Professor Norman (Ph.D. London School of Economics, 1988) is the Mike and Ruth Mackowski Professor of Ethics in Philosophy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke. He previously held Chairs in Business Ethics at the Université de Montréal and the University of British Columbia, and before that taught at the University of Ottawa and the University of Western Ontario. He has held visiting appointments in six countries and been published in 10 languages. He has taught mainly in philosophy departments, but also in an MBA program, and a political science department. He plays blues guitar and harp in a concept band called Mona Lisa's Highway Blues, and blogs about ethics in adversarial institutions at Ethics for Adversaries, and about the philosophy and culture of sports at This Sporting Life.

Office Location: 201 West Duke Building
Email Address:

Specialties:

Political Philosophy
Ethics

Research Interests: Business Ethics, Political Philosophy

Most of Norman's recent research falls under two broad headings:

BUSINESS ETHICS, where he has looked critically at a number of popular and quasi-academic frameworks for identifying and justifying beyond-compliance obligations (e.g. CSR, corporate citizenship, sustainability, triple bottom line, stakeholder theory...). His working hypothesis is that beyond-compliance obligations can be justified by using the same concepts and methods we use in justifying particular regulations. ("Business ethics as self-regulation".) He focuses on "ethical lobbying," and more generally on the nature of responsible conduct in business-government relations.

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, where he has published extensively on nationalism, citizenship, constitutionalism, federalism, secession, and multiculturalism.

Selected Recent Publications (5 books, 75+ articles):

SELECTED BOOKS

• Negotiating Nationalism: Nation-building, Federalism, and Secession in the Multinational State, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. xxi + 250.
• D. Karmis and W. Norman (eds), Theories of Federalism, New York: Palgrave-Macmillan Publishing, 2005, pp. xiv + 325.
• W. Kymlicka and W. Norman (eds), Citizenship in Diverse Societies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. xii + 444.

SELECTED ARTICLES

• W. Norman, “Business Ethics as Self-Regulation: Why principles that ground regulations should be used to ground beyond-compliance norms as well,” Journal of Business Ethics, 2012 (in press).
• W. Norman, articles on “Business Ethics” and "Stakeholder Theory" in the 10-volume International Encyclopedia of Ethics (Hugh LaFollette, editor-in-chief), New York-Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2012 (in press).
• J. Heath, J. Moriarty, W. Norman, “Business Ethics and (or as) Political Philosophy,” Business Ethics Quarterly, 2010.
• W. Norman, "The Financial Theory of the Firm," in J. Boatright, ed, Companion to Ethics in Finance, John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
• W. Norman, "From Quid Pro Quo to Modus Vivendi: can legalizing secession strengthen the multinational federation?" in F. Requejo and M. Caminal, eds, Political liberalism and Multinational Democracies, London: Routledge, 2010.
• C. MacDonald & W. Norman, “Conflicts of Interest and Professional Ethics,” in G. Brenkert & T. Beauchamp, eds, Oxford Handbook in Business Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 441-470.
  
• W. Norman, P. Bélanger, and C. Roux, “Recognizing Business Ethics,” Journal of Business Ethics 86/3, 2009, 257-271.
  
• Pierre-Yves Néron and W. Norman, "Corporations as Citizens: Political not Metaphorical, A Reply to Critics," Business Ethics Quarterly, January 2008.
• Pierre-Yves Néron and W. Norman, "Citizenship Inc.: Do we really want businesses to be good corporate citizens?," Business Ethics Quarterly, January 2008.
• J. Heath and W. Norman, "Stakeholder Theory, Corporate Governance and Public Management: what can the history of state-run enterprises teach us in the post-Enron era?," Journal of Business Ethics 53, 2004: 247-265.
• W. Norman and C. MacDonald, "Getting to the Bottom of Triple Bottom Line," Business Ethics Quarterly 14/2, 2003: 243-262.

• PHIL 129FS.01, Act globally/think normatively Synopsis

  West Duke 107F, TuTh 10:05 AM-11:20 AM

• PHIL 270.01, Business ethics Synopsis

  Perkins 2-070, W 03:05 PM-05:35 PM

Recent Publications

• W. Norman. ""Towards a Philosophy of Federalism,” my 1994 article reprinted in J. Kincaid, ed, Federalism: volume III (Sage Library of Political Science), pp. 257-76."  London: Sage Publishing, 2011,,
• W. Norman. "“Where Will – or Should – Business Ethics be in Ten Years?” an invited 3000-word contribution for a special issue of The Ethics Forum. (Other contributors include Philip Pettit, Philippe Van Parijs, and Marc Fleurbaey.)."   (Submitted, 2011).
• W. Norman. "W. Norman & Pierre-Yves Néron, “Mondialisation économique et éthique des affaires,” for R. Chung and J.B. Jeangène Vilmer (eds), Éthique des relations internationales, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.."   (Submitted, 2011).