Cheng, Peter C-H (2019) A cognitive science analysis of the Quaker Business Method: is how it works why it works? Quaker Studies Journal, 24 (2). pp. 271-297. ISSN 2397-1770

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Abstract

The Quaker Business Method (QBM) has been in development for over 300 years. Quakers believe that the QBM is an effective means for making decisions. This paper develops a tripartite theoretical framework to analyze the QBM in order to examine its efficacy, both in terms of the quality of its processes and the morality of its decisions. The framework encompasses: (1) a decomposition of the QBM as a set of tools; (2) a selection of theories and models from cognitive science that explain how humans think; (3) a set of relational models that can be used to objectively judge the morality of different forms of human
behavioural interactions. Overall, it appears that QBM tools may counter the deficits in natural human abilities to reason and solve problems, and that they may promote decision making practices that are moral and that the resulting decisions, themselves, may be moral.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Quaker Business Method; meeting for business; decision making tools; cognitive processes; moral relational models; scientific explanation.
Schools and Departments:	School of Engineering and Informatics > Informatics
Depositing User:	Lucy Arnold
Date Deposited:	07 Aug 2019 10:18
Last Modified:	02 Jan 2020 14:30
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/85339

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