Reflections on discounting: some philosophical remarks

Konrad Ott

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2003, vol. 6, issue 1, 7-24

Abstract: This paper touches on some crucial ethical topics that are embedded in the economic technique of discounting. It is structured as follows. After a brief introduction, the notion of reflection is clarified in order to make room for a certain perspective from which the economic practice of discounting might be judged appropriately. Some distinctions are drawn, and some common patterns of argument are outlined, which might be helpful for further debate. At the end of the paper, some proposals for modifications, weighings and adjustments of discounting are mentioned. Finally, an argument why discounting should be replaced by discourse-oriented assessments is set out.

Keywords: colonisation of the lifeworld; discounting; ethical justification; practical reason. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=4221 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijsusd:v:6:y:2003:i:1:p:7-24

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Sustainable Development from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().