2nd edition. Ed. by Ruth Chadwick. January, 2012.
“The Elephant in the Room: On the absence of corporations in Bernard Hodgson’s Economics as a Moral Science”. Journal of Business Ethics. Volume 108, Number 1 (2012), 27-35.
Bishop, John Douglas. “For-profit Corporations in a Just Society: A Social Contract Argument Concerning the Rights and Responsibilities of Corporations”. Business Ethics Quarterly. April, 2008
Kolb, Robert W. ed. Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. Sage. 2007.
Entries on:
Advertising (6,216 words)
Consent (1,556 words)
Corporate Rights and Personhood (3,269 words)
Egoism: Psychological Egoism and Ethical Egoism (3,140 words)
Redistribution of Wealth (1,699 words)
Bishop, John Douglas. “Moral Intuitions versus Game Theory: A Response to Marcoux on Résumé Embellishing”. Journal of Business Ethics. V 67, N 2, August 2006, pp. 181 – 189.
Bishop, John Douglas. “The Inherent Rights of For-profit Corporations” Published in The Invisible Hand and the Common Good : Proceedings of The Ninth International Conference on Studies in Economic Ethics and Philosophy. Edited by Bernard Hodgson. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2004. pp. 121-133.
Bishop, John Douglas. “Crossing the Boundaries of Obligation: Are Corporate Salaries a Form of Bribery?” Journal of Business Ethics, V. 55, N. 1, November 2004, pp. 1 – 11.
Bishop, John Douglas. "A Framework for Discussing Normative Theories of Business Ethics" Business Ethics Quarterly, V.10, N.3, July 2000, pp. 563-591.
Bishop, John Douglas. "Is Self-Identity Image Advertising Ethical?" Business Ethics Quarterly, V.10, N.2, April 2000, pp. 371-398.
Bishop, John Douglas. "Ethics and Capitalism: A Guide to the Issues" in Ethics and Capitalism, John Douglas Bishop, ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,2000.
Bishop, John Douglas. "The Lockean Basis of Iroquoian Land Ownership". Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development, V 1, N 1, Spring 1999. pp. 35-43.
Bishop, John Douglas. "Locke's Theory of Original Appropriation and the Right of Settlement in Iroquois Territory". Canadian Journal of Philosophy, V 27, N 3, Sept. 1997.
Bishop, John Douglas. "Is Capitalism Morally Justified? A review article of D. W. Haslett, Capitalism with Morality". Business and Society Review, March 1997, pp. 98-105.
Bishop, John Douglas. "Moral Motivation and the Development of Francis Hutcheson's Philosophy" Journal of the History of Ideas, V 57, N 2, April 1996, pp. 277-295.
Bishop, John Douglas. "Adam Smith's Invisible Hand Argument". Journal of Business Ethics, V 14, N 3, March 1995, pp. 165-178.
Bishop, John Douglas. "The Moral Responsibility of Corporate Executives for Disasters". Journal of Business Ethics, V 10, N 5, May 1991, pp. 377-383.
Courses Taught
ADMN – PHIL 4200 – Business ethics
This course examines the ethical issues encountered in business, corporations and other organizations, and the ethical issues raised by contemporary capitalism. The purpose of the course is to encourage identification and careful reflection on moral problems.
ADMN 3300H – Personal ethics in organizations and business
This course is an introduction to personal ethics in business and organizations. Major theories of ethics will be applied to case studies. Students will learn to identify ethical issues, to reflect on their own values, and to support their ideas with rational discussion.
ADMN 3150H – Advertising
Students will learn how advertisements work, the many techniques used in advertising, and the impact of advertisements on the individual and society. The power of image and identity ads is emphasized.
ADMN 3400H – Markets, Governments and Organizations
This course provides the theoretical framework for critically evaluating the way societies control organizations through government regulation, through the governance of the organization, and by creating the institutions that enable markets to function.
ADMN-PHIL 4260H - Ethics and Capitalism
Examines ethical issues raised by the free-market capitalist economic system such as justice and the distribution of wealth, capitalism and democracy, and ecological sustainability. Several theories of justice are considered.
SUST 5300H - Justice, Ethics, Sustainability and Capitalism
In this course we discuss the intersection of ethics, justice and environmental sustainability within liberal-democratic corporate capitalism. We will consider theories of distributive justice and intergenerational obligation in the context of resource and sink depletion, climate change and declining biodiversity.
