bishop
bishop

John Douglas Bishop
Professor, Business Administration
           
Degrees
B.A. (New Brunswick), PGCE (Cambridge), M.A., M.B.A. (McMaster), Ph.D. (Edinburgh)

Office: Enweying 368
(705) 748-1011 Ext. 7701
E-mail: Jbishop@trentu.ca

Areas of Expertise
Business Ethics, ethics and capitalism, rights of corporations, deconstructing advertising, British moral philosophy

Media Contact
Brittany Cadence
(705) 748-1011 Ext. 6185
brittanycadence@trentu.ca

John Douglas Bishop is a moral philosopher trained at the University of New Brunswick, McMaster University (MA thesis on Berkeley's Philosophy of Science) and Edinburgh University in Scotland (PhD thesis on The Moral Philosophy of Francis Hutcheson). After teaching high school in Florenceville NB for three years, he entered the world of corporate business via a co-op MBA from McMaster University (thesis on Justifying the Foundations of Modern Financial Theory). He spent the next 7 years working for large international mainframe computer companies and developed a keen interest in business ethics. He returned to academia in 1991 when Trent University offered him a position as a business ethicist.

John Bishop’s current research interests centre on the ethical implications of the structures of business, especially for-profit corporations. He has just published an article entitled “For-profit Corporations in a Just Society: A Social Contract Argument Concerning the Rights and Responsibilities of Corporations” in the Business Ethics Quarterly, (April, 2008) and is continuing this line of research by investigating the derivative, utilitarian, and rights-based arguments for the rights of for-profit corporations. His other main area of research interest is the ethics of free-market capitalism; he has edited a book entitled Ethics and Capitalism (University of Toronto Press, 2000).

John Bishop has also published articles on such topics as ethics and advertising, normative theories of business ethics, résumé embellishing, and the moral responsibility of corporate executives for disasters. In the history of British moral philosophy, he has published articles on Locke, Francis Hutcheson and Adam Smith.

At Trent, Prof. Bishop teaches courses on personal ethics in business, ethics of corporate policy, and ethics of capitalism. He also teaches a course on how to deconstruct advertising, which he enjoys immensely.

John Douglas Bishop is the editor of the Corporate Governance Section of the Journal of Business Ethics.

Selected Publications

Edited Books:

  • Bishop, John Douglas, ed. Ethics and Capitalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.

Articles:

  • Bishop, John Douglas. “For-profit Corporations in a Just Society: A Social Contract Argument Concerning the Rights and Responsibilities of Corporations”. Business Ethics Quarterly. April, 2008
  • Kolb, Robert W. ed. Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. Sage. 2007.
    Entries on:
          Advertising (6,216 words)
          Consent (1,556 words)
          Corporate Rights and Personhood (3,269 words)
          Egoism: Psychological Egoism and Ethical Egoism (3,140 words)
          Redistribution of Wealth (1,699 words)
  • Bishop, John Douglas. “Moral Intuitions versus Game Theory: A Response to Marcoux on Résumé Embellishing”. Journal of Business Ethics. V 67, N 2, August 2006, pp. 181 – 189.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. “The Inherent Rights of For-profit Corporations” Published in The Invisible Hand and the Common Good : Proceedings of The Ninth International Conference on Studies in Economic Ethics and Philosophy. Edited by Bernard Hodgson. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2004. pp. 121-133.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. “Crossing the Boundaries of Obligation: Are Corporate Salaries a Form of Bribery?” Journal of Business Ethics, V. 55, N. 1, November 2004, pp. 1 – 11.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "A Framework for Discussing Normative Theories of Business Ethics" Business Ethics Quarterly, V.10, N.3, July 2000, pp. 563-591.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Is Self-Identity Image Advertising Ethical?" Business Ethics Quarterly, V.10, N.2, April 2000, pp. 371-398.
    Republished
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Ethics and Capitalism: A Guide to the Issues" in Ethics and Capitalism, John Douglas Bishop, ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,2000.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "The Lockean Basis of Iroquoian Land Ownership". Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development, V 1, N 1, Spring 1999. pp. 35-43.
    Republished
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Locke's Theory of Original Appropriation and the Right of Settlement in Iroquois Territory".  Canadian Journal of Philosophy, V 27, N 3, Sept. 1997.
    Republished
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Is Capitalism Morally Justified? A review article of D. W. Haslett, Capitalism with Morality".  Business and Society Review, March 1997, pp. 98-105.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Moral Motivation and the Development of Francis Hutcheson's Philosophy" Journal of the History of Ideas, V 57, N 2, April 1996, pp. 277-295.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Adam Smith's Invisible Hand Argument".  Journal of Business Ethics, V 14, N 3, March 1995, pp. 165-178.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "The Moral Responsibility of Corporate Executives for Disasters".  Journal of Business Ethics, V 10, N 5, May 1991, pp. 377-383.
    Republished:
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Ledelsens moralske ansvar for katastrofer". Ledelse I Dag, Nr.10/Forar 1993, pp. 43-55.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "The Moral Responsibility of Corporate Executives for Disasters".  Reprinted in Business Ethics: A Philosophical Reader. ed. by Thomas I. White.  New York: Macmillan, 1993.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "The Moral Responsibility of Corporate Executives for Disasters". Journal of Business Ethics, V 10, N 5, May 1991, pp. 377-383. Republished in Robert Larmer, ed. Ethics in the Workplace, West Publishing, 1995.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "The Moral Responsibility of Corporate Executives for Disasters".  Journal of Business Ethics, V 10, N 5, May 1991, pp. 377-383. Reprinted in Business Ethics in Canada, Third Edition. Edited by Deborah C. Poff and Wilfrid J. Waluchow.  Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Allyn and Bacon, 1999. pp. 126-133.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "The Moral Responsibility of Corporate Executives for Disasters".  Journal of Business Ethics, V 10, N 5, May 1991, pp. 377-383. Reprinted in Business Ethics in Canada, Fourth Edition. Edited by Deborah C. Poff.  Scarborough, ON: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. pp. 141-149.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "The Moral Responsibility of Corporate Executives for Disasters".  Journal of Business Ethics, V 10, N 5, May 1991, pp. 377-383. Republished in Robert Larmer, ed. Ethics in the Workplace, Second Edition, West Publishing, 2002.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. “The Lockean Basis of Iroquoian Land Ownership". Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development, V 1, N 1, Spring 1999. pp. 35-43. Republished in R. Anderson and R. Bone. Natural Resources and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. Toronto: Captus Press, 2002.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Locke's Theory of Original Appropriation and the Right of Settlement in Iroquois Territory". Republished in John Locke : critical assessments of leading political philosophers. Series II. Edited by Peter R. Anstey. New York : Routledge, 2006.
  • Bishop, John Douglas. "Is Self-Identity Image Advertising Ethical?" Business Ethics Quarterly, V.10, N.2, April 2000, pp. 371-398. Republished in: Tom L. Beauchamp and Norman E. Bowie. Ethical Theory and Business, seventh edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. pp. 417 - 427.

Professional Leadership

Editor, Corporate Governance Section, Journal of Business Ethics (2005 – present)

Courses Taught

ADMN – PHIL 420 – Business ethics
This course examines the ethical issues encountered in business, corporations and other organizations, and the ethical issues raised by contemporary capitalism. The purpose of the course is to encourage identification and careful reflection on moral problems.

ADMN 330H – Personal ethics in organizations and business
This course is an introduction to personal ethics in business and organizations. Major theories of ethics will be applied to case studies. Students will learn to identify ethical issues, to reflect on their own values, and to support their ideas with rational discussion.

ADMN 315H – Advertising
Students will learn how advertisements work, the many techniques used in advertising, and the impact of advertisements on the individual and society. The power of image and identity ads is emphasized.