On January 21, 2013, Dr. Stephan Rothlin, Secretary General of the Center for International Business Ethics (CIBE), visited the CIBE’s Senior Advisor-Prof. Lou Yulie. He is a PhD tutor in the Philosophy and Religion Department of Peking University, as well as a PhD tutor of the Institute of Buddhism and Traditional Chinese Culture at the Peking University, devoting himself to teach and research history of Chinese Philosophy and Buddhism.

 

Dr. Rothlin gave a brief introduction of CIBE’s progress in 2012 and about the documentary series “Integrity: China in Action”, which CIBE supports and which will be broadcasted on CCTV-2. Prof. Lou pointed out that it is necessary to promote business ethics among public, which not only relies on the reform of system and completion of relevant laws, but also needs more effort in the public education. As business management, in the final analysis, is the management of people and if there is no right direction of public opinion - if everything is measured only by money - it is difficult to abide by the principle of integrity through self-discipline behavior. At present, the lack of integrity is due to the lack of faith. As for faith, we should broaden its extension to include beliefs of politics, science, philosophy, etc. Only with faith one can achieve self-discipline.

 

Prof. Lou believes, even if one has a belief of material civilization, one should also live in awe of the natural resources. If a person only believes in the theory of “consumption decides production”, and grabs natural resources unrestrictedly, then the world is difficult to develop in a sustainable way. Valuing the balance between man and nature is well demonstrated in modern medical science. The main development trend for modern medical science is the transformation from focusing on "the disease people have" to focusing on "the sick man", from “therapy” to “prophylaxis”, from “medical instrument treatment” to “mobilize human’s own repair function”. Therefore, doctors will be, in this trend, the consultants to guide for people's healthy life in the future. This is a new reflection of “prevention of diseases, rather than curing diseases”, a popular concept of traditional Chinese medical science, which is in accordance with the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates (460BC-370BC) in Greece.

 

Prof. Lou expressed that he is willing to contribute his own works to the promotion of the online ethics library, which CIBE cooperates with other organizations, like the Institute of Confucianism of Peking University, the Center of the World Ethics of Peking University, the Confucius Institute of Renmin University, Globethics.net, and others in order to encourage more organizations and scholars to participate in.

 

In the end, Prof. Lou encouraged CIBE to further related activities and to promote business ethics that are recognized by the whole corporate or social organizations, making a contribution to the economic sustainable development, social stability and prosperity.