Interpreting the Virtues of Mindfulness and Compassion: Contemplative Practices and Virtue-Oriented Business Ethics

Abstract

The article aims to provide a standpoint from which to critically address two broad concerns. The first concern surrounds a naïve view of mindfulness, which takes it as a given that it is a good thing to cultivate mindfulness and attendant qualities like compassion because these virtues are key to improving the quality of life and bettering effective decisionmaking within business. Yet the virtue of mindfulness has roots in religious and spiritual traditions, and the virtue of compassion is complex and contextual; neither of these virtues operate in a vacuum. Nor do they function independently from other virtues and values. Reasonable people of goodwill possessing the virtues of mindfulness and compassion in good measure, may nevertheless strongly disagree about what the compassionate, mindful thing to do is, particularly in a business setting. It is, moreover, conceivable that intensively cultivating mindfulness and compassion could lead one to reject altogether the “dog-eat dog” culture of competitive business that draws upon selective features of mindfulness meditation that lie in the corporate comfort zone yet which are not especially countercultural from a religious or spiritual vantage point. The second concern is that Western virtue-based business ethics is largely confined to academic philosophical theories. As such, virtue-driven business ethics is often more centered around developing theoretical wisdom than developing “hard core” practical wisdom earned through yoga asanas, meditation, chanting, and breathing, whereas for contemplative practices the reverse is the case, with practical wisdom (“knowing how-to”) emphasized over theoretical wisdom (“knowing that”). Accordingly, the article examines prospects for cross-fertilization between, on the one hand, mindfulness and compassion interpreted as virtues in Eastern contemplative practices, and on the other hand, mindfulness and compassion as interpreted within Western virtue-oriented business ethics. Illuminating a pathway for such interpretative cross-pollination calls for an appropriate conceptual frame of reference that the article organizes around a set of interconnected themes. The first theme is that mindfulness and compassion represent key virtues within contemplative practices. This indicates a promising touchpoint between Eastern and Western traditions: their respective focus upon character, inner states, intrinsic motivation, and self-improvement toward ethicality in the world. The second theme is that such virtues in Eastern contemplative practices, as well as character traits integral to Western virtue-oriented approaches, denote contested “normative-interpretive” concepts that engage philosophical debate rather than indisputable empirical-criterial concepts that can be taken at face-value. The third theme advocates moving beyond behaviorist and neuropsychological accounts of virtue, approaching character traits of Eastern contemplative practice and Western virtue ethics through nonscientific inquiry into normative interpretive questions concerning such virtues (questions about meaning, responsibility, the nature of the self, reasons for acting). This supports debate over competing views of the nature, purpose, cultivation, and cultural context of mindfulness, compassion, and other virtues – issues arising as mindfulness enters the business management sphere -- to be conducted on normative grounds. With the background conceptual framework established, the article presents key points about the prospects for cross-fertilization between virtue ethics and contemplative practice, and why it matters, with reference to business ethics.

Full text

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Interpreting the Virtues of Mindfulness and Compassion:
Contemplative Practices and Virtue-Oriented
Business Ethics
Kevin T. Jackson
1,2
Received: 19 February 2018 /Accepted: 29 May 2018 /Published online: 5 June 2018
#Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract The article aims to provide a standpoint from which to critically address two broad
concerns. The first concern surrounds a naïve view of mindfulness, which takes it as a giventhat
it is a good thing to cultivate mindfulness and attendant qualities like compassion because these
virtues are key to improving the quality of life and bettering effective decisionmaking within
business. Yet the virtue of mindfulness has roots in religious and spiritual traditions, and the
virtue of compassion is complex and contextual; neither of these virtues operate in a vacuum.
Nor do they function independently from other virtues and values. Reasonable people of
goodwill possessing the virtues of mindfulness and compassion in good measure, may never-
theless strongly disagree about what the compassionate, mindful thing to do is, particularly in a
business setting. It is, moreover, conceivable that intensively cultivating mindfulness and
compassion could lead one to reject altogether the Bdog-eat dog^culture of competitive
business that draws upon selective features of mindfulness meditation that lie in the corporate
comfort zone yet which are not especially countercultural from a religious or spiritual vantage
point. The second concern is that Western virtue-based business ethics is largely confined to
academic philosophical theories. As such, virtue-driven business ethics is often more centered
around developing theoretical wisdom than developing Bhard core^practical wisdom earned
through yoga asanas, meditation, chanting, and breathing, whereas for contemplative practices
the reverse is the case, with practical wisdom (Bknowing how-to^) emphasized over theoretical
wisdom (Bknowing that^). Accordingly, the article examines prospects for cross-fertilization
between, on the one hand, mindfulness and compassion interpreted as virtues in Eastern
contemplative practices, and on the other hand, mindfulness and compassion as interpreted
within Western virtue-oriented business ethics. Illuminating a pathway for such interpretative
Humanist Manag J (2018) 3:47–69
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-018-0040-3
*Kevin T. Jackson
prof.kevin.jackson@gmail.com
1
Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University, New York, NY, USA
2
Janssen Family Chair in Mindfulness and CSR, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and
Management, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
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