The underlying causes of the global financial crisis of 2008 are numerous and complex and include structural, economic-technical, and personal decisions dimensions. Effectively, these causes reflect a failure in corporate governance mechanisms. This article makes a case for professional ethics in proposing a moral psychological approach that uses virtue ethics and moral principles that focuses on moral selfhood, in particular: an approach that reduces the moral gap between the real self and the ideal self. Such an approach equips one with the requisite moral and psychological preparedness in responding to adverse situations that represent excellent opportunities for personal growth and well-being. The ultimate solution to the global financial meltdown demands the development of the virtuous agent that entails perfecting human nature as it is (characterized by its susceptibility or proneness to error) and pursuing human nature as it ought to be (characterized by its natural inclination toward truth and moral goodness).
Michael Macaulay and Surendra Arjoon, "An Aristotelian-Thomistic Approach to Professional Ethics," Journal of Markets & Morality 16, no. 2 (Fall 2013): 507-527