THE INSTITUTE FOR THE PHILOSOPHY OF BUSINESS,
ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND MEDIA
The following interview with Dr. Ruben Rabinsky provides some answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Institute and its research and projects. If you have a question that would like answered, please email it to Dr. Rabinsky at: [email protected]
Q: What is 'philosophy of business'? And how does it differ from 'business ethics'?
A: The discipline of 'Philosophy of Business' is broader in scope than 'Business Ethics'. Whereas business ethics focuses on moral issues that business leaders encounter in the practice of commerce, business, and trade, the subject of the 'Philosophy of Business' also is concerned with the Metaphysics of Business ("What is business?", "What is the purpose and nature of Business?", "Are there different kinds or types of Businesses -- for example, non-profits as distinct from profit-driven businesses?", and so on). The Philosophy of Business is also concerned with the Epistemology of Business -- which studies questions such as: how do we know which Business will become successful, and which may not? To what extent does intuition play a role in acquiring business knowledge and experience? What are business facts, and how do we come to know them? Also, the Philosophy of Business involves the application of Logic, both deductive and inductive reasoning. There is also a necessary relation between the study and practice of the Philosophy of Business with the subject of Political Philosophy : as the Nobel-winning economist Milton Friedman cogently argued in his book, Capitalism and Freedom, there is a fundamental connection between economic (capitalist) freedom, and political freedom (libertarianism) namely, it is impossible to have genuine political freedom without economic freedom (capitalism). Finally, the Philosophy of Business is also concerned with questions that arise in the context of the study of Business Ethics.
Q: How do you see the future of business, in America and throughout the world?
A: I am optimistic, hopeful. The trend is obviously toward a system of world-wide capitalism and greater political freedom throughout the world. However, there are many Socialists, Communists, and other types of Marxists in the world, and they believe that their fight for spreading Communism throughout the world is not over -- despite the fact that, historically, there is great evidence that Socialism and Communism are not only evil, unethical, and immoral, but that from a purely economic standpoint they are inefficient and not tenable. It is to combat this attempt by the Communists to spread their propaganda and ideology that my Institute was founded. Indeed, the fight to maintain, preserve, and promote the kind of political freedom and capitalist economy which was the basis for the founding of our country -- the United States of America -- is a battle that is never over. Today, here in the USA, we have socialist politicians who are trying to socialize the economy and promote 'Big Government' and the expense of our individual liberties. This must not be tolerated -- we who value freedom must communicate and teach everyone the nature of the struggle and the vital importance of joining to defend -- philosophically, intellectually, politically and legally -- the principles of freedom that our Founding Fathers conveyed explicitly in our Constitution. We need to return to the principles of a constitutionally limited, libertarian government.
Q: The Institute you created is a non-profit educational organization. What role do you see for education in this struggle for liberty that you just described?
A: Unfortunately, it has been a fact for some time now that our schools, colleges and universities are largely controlled by academics who are socialist, communist, radical feminists (who engage in "male bashing"), and other "progressives" and "liberals" who inculcate -- or I should say, rather, who brainwash our students through massive propaganda and the re-writing of History to suit their political ideologies and Marxist agendas. These same socialist academics have "tenure" (which means they cannot be fired by their institutions, not even if they are bad teachers -- and many of them are terrible teachers, by any criteria -- so they take advantage of their positions of power and influence to spread Marxist ideologies to new generations. The result is that our youth not only is unable to think critically and openly about alternative points of view to the prevailing Marxist ideas, but the youth cannot even imagine the better alternative -- a libertarian, capitalist society. This was how it was done in the classic novel, 1984, by George Orwell: limit a person's vocabulary and ability to be exposed to alternative ideas, and their thoughts will be controlled -- the range of thinking will shrink and disappear. The irony is that these same Marxist academics boast that they are "in favor" of Academic Freedom, and freedom of expression; the reality is that they are not pro-Academic Freedom: any ideas and views -- or any students and professors who oppose the prevailing Marxist ideologies -- are either silenced or punished: if it's a student who is pro-capitalism, they will be failed or received a bad grade from the Marxist teachers; and if it's a professor who opposes the Marxist orthodoxy, then they will be denied tenure, or fired. It's that bad. But as I said previously, I am hopeful and optimistic: there are a great many pro-freedom Think Tanks, such as the Cato Institute, the Center for Business Rights, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Ethics, and others, who defend capitalism, libertarianism, and the ideals that we at The Institute for the Philosophy of Business, Entrepreneurship, and Media also defend. Through courses, workshops, seminars, and conferences, we can reach out to individuals and provide a welcome expansion of the discussion to include a study of pro-liberty economists and philosophers, such as Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, John Locke, Robert Nozick, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and many others.
Q: How can we find out about upcoming events that will be sponsored by your Institute?
A: We are currently developing our Winter and Spring schedule of events, which will be posted on our Events page --- which is under construction. So, please stay tuned. And if you would like to suggest possible events, please contact us at the Institute. Thank you.