Virtuous Exemplarity in Business Ethics Education: Insights from the Platonic Tradition

Following the discussion in the literature on virtue ethics, this study aims to explore how exemplarity can foster the development of virtues in business ethics education. We propose to draw on the Platonic and Neoplatonic view of exemplarity to determine how knowledge of the virtues can aid students’ moral development. This examination of the complex but unified system of virtues derived from the Platonic tradition helps us to elaborate educational principles prioritizing (a) positive exemplification over negative exemplification, (b) exemplarity over exemplification, and (c) virtuous exemplarity over moral exemplarity. We thereby show that business ethics education based on these three principles avoids the pitfalls of negative or artificial exemplification and encourages students to engage in a contemplative, imitative, and reflexive approach that is conducive to the development of moral excellence.