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The aim of this work is to show the philosophical principles of Agency Theory in order to understand if this theory presents an argumentation on human behavior that we can described as utilitarian, and if so, how it could be critically considered from Business Ethics. As we will see, Agency Theory is based on two main conceptual frameworks: the first one is Coase's Institutionalism as for understanding the nature of the firm and, the second one, Gary Becker's theory of economic behavior. In this paper we will show how Agency Theory incorporates Gary Becker's theory and, consequently, a description of human behavior that we can understand as utilitarian, not only when Becker ideas' have an explicit reference to the philosophical utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill, but also because of an understanding of human behavior described as individualistic and based on an evaluative maximization calculus of convenience. From Business Ethics theory, such calculus must be considered amoral and, as such, implies a culture of opportunism, among other problems within the origination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary economic theories, the Keynesian, Austrian or Neoclassic, are characterized by their conceptions of the economic agent. As can be easily shown, the philosophical foundations for these conceptions are contradictory with Social Catholic Teaching (CST). Fundamentally, this is the reason why those theories are unable to judge properly, and in its entirety, the economic judgments of CST. In this paper, we explore the possibility of an alternative economic theory based on an anthropological conception closer to philosophical Thomism. The work of Martin Rhonheimer or Cianfranco Basti can be considered a suitable updating of Thomistic thought that can be used for our purposes of building an alternative conception of the economic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to draw the attention of the public concerning the need to judge, from an ethical perspective, all financial and tax systems in which public contributions are levied. Social democrat and left wing thought approaches, as well as those of the classic-liberal and conservative thought, are methodologically insufficient to analyse public finance in terms of justice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hayek is a point of reference in the current economic thought. Although you are not in agreement with him, he is usually a constant reference because he is one of the few to try an ethical justification in the free market. In this paper I analyze critically his concept of social justice, the ethics of the market and the abstracts rules of conduct and I conclude that, in his market game, these rules are seemingly formals and the search of the social justice is a mirage and it's irrelevant to propose another end strange to oneself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes, from an ethical perspective, the methodology and teaching resources of cooperative learning. By applying a critical hermeneutic methodology, we evaluate its validity, its credibility and its relevance in the field of education in accordance with the fundamental moral values of a democratic and civic ethic. We conclude that cooperative learning is a favourable methodology and entirely conducive to the display of a democratic ethic, and is therefore an educational model that brilliantly meets the aspirations of cognitive-intellectual maturation and moral development of a student, in a context of collaboration and solidarity. In this sense, cooperative learning can be a prototype or a methodological pattern that exemplifies the renewal of education requiring plural and participatory societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze the legitimacy of hidden camera like a research method in journalism. This analysis is proposed from three different perspectives: legal, deontological and journalists' opinion on practical dilemmas. The conclusions obtained in each of these areas are complementary and provide more specific criteria to deal with hard case in which journalist is torn between the right to citizens" information and respect for the law and deontological codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]