Upon completion of this course participants have the ability to:
- to recognize and critically analyse ethical issues surrounding major economic institutions;
- to understand the major frameworks of ethical analysis and practical tools in economic ethics for assessing these issues;
- to explain how particular arguments in economic ethics are related to more general normative ethical theories;
- to critically examine the major frameworks and approaches in economic ethics and how they can be adapted to apply in different settings.
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Every domain of the modern economy raises ethical questions. Should every economic activity be relegated to the market? Is the responsibility of firms only to make profits or do they have a wider social responsibility? What should the role of the state be in the economy? These are questions which relate to the organization of the economy as a whole as much as to the responsibility of private firms and single individuals. These types of questions cannot be answered by merely considering economic efficiency as the guiding normative principle (which itself is an ethical value, grounded in ethical theory); other ethical values, such as justice, equality, freedom, political legitimacy, democracy etc. will also play a role. Competing ethical theories must therefore be considered to answer them. This course will provide an introduction into the ethical debates surrounding the major institutions of the modern economy (focusing on: property, markets, corporations, finance, labour, and the welfare state) and will prepare the student to recognize ethical dilemmas in economic policy making and apply ethical theories to these dilemmas. The course draws on (and presupposes knowledge of) basic normative theories in ethics and political philosophy, both historical and contemporary.
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