Promethean Business: From Financial Hedonism to Financial Eudaimonia
本文借用普罗米修斯和潘多拉的神话比喻，批判股东至上公司治理模式带来的意外后果，如收入不平等、个人债务和环境恶化，并融合古典哲学的幸福观探讨如何从享乐主义转向真正的幸福。
The story of Prometheus and Pandora serves as an apt analogical device through which to demonstrate the impact that publicly traded corporations, and the shareholder primacy approach to corporate governance has created unintended consequences. Prometheus’s benevolent gift of fire led to the collateral damage of Pandora’s Box unleashing ills on mankind. Similarly, incorporation was a positive development that supported businesses lasting beyond one generation of owners, and led to businesses thriving and creating innovations that improve our lives. However, with these innovations and the related consumption has come a figurative Pandora’s Box of ills to society, including but not limited to widening income inequality, greater personal debt, and environmental degradation. In this critical essay, Greek mythology and classical philosophical approaches to happiness are intertwined with corporate approaches to stakeholder and shareholder optimization.