Economics as a Moral Science

Moral Reasoning in Economics

Economics and Moral Sentiments: The Case of Moral Hazard

The purpose of this paper is to develop the argument that sentiments (including moral sentiments) are endemic to the building of knowledge about the economy, as well as the functioning of the economy itself. This contrasts with the mainstream treatment of sentiment as separable from rationality, such that it is seen (if at all) as requiring an ex post modification of rational choice theory. The...

When Science Replaces Religion: Science as a Secular Authority Bolsters Moral Sensitivity

Scientific and religious thinking compete with each other on several levels. For example, activating one generally weakens the other. Since priming religion is known to increase moral behaviour and moral sensitivity, priming science might be expected to have the opposite effect. However, it was recently demonstrated that, on the contrary, science priming increases moral sensitivity as well. The...

The Darwinian cage: Evolutionary psychology as moral science

Economics and Cognitive Science

I The neo-classical approach to analyzing the performance of an economy assumes that in the face of pervasive scarcity individuals make choices reflecting a set of desires, wants or preferences. The theory is derived from the aggregation of those preferences in the context of fixed resources, private goods, and given technology. (Schofield, 1995, p 192) The result has been a powerful set of too...