智慧人生篇章 第44期:左手利益,右手道德

 　　It was Bob Diamond, recently of Barclays, who defined business culture as "how people behave when no one is watching." Speaking in a lecture sponsored by the Today programme last year, he declared that business corporations like Barclays had to learn how to be better citizens. Leaving on one side the irony 1 of all this, what is remarkable 2 is not that he said it, but that so many other people are saying it too. Open any edition of the Harvard Business Review or look in the comment pages of the Financial Times, and there it is. "What is wrong with the culture of business and how do we put it right?" they're all asking each other.

　　近来，巴克莱银行的鲍勃?戴蒙德把企业文化形容成“在无人注意时做出的举动”。去年，他在由“今日”节目主办的演讲中称，像巴克莱银行这样的商业公司必须学会如何成为更好的公民。不去讨论他说出此话有多么讽刺，让人惊讶的不是他说了这句话，而是许多人也都这么说。翻开任一版本的《哈佛商业评论》或者浏览《金融时报》的评论网页，这句话随处可见。“企业文化到底出了什么问题，该如何改正？”人们纷纷询问彼此。
　　The Labour MP Jon Cruddas quoted with approval a theologian last year who'd said that our basic choice was between a neoliberal and a neo-Aristotelian view of the good society. Neoliberal means relying on the free market and the pursuit of self-interest as the driving force, not just in business but in life. We are familiar enough with that. But what about Aristotle, where does he come in? The memory of this ancient Greek philosopher is invoked 3 whenever people talk about virtue 4 and good citizenship 5, for it is to him primarily that we owe our notions of how we should behave when no one is watching. We should, he said, behave virtuously 6, and he classified virtue under four headings, the so-called cardinal 7 virtues 8. They are, in whatever order you like, justice, prudence 9, temperance and courage. These, said Aristotle, were the personal qualities that ancient Athenians needed, in order to be good citizens of democratic Athens to make it work. The many people who are saying that the internal culture of business badly needs reform of its values to make it work, are really talking about the Aristotelian virtues, or something like them. How you behave when nobody's watching depends on qualities of character, acquired by good example and by practice.
　　去年，工党议员乔恩·克鲁达斯引用了他所赞成的一位神学家的言论：我们最根本是要在新自由主义的优质社会和新亚里斯多德主义的优质社会中做出选择。新自由主义意味着依靠自由市场，不仅在商业中，还在生活中把追逐个人利益作为驱动力。这已为我们所熟知。而亚里斯多德有何由来呢？每当人们谈论美德和优秀公民素养时，我们就会想起这位古代希腊哲学家，因为他最关注的就是当无人注意时人们缺少该如何言行的概念。他提倡为人正直，并把美德分为了四个标题，即所谓的基本美德。它们是坚忍 正义、审慎、节制与勇气（排序不分先后）。亚里斯多德说这些是古代雅典人必须具备的品格，这样才能成为一个良好的公民，使民主政体的雅典发展下去。许多人都说企业亟需改革内在文化价值观才能继续运作，他们正是在谈论亚里斯多德式的美德，或者和它类似的东西。当无人留意时，你的行为取决于你通过学习和实践所获得的品质。
　　One place where these ideas are being systematically 10 thought through, is in what is called Catholic Social Teaching. Business people are slowly becoming more aware of it, including people who do not normally look towards Rome for anything. It provides, so to speak, the theoretical basis for a ready-made architecture of virtue. And it says a business culture based on virtue would strive towards serving the common good rather than just self-interest, and would even work better. As well as Aristotle, it owes a lot to the philosopher Thomas Aquinas, who Christianised the four cardinal virtues by adding three more: faith, hope and charity. Can the bottom line of successful modern business be humanised by taking all these virtues into its culture, rather than just profit and the maximising of shareholder 11 value? An increasing number of people seem to think it has no alternative.
　　天主教社会教学对这些思想进行了系统性的思考。商业人士开始慢慢注意到了它，包括一些不去借鉴任何经验的人。这门课程可以说提供了一个即成的道德建筑的理论基础。以道德为基础的企业文化会努力去为大众谋求福祉，还不仅只是为了一已私利。这样的企业会更加成功。不仅是亚里士多德，哲学家托马斯·阿奎那也为这一理论做了不少贡献。他把四项基本美德加上信、望、爱，做为基督教所信奉的美德。成功的现代企业能不再一味谋利、不断增加股东价值，而是把这些美德全部加入自身文化，使其更加人性化吗？越来越多的人认为现代企业要想成功，它们就别无选择。