Assignment Task: "For Aristotle, the purpose of politics is not to set up a framework of rights that is neutral among ends. It is to form good citizens and to cultivate character. ... The purpose of politics is nothing less than to enable people to develop their distinctive human capacities and virtues - to deliberate about the common good, to acquire practical judgment, to share in self-government, to care for the fate of the community as a whole" (Sandel, pp. 193-4).
Particular social/political institutions are supposed to play some role or other in this larger project. The family plays one sort of role; a University another (which one is contested); the court system yet another. Arguably, there are many distributions of institutions and roles that could serve all of the purposes that need to be served in order to promote human flourishing.
"Aristotle believes that it is possible to reason about the purpose of social institutions. Their essential nature is not fixed once and for all, but neither is it simply a matter of opinion" (Sandel, p. 191).
With all of this in mind, what, from an Aristotelian perspective, is the Telos of a firm? That is, how is it that the organization of economic entities - firms - that produce & sell things (from sole proprietorships to multinational corporations) is supposed to be conducive to human flourishing?