Sustainability and the Proper Role of Business Leaders: Economics, Moral Philosophy, and Jesuit Education

What is the proper role of business leaders with regard to sustainability? In this paper, we dialectically bring the disciplines of economics and philosophy to bear on this question. To the extent that goods are commensurable, the economic perspective informs and suggests a two-fold role: pursue profit and refrain from rent-seeking. To the extent that goods are apparently incommensurable, a philosophical perspective informs, especially one drawn from the Aristotelian tradition of the virtues, and suggests the need both to develop practical wisdom and to foster a dispo- sition of wonder. Both perspectives suggest a vital role for Jesuit education in the cultivation of future business leaders.