Ökonomische Ethik / Economic Ethics

Roland Vaubel

ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 2007, vol. 58, issue 1, 109-120

Abstract: The contractarian approach is derived from utilitarianism, and its ethical implications are examined. At the level of the social contract, Buchanan’s and Harsanyi’s critique of Rawls is developed further. At the level of private transactions, it is shown that the homo oeconomicus does not only benefit others without intending it. Even his intentions are not purely selfish because he maximizes his utility under the legal and ethical restriction that he must not act against the interests of others whose contractual assent he needs. This “ethics of attentive selfishness” is compared with Christian, Jewish and philosophical ethics. The author argues that notably Kantian ethics - insistence on “the good will” and the “categorical imperative” (universalisability) - are incompatible with the ethics of the contractarian approach.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1515/ordo-2007-0110

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