Estrategia, December 1, 1995
At an important ceremony, held a few months ago at Chile’s Military Academy, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Major General Guillermo Garín, said: “Honor is the military virtue par excellence and is above one’s own life, estate, and all that we possess”.
Honor, when joined to valor; namely, that capacity for unlimited sacrifice even above one’s own life, constitutes the perfect and indissoluble union that shape the personality of our disciplined and rigorous Chilean military.
On the other hand, in today’s modern society, based on a free market economy, the aspirations for material benefits by entrepreneurs and consumers are recognized as legitimate. On a first look, such ethical standard might appear to contradict the virtues of valor and honor that take precedence over one’s own benefit and estate, as espoused by our military.
Nevertheless, this is not the case, or, rather, it should not be.
Our 1980 Political Constitution, in the chapter pertaining to constitutional guarantees, enshrines the fundamental principle of freedom of enterprise, by guaranteeing, in article 19 N°21, “the right to develop any economic activity”.
But immediately following such assertion the Constitution provides for certain requirements or conditions in the exercise of such freedom. The Constitution adds that an economic activity must not be “contrary to morality, public order or national security”, concluding that all economic activities must adhere to and be executed in full compliance of “the legal rules that govern them”.
This is indeed a well-rounded description of the environment that surrounds the foundations of our legal and economic order. The essential freedom of all human beings is recognized first and paramount. But then the Constitution adds that morality and public order antecedes and takes precedence over any economic benefits that might be obtained as a result of any business or economic activity.
This principle applies to all kinds of companies, both private and state-owned.
On a variant perspective, it may happen that an entrepreneur’s business projections do not materialize, thus turning what originally seemed like a bright beginning into a stark failure in the end. On such occasions, the valor and courage to acknowledge eventual losses honoring the commitments assumed by the entrepreneur constitutes not only a legal obligation, but a moral duty that takes precedence over the entrepreneur’s personal estate.
Since examples abound, this analysis could also be deepened.
A preliminary takeaway is that, in our current legal and economic system, valor and honor are also enforceable conducts that must prevail over our own personal estates.
