Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Poisoning The Well, Or How Economic Theory Damages, Julie A. Nelson

Julie A. Nelson

Contemporary mainstream economics has widely “poisoned the well” from which people get their ideas about the relationship between economics and ethics. The image of economic life as inherently characterized by self-interest, utility- and profitmaximization, and mechanical controllability has caused many businesspeople, judges, sociologists, philosophers, policymakers, critics of economics, and the public at large to come to tolerate greed and opportunism, or even to expect or encourage them. This essay raises and discusses a number of counterarguments that might be made to the charge that current dominant professional practice is having negative ethical effects, as well as discussing some examples of …

Desire And Ethics, Ian M. Buchanan

Ian M Buchanan

This paper argues that it is problematic for the future of Deleuze studies that it is difficult if not impossible to answer the question `what is the right thing to do?' from a Deleuzian perspective. It then argues that one of the key reasons Deleuze studies has made limited progress in this area is its over-emphasis on desire and the corresponding tendency to extrapolate 'ought' from 'is', which as Hume showed is a category mistake. It proposes that to develop a workable ethical discourse from Deleuze's work we need to rethink how we read his work and approach it afresh.

The Unbordered Borders, Winston Langley

Winston E. Langley

Many have taken on the task of purportedly advancing the cause of human rights by abstractly reciting them and clamoring for their implementation. Some speak about one’s right to free speech and democracy, for example, with a convenient forgetting of the right to education, which can promote the type of dialogical encounter that is sponsoring of liberatory, integrative construction and reconstruction of self and human societies. Others champion the right to freedom, but not the right to food, careless of the fact that the hungry are un-free, left as they are to the crushing dictates of their bellies; and still …

Broom Closet Or Fish Bowl? An Ethnographic Exploration Of A University Queer Center And Oneself, Eric D. Teman Ph.D., Maria K. Lahman Ph.D.

Eric D Teman, J.D., Ph.D.

Integrity For The Common Good: The Missing Link Between Neo-Liberalists And The ‘Occupy’ Discontents, Marco Tavanti

Marco Tavanti

This study analyzes the differences between the neoliberalist and the Keynesian perspectives used in the debates emerged from the current economic crisis. The common good ethics is presented as a paradigm for recuperating the social, human and moral responsibilities of economic development. The assumption is that neoliberal economic models have produced prosperity but also technocracy, inequality and discontent. Through the examination of the principles of solidarity, subsidiarity, sustainability and synchronicity used in Catholic Social Teaching, the author introduces an integrated model for ethical decision-making beyond ideological divisions and for the common good.