The Three Economic Enlightenments

Old-New Lessons for Business Ethics
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-009-62094-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 225 Seiten

When people wonder about the appropriate course of action in a given situation, they are already engaging in moral reasoning. This also applies to the field of business, where an understanding of ethics could help businesspeople and market participants make morally informed decisions. This book aims to enlarge the body of ethical theories available in Business Ethics by illustrating three moral principles relevant to economic agents based on the ideas of Immanuel Kant, Antonio Genovesi, and Adam Smith. All three authors were prominent figures in the eighteenth-century European Enlightenment movement and have much to teach us about the origins of modern economics. Additionally, the book provides specific examples relating to contemporary business situations, focusing on the ethical challenges posed by incomplete contracts. Overall, this book demonstrates that the historical evolution of economic and philosophical concepts remains pertinent to current dialogues in Business Ethics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Santori, Paolo

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; Part I. Political Economy, Civil Economy, Moral Economy: 2. Genovesi, Kant, and Smith; 3. The three economic enlightenments; Part II. Application: 4. A contractor under the rain; 5. Unreliable questionnaires; 6. Armed banks; 7. Conclusion: the fourth economic enlightenment.

Über Autor(innen)

Santori, Paolo
Paolo Santori is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Tilburg University, the Netherlands and the Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Economy of Francesco Foundation. He is the author of Thomas Aquinas and The Civil Economy Tradition (2021) and several articles in scientific journals.