Moral Fndations of Market Soc

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Are markets good or bad? How free should markets be? What good are economic and commercial liberties, and how strong should those liberties be? Is capitalism an impediment to social justice, or could capitalism be a way of achieving social justice? Is it possible for a society to be free, prosperous, and fair? Is market society cooperative and peaceful or competitive and exploitative? Do markets promote or undermine community and virtue? This course is meant to introduce you to moral and political philosophy by focusing on a particular set of questions about capitalism, market institutions, and the ethics of wealth creation. We will start by asking what moral reasoning is, examine some common moral and political theories, and ask what counts as a sound ethical reasoning and what it takes to justify moral beliefs. We will evaluate the institutions of the market using the tools of ethics, political philosophy, economics, history, and political science. We will investigate issues concerning the nature of money and prices, the role of the division of labor, business ethics, commerce and entrepreneurship, overconsumption and overpopulation, exploitation and alienation, the relationship between wealth and happiness, the motivations of market actors, the rule of law, liberty and market society, rent-seeking and corporate welfare, and more. We will read and discuss evaluations of markets from multiple ideological perspectives: socialist, communitarian, left-liberal, classical liberal, libertarian, and conservative.