ABSTRACT

This chapter introduces and briefly summarises four dominant generic philosophical traditions that have played a prominent role in both accounting and philosophical research (see Table 5.1). 1 These four traditions share a common concern, in that each challenges the dominance of economic and positivist approaches to accounting research. Each tradition is used to examine key social and environmental dilemmas that confront accounting systems in the context of the communities to whom they report. The social and environmental issues that confront accounting may include but are not limited to how accounting implements moral codes in business and how accounting influences interactions with the world.