CiteULike: heraclitus' ethics

Basic Moral Concepts

Robert Spaemann — 2008-06-02T01:15:33-00:00

(02 November 1989)

The Market: Ethics, Knowledge and Politics (Economics As Social Theory)

John O'Neill — 2006-01-17T17:40:45-00:00

(09 April 1998)

Following the failure of "really existing socialism" in Eastern Europe and Asia, the market is now generally perceived, by Left and Right, to be supreme in any rational economic system. The current debate now focuses on the proper boundaries of markets rather than the system itself. This book examines the problems of defining these boundaries for the recent defences of the market, and shows that they highlight major weaknesses in the cases made by its proponents. The author draws on considerable research in this area to provide an overdue critical evaluation of the limits of the market, and future prospects for non-market socialism. The issues discussed cross a number of academic boundaries including economics, philosophy and politics.

Is the Market Moral?: A Dialogue on Religion, Economics and Justice (Pew Forum Dialogues on Religion & Public Life)

Rebecca Blank — 2008-06-01T12:57:33-00:00

(01 July 2003)

In the great tradition of moral argument about the nature of the economic market, Rebecca Blank and William McGurn join to debate the fundamental questions—equality and efficiency, productivity and social justice, individual achievement and personal rights in the workplace, the costs and benefits of corporate and entrepreneurial capitalism. And they do so grounded in both economic sophistication and religious commitment. Rebecca Blank is an economist by training and describes herself as "culturally Protestant in the habits of mind and heart." She has also chaired the committee that wrote the statement on Christian faith and economic life adopted by the United Church of Christ. Addressing market failure, for her, requires that sometimes "freedom to choose" give way to other human values. William McGurn, a journalist and a Roman Catholic, uses his expertise in economics to reflect on the teachings of the church concerning the morality of the market. For McGurn, humans reach their fullest potential when they are free from the constraints of others. He writes that "our quarrel is not so much with Adam Smith or Milton Friedman but with the Providence that so clearly designed man to be his most prosperous at his most free." This book grapples with the new imperatives of a global economy while working in the classic tradition of political economy which always treated seriously the questions of morality, justice, productivity, and freedom.

Being and Worth (Critical Realism: Interventions)

Brian Collier — 2008-05-31T18:36:22-00:00

(22 April 1999)

In _Being and Worth_ Andrew Collier argues that beings both in the natural and human worlds have worth in themselves, whether we recognize it or not. He builds on recent work in critical realism to provide a reassessment of Spinoza's philosophy of mind and ethics. Conclusions are developed with particular reference to environmental ethics.

REPLY TO PUTNAM AND WALSH

Partha Dasgupta — 2008-05-08T12:21:25-00:00

Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 23, No. 03. (2007), pp. 365-372.

Social thinkers frequently remind us that people differ on what constitutes personal well-being, but that even when they don't differ, they disagree over the extent to which one person's well-being can be permitted to be traded off against another's. They tell us that political differences are to be traced to differences in people's conceptions of personal and social well-being. We are given to understand, in other words, that people's ethics differ.

A RESPONSE TO DASGUPTA

Hilary Putnam — 2008-05-08T12:20:08-00:00

Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 23, No. 03. (2007), pp. 359-364.

The present note will be concerned only with Sir Partha Dasgupta's recent article in this journal (Dasgupta 2005). What is more, it will concentrate on those parts of the article which contain a serious misreading of Hilary Putnam's position on the entanglement of facts, theories and values. These philosophical matters can perhaps be clarified for economist readers (they should require no clarification for philosophers) by considering, to begin with, Dasgupta's interpretation of the Bergson–Samuelson position. What (Bergson) Burk (1938) and Samuelson (1947) were doing, according to Dasgupta, was to establish ‘the ethical foundations of the subject. . .over five decades ago’ (Dasgupta 2005: 221–2).2 Thus a major theme of the article is heard at once: economics is supposedly based on sound ethical foundations, and these can be traced (it is supposed) to specific work written long ago, and hence needing no augmentation. These ethical foundations, it is claimed, ‘are now regarded to be a settled matter’ (2005: 222).

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE ETHICALLY NEUTRAL

Krister Bykvist — 2008-05-08T12:18:00-00:00

Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 23, No. 01. (2007), pp. 97-105.

John Broome's Weighing Lives provides a much-needed framework for the intriguing problems of population ethics. It is also an impressive attempt to find a workable solution to these problems. I am not sure that Broome has found the right solution, but I think he has done the ethics profession a tremendous service in tidying up the discussion. The framework he presents will make it possible for the participants in this debate to formulate their positions in a clear and precise manner. Even people who disagree with him will be helped by this framework, since they will now be able to show exactly where their views differ.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON SAVING LIVES

Douglas Maclean — 2008-05-08T12:17:24-00:00

Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 23, No. 01. (2007), pp. 89-96.

In “Weighing Lives”, John Broome defends a very weak consequentialist account of the value of saving lives. This paper challenges the commitments of this kind of account and describes some reasons for saving lives that would appeal to a non-consequentialist.

NEUTRALITY AND PLEASURE

Roger Crisp — 2008-05-08T12:13:41-00:00

Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 23, No. 01. (2007), pp. 81-88.

John Broome's ground-breaking Weighing Lives makes precise, and supplies arguments previously lacking for, several views which for centuries have been central to the utilitarian tradition. In gratitude for his enlightening arguments, I shall repay him in this paper by showing how he could make things easier for himself by denying neutrality and accepting hedonism.

Why did the economist cross the road? The hierarchical logic of ethical and economic reasoning

Andrew Yuengert — 2008-05-08T11:56:19-00:00

Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 18, No. 02. (2003), pp. 329-349.

What Do Economists Analyze and Why: Values or Facts?

Partha Dasgupta — 2008-05-08T11:48:31-00:00

Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 21, No. 02. (2005), pp. 221-278.

Theory of the Individual in Economics: Identity and Value (Advances in Social Economics)

John Davis — 2008-05-03T15:14:17-00:00

(30 May 2003)

The concept of the individual and his/her motivations is a bedrock of philosophy. All strands of thought at heart contain to a particular theory of the individual. Economics, though, is guilty of taking this hugely important concept without questioning how we theorize it. This superb book remedies this oversight. The new approach put forward by Davies is to pay more attention to what moral philosophy may offer us in the study of personal identity, self consciousness and will. This crosses the traditional boundaries of economics and will shed new light on the distinction between positive and normative analysis in economics. With both heterodox and orthodox economics receiving a thorough analysis from Davies, this book is at once inclusive and revealing.

Economics for the Common Good: Two Centuries of Economic Thought in the Humanistic Tradition (Advances in Social Economics)

Mark Lutz — 2008-05-03T15:12:33-00:00

(16 April 1999)

This volume provides an introduction to economics in terms of human rather than material welfare. Building on a social economics tradition, it proposes a more rational economic order and develops new principles of economic policy. The issues covered include: the inadequacy of individualistic economics in guiding policy formation; a logical critique of economic rationality; rethinking of the modern business corporation; a critique of modern trade theory and unregulated international competition; and how standard economic theory encourages major ecological problems. Economics for the Common Good introduces social economic concepts and demonstrates their continuing relevance to the ills of an increasingly global society. In approaching problems generally conceived to be purely economic, from a social and ecological perspective, the author explores the vital interface between economics, ethics and politics.

Ethics and the Market: Insights from Social Economics (Advances in Social Economics)

Clary — 2008-05-03T15:11:38-00:00

(13 June 2006)

Much existing economic theory overlooks ethics. Rather than situating the market and values at separate extremes of a continuum, Ethics and the Market contends that the two are necessarily and intimately related. This volume brings together some of the best work in the social economics tradition, with contributions on the social economy, social capital, identity, ethnicity and development, the household, externalities, international finance, capability, and pedagogy. Proceeding from an examination of the moral implications of markets, the book goes on to explore such themes as the institutional arrangements of social economies, individual and household decision-making, and economic development in a global context. Ethics and the Market illuminates the diverse and dynamic theoretical approaches that are employed in social economics, reflecting on their continuously evolving relationship with neoclassical economics. This book will prove vital reading for students and academics in the fields of Economics, Sociology, Gender Studies, and Public Policy.

Economics, Ethics and the Market: Introduction and Applications (Economics, Ethics and the Market)

Joha Graafland — 2008-05-03T14:52:04-00:00

(06 December 2006)

The primary aim of the text is to introduce the reader to the relationship between economics and ethics and to the application of economic ethics in the evaluation of the market. The reader will gain insight into: * The ethical and methodological strategy of economics and criticism of the core assumptions that underpin the economic defense of free market operation. * The characteristics of different ethical theories (utilitarianism, duty and rights ethics, justice and virtue ethics) that can be used to evaluate the free market. * How to apply economics in conjunction with ethical theories to evaluate economic trends and policies that promote the free operation of the market and are subject to public debate. These insights will help to develop the reasoning and analytical skills needed to criticize economic analysis as well as to apply ethical concepts to moral issues in economic policy.