Economics and the virtues : building a new moral foundation

280 Pages·2016·1.284 MB·English

by  Baker, Jennifer A., White, Mark D

ECONOMICS AND THE VIRTUES

Economics and
the Virtues
Building a New Moral Foundation
Editedby
JENNIFER A. BAKER
and
MARK D. WHITE
1
3
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Acknowledgments
Our first and deepest thanks go to Adam Swallow and Terry Vaughn at
Oxford University Press, both of whom supported this project from the
beginning, solicited enough reviewers to put Aristotle’s golden mean to the
test, and made our proposal much better in the process. We commend
theseeditorsaswellasOxfordUniversityPressfortheircontinueddedication
to edited collections and the conversations and collaborations that flourish
becauseofthem.
We think of Deirdre McCloskey as a guardian angel over this project, and
herownworkisatremendousstimulustoallthatfollows.Also,herscribbled
notestouswhilewepresentedourworkalongsideheratconferencesproved
invaluabletoourownthinking,asdidherunfailingencouragement.Jonathan
WightandThomBrookswerealsoverysupportivethroughoutthelifeofthe
project,asweresomanyothersinourprofessionalandpersonalcircles.
We would like to thank the International Network for Economic Method
and the Allied Social Science Associations for hosting a conference session
featuring early versions of several chapters in this volume; it was after that
session that we first approached Oxford about a volume on economics and
virtue. We would also like to thank the American Association for the Philo-
sophicStudyofSocietyforhostinganotherconferencesessionfeaturingsome
early work on the book at the Eastern Division meetings of the American
PhilosophicalAssociation.
Finally,wewouldverymuchliketoexpressourcontinuedgratitudetoour
authors. We were delighted when they agreed to write for us and were even
more delighted to read what they wrote. They produced work that, frankly,
dazzled us—and this, despite us having no small estimation of their talents
in advance. So thank you, Michael Baurmann, Christian Becker, Geoffrey
Brennan, Jason Brennan, Ginny Choi, Tim O’Keefe, Jim Otteson, David
Rose, Eric Schliesser, Virgil Storr, Christine Swanton, and Andrew Yuengert.
Itisyoureffortshereandingeneralwhichhelpilluminatesomuchthatwould
otherwiseremainhidden.

Table of Contents
Contributors ix
Introduction 1
JenniferA.BakerandMarkD.White
PART I: APPROACHES TO VIRTUE AND ECONOMICS
1. AristotelianVirtueEthicsandEconomicRationality 9
ChristianU.Becker
2. TheEpicureansonHappiness,Wealth,andtheDeviantCraft
ofPropertyManagement 37
TimO’Keefe
3. EconomicGoodasIndifferent:TheStoics’RadicalApproach 53
JenniferA.Baker
4. AdamSmithonVirtue,Prosperity,andJustice 72
JamesR.Otteson
5. TheVirtuesofaKantianEconomics 94
MarkD.White
PART II: VIRTUE AND ECONOMICS IN THEORY
6. OnVirtueEconomics 119
MichaelBaurmannandGeoffreyBrennan
7. TheSeparationofEconomicsfromVirtue:
AHistorical–ConceptualIntroduction 141
EricSchliesser
8. TheSpaceBetweenChoiceandOurModelsofIt:Practical
WisdomandNormativeEconomics 165
AndrewM.Yuengert
PART III: VIRTUE AND ECONOMICS IN PRACTICE
9. VirtuesofProductivityversusTechnicistRationality 185
ChristineSwanton
viii TableofContents
10. VirtuesasSocialCapital 202
DavidC.Rose
11. CanTrust,Reciprocity,andFriendshipsSurviveContact
withtheMarket? 217
Seung(Ginny)ChoiandVirgilHenryStorr
12. DoMarketsCorrupt? 236
JasonBrennan
Index 257
Contributors
Jennifer A. Baker is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the College of
Charleston.Sheattemptstoupdateancientvirtueethicsforusetoday.Though
most of her work is in ethical theory, her publications on how virtue can be
related to economics include “Visible Hands: The Justification of the Market
and Moral Agency” in Of Sympathy and Selfishness: The Moral and Political
Philosophy of Adam Smith (Charlotte C.S. Thomas (ed.), Mercer University
Press);“VirtueEthicsandPracticalGuidance”inSocialPhilosophyandPolicy
(2013);“Don’tLettheBestBetheEnemyoftheGood:AStoicDefenseofthe
Market,” in Accepting the Invisible Hand (Mark D. White (ed.), Palgrave,
2010);and“VirtueandBehavior”inReviewofSocialEconomy(2009).
Michael Baurmann studied sociology, philosophy, and law. After being
assistant professor and lecturer at the faculties of law at the Universities of
Frankfurt and Mainz, he was appointed to a chair for sociology at the
University of Düsseldorf in 1997. He has been visiting professor in Australia
(ANU), Mexico (ITAM), and the United States (New York University), and
wasseniorresearchfellowattheAlfriedKruppWissenschaftskolleginGreifs-
waldintheyears2009/2010and2013.Hismainresearchinterestsaregeneral
theory of sociology, rational choice theory, the role of morality in modern
marketsocieties,andthesocietalpreconditionsofliberalsocietiesandtherule
of law. Recently he has been working on a theory explaining fundamentalist
beliefswithintheframeworkofrationalactortheoryandsocialepistemology.
Since 2014 he has been a member in a research project dealing with citizen
participation via internet tools. He has been co-editor of Analyse & Kritik:
JournalforSocialTheoryfor30years.
ChristianU.Beckerstudiedmathematics,economics,Germanliterature,and
philosophy in Germany. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from Heidelberg
University (2003) and his Habilitation in philosophy from Kaiserslautern
University (2010). Since 2013, he has been a faculty member at the College
of Business at Colorado State University. His primary research and teaching
interestsareintheoreticalandappliedethics,thehistoryofeconomicthought,
philosophyofeconomics,environmentalphilosophy,andsustainabilitystud-
ies. He is the author of Nature and Economics in Romanticism (Metropolis,
2003, in German) and Sustainability Ethics and Sustainability Research
(Springer, 2012). He has published various papers on philosophical and
economic topics in journals such as Archives for Philosophy of Law and
Social Philosophy; Ecological Economics; Ethics, Policy, and Environment;