title: Moral communities.
abstract: This article explores the twin issues of whether organizations can act as ethical agents and what it means to exert moral influence over others. A discursive perspective is advanced that characterizes ethics as the action of communities based on promises. The received view of ethics as either the universal principles or individual responsibility is criticized as inadequate. Moral influence within community is considered under the various headings of democracy, office, brotherhood, agency, witness, and promise making. Moral influence among communities can include the damaging methods of "the superior position," coercion and misrepresentation, and appeal to third parties and the sound methods of rhetoric and promise making.
authors.affiliation: University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, 2155 Webster Street, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA. dchambers@pacific.edu
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Chambers
mesh_terms: D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D032921:Consensus; D028781:Ethical Relativism; D004990:Ethics, Dental; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009014:Morals; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D012945:Social Values; D014481:United States