Towards a stoic interpretation of controllability

Ethics – both within philosophy and in the new disciplines of “applied ethics” and “business ethics” – is a vogue subject these days and, as such, calls for a few cautionary words. The resurgence of ethics has engendered two main schools of criticism: one which sees it as a passing fad, a simple and superficial expression of a deeper crisis, a consequence of the decline in ideology, grand systems and “philosophic and religious thought”, or as a corollary of the uncertainty and failure of politics. The more corrupt the times, the stronger the concern for morality. The other which sees the use and worship of ethical imperatives as yet another ploy by companies to enhance their image and cow their workforce into submission. There is, however, a third more rewarding and constructive approach which, while it heeds the not altogether unfounded warnings of the other two, expresses a genuine interest in ethics – an interest stimulated paradoxically by a number of well‐publicised scandals. Our paper seeks to understand and acknowledge the need for ethics in the world of business. We take ethical theory as the starting point for our discussion of the philosophic concepts applicable to the company and attempt to show how stoic thought can enhance our understanding of controllability.