Ethics As Social Science
Subtitle: The Moral Philosophy of Social Cooperation (New Thinking in Political Economy)
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing; Edward Elgar
Published: February 2001
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9781840645217
Subjects: Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Political economy; Social Sciences; Philosophy; Business / Economics / Finance; General; Social Science; Reference; Political; Economics; Moral and ethical aspects; Utilitarianism
Description: "With this new book, esteemed economist Leland B. Yeager grounds moral and political philosophy in the requirements of a well-functioning society, one whose members reap the gains from peaceful cooperation while pursuing their own diverse goals."

"The book explores the reasons an individual may have for helping to uphold such a society rather than seeking a free ride on the moral behavior of others. A work in the tradition of Hume, Smith, Mill, von Mises, Hayek and Hazlitt, it expounds a rules or indirect version of utilitarianism. It reviews criticisms of utilitarianism in detail, as well as alternative grounds of ethics including contractarianism, rights-based doctrines, and appeals to specific intuitions. Yeager brings the insights of economics to bear on a field usually dominated by philosophers and theologians. Ethics come across as a subject amply open to the findings of economics and the other social and natural sciences."

"Economists, philosophers and other students and scholars of the social sciences will welcome this book. It will also appeal to any reader interested in exploring the ideas of ethics."--Jacket.