Une analyse philosophique du management de la RSE : de la difficile conciliation entre l'ordre économique, l'ordre juridique et l'ordre moral

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has with the economy and the morality ambiguous relations in need of clarification. This article proposes to question the role of CSR on different levels : economic and moral. Based on the distinction of orders of moral philosophy by Pascal and on its reworking proposed by Comte-Sponville (2004), we show that CSR may belong to the legal order and guide the economic order while being limited by the moral order. This hierarchy of orders enables managers to avoid two dangerous tendencies : "liberal barbarity" on the one hand, which submits CSR to pure economic logic and naïve "moral optimism" on the other hand, which turns all issues into moral issues. Under these conditions, CSR can be - not only a tool – but also an ethical guide for managers. Thus a non-exclusively instrumental managerial approach to CSR is the object of our study.