This volume explores the concept of the honest merchant, taking a broad perspective and covering a wide range of aspects. It looks at the different types of "honest merchant" conceptions originating from different cultures and literary traditions. The book covers Japanese, Islamic, Scandinavian, Russian, German, Spanish, as well as other aspects, and studies different disciplinary backgrounds of the honest merchant, such as philosophical, economic, neuroethical, sociological and literary ones.The concept of the honest merchant has a long tradition in business ethics. In the Hanseatic League and in medieval Italy, the ideal of the honest businessman was taught since the late Middle Ages. It originated during a time when travelling merchants were often regarded with a sceptical eye. The honest merchants of their time however held clear principles in their business and took responsibility for their community. In later times, the religious notions of the concept lost their pivotal place to reason and morality. This book goes beyond the tradition of discussing business ethics in association with concepts from the Hanseatic League and medieval Italy, and puts the central concept of business ethics in a much greater perspective.

Introduction.- 1 The Image of the Merchant Contemplated Across Times.- Chapter 1 The Merchant from Patristics to the Honnête Homme in the Writings of Savary; Christoph Strosetzki.- Chapter 2 The Honorable Merchant and the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement; Christoph Lütge.- Chapter 3 The Legend of excellent Businessman. A neuroethical perspective; Adela Cortina.- Chapter 4 The honest Businessperson: Cosmopolitan Theory and Cultural Praxis (The example of Denmark and Scandinavia); Jacob Dahl Rendtorff.- Chapter 5 Voluntary Business Regulation for Sustainability: Intends, Norms and Motivation of Building Public Trust of Corporate Managers; László Fekete.- 2 The Image of the Merchant in Europe from Late Middle Ages until Early Modern Times.- Chapter 6 The Honest Merchant before Adam Smith: The Genesis and Rise of a Literary Prototype in Britain; Laurenz Volkmann.- 3 The Image of the Merchant in Europe from Early Modern Times until 19th century.- Chapter 7 The long Journey from "Deceiver and Conman" to "Honorable Merchant". The Image of the Merchant in Spanish Literature and its Context from the 16th to the end of the 18th century; Manfred Tietz.- Chapter 8 The Figures of the Honorable Merchant and the philanthropic Entrepreneur-Paternalist in sentimental Comedies of the 18th century in Spain; Beatrice Schuchardt.- Chapter 9 The homo oeconomicus, merchant ethos, and liberalism in Spain under enlightened absolutism; Jan-Henrik Witthaus.- Chapter 10 "A travelling Salesman from Hades". On the Critique of the acquisitive mindset in Nikolai W. Gogol's novel Dead Souls (1842); Christian von Tschilschke.- 4 The Image of the Merchant in Non-European Contexts.- Chapter 11 The Ethics of the Merchant in the Islamic Faith: From Ibn Khaldoun to Islamic Finance; Dominique de Courcelles.- Chapter 12 The most successful and moralistic Merchant at the Dawn of Japanese Capitalism. Shibusawa and hisConfucianism; Itaru Shimazu.