Corporate Philanthropy: Toward a Magnanimous Rhetoric

Defense Date

5-1-2009

Graduation Date

Fall 1-1-2009

Availability

Restricted

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Communication and Rhetorical Studies

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Calvin L. Troup

Committee Member

Janie Harden Fritz

Committee Member

Ronald C. Arnett

Keywords

virtue, Thomas Aquinas, philanthropy, rhetoric, magnanimity, corporate

Abstract

This project seeks theoretical ground that supports the ethical and rhetorical practice of corporate philanthropy. Looking to the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, with special attention to the virtue of magnanimity, I explore how a Thomist theoretical and philosophical framework might work within the connection of virtue ethics and rhetoric which has been theoretically explained in recent communication scholarship. I then apply a Thomistic communication paradigm in the context of corporate philanthropy as a communicative practice, with three guiding metaphors: societas, obligation, and the natural. The Thomistic cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) also contribute to this framework of a rhetoric of the marketplace. Because this project seeks ethical ground that is substantial and that promotes ethical communicative and rhetorical practice of corporate philanthropy, I offer the Thomistic virtue of magnanimity (connected to fortitude) because it encourages us to understand corporate philanthropy from a different viewpoint that privileges greatness of purpose, bold publicness, and mindful responsibility to community.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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