Integrative Economic Ethics: Foundations Of A Civilized Mark

Description:
Integrative Economic Ethics is a highly original work that progresses through a series of rational and philosophical arguments to address foundational issues concerning the relationship between ethics and the market economy. Rather than accepting market competition as a driver of ethical behaviour, the author shows that modern economies need to develop ethical principles that guide market competition, thus moving business ethics into the realms of political theory and civic rationality. This book was in its fourth edition in the original German in 2008, this English translation of Peter Ulrich's development of a fresh integrative approach to economic ethics will be of interest to all scholars and advanced students of business ethics, economics, and social and political philosophy.

Review:
Review of the hardback: 'Peter Ulrich's book, Integrative Economic Ethics, is most timely and prescient. The field of economics has sometimes imagined itself as a science governed by pure rationality. Yet economics has to do with human relationships that create, sustain, or destroy markets. As such, economics is inherently normative. Ulrich's focus on economic ethics addresses this concept critically and directly. This book firmly closes the alleged gap between economics and ethics by questioning that separation in the literature and by presenting sustained arguments for the concept of economic ethics.' Patricia Werhane, Ruffin Professor of Business Ethics, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia

Table of Contents:
List of figures; Preface; Translator's note; Introduction: orientation in economic-ethical thinking; Part I. Fundamental Concepts of Modern Ethics and the Approach of Integrative Economic Ethics: 1. The phenomenon of human morality: the normative logic of interpersonal relations; 2. The moral point of view: philosophical developmental lines of rational ethics; 3. Morality and economic rationality: integrative economic ethics as the rational ethics of economic activity; Part II. Reflections on the Foundations of Economic Ethics I: A Critique of Economism: 4. 'Inherent necessity' of competition? A critique of economic determinism; 5. 'Morality' of the market? A critique of economic reductionism; Part III. Reflections on the Foundations of Economic Ethics II: Rational Economic Activity and the Lifeworld: 6. The question of meaning: economic activity and the good life; 7. The question of legitimation: economic activity and the just social life; Part IV. A Topology of Economic Ethics: The 'Sites' of Morality in Economic Life: 8. Economic citizens' ethics; 9. Regulatory ethics; 10. Corporate ethics; Bibliography; Indexes.

Author Biography:
Peter Ulrich is Full Professor of Economic and Business Ethics and Director of the Institute for Business Ethics at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland.