[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpmh/0509002.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

When Being Virtuous Makes Sense: Bourgeois Ethics in the Golden Age vs. Embarrassment of the Bourgeoisie Today

Author

Listed:
  • Altug Yalcintas

    (Ankara University Turkey)

  • Arjo Klamer

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Abstract
Have you ever thought of virtues? Temperance, Courage, Justice, Hope, and Love, just to name a few. And, have you ever thought that they could have anything to do with economics? Economists have long ago separated the moral philosophy (ethics) and the science of choice (economics) from each other. They have supposed that economic transactions – producing goods, exchanging them in the market, and eventually consuming them – are entirely independent from the human condition. Deirdre McCloskey, a famous Chicago economist and historian, is now facing the issue in her forthcoming book: capitalism would turn into a disaster if we were to follow economists and put all our faith and hope on Prudence Alone. It can only be rescued if we are able to think capitalism in the light of “Bourgeois Virtues,” as she calls them. True, the name “bourgeoisie” has got a bad connotation in contemporary Holland. The situation is not so different in many other industrial societies. But it was the virtuous attitude of Dutch merchants in the 17th century that made Holland prosperous. Before reaching any conclusions we do better entering into the discussion with McCloskey and recover the language of virtues that will enable us to assess the moral conditions of modern economic societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Altug Yalcintas & Arjo Klamer, 2005. "When Being Virtuous Makes Sense: Bourgeois Ethics in the Golden Age vs. Embarrassment of the Bourgeoisie Today," Method and Hist of Econ Thought 0509002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpmh:0509002
    Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/mhet/papers/0509/0509002.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deirdre McCloskey, 2004. "The Bourgeois Virtues," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 5(3), pages 1-16, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hrotko, Timur, 2008. "Wash Corporate Heads! Business Practice can be Changed via the Dispositions of Executives: Re-socialization towards Implicit Eco-sustainability," MPRA Paper 9089, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 May 2008.
    2. Bart J. Wilson, 2012. "Contra Private Fairness," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 407-435, April.
    3. Michael Schwartz, 2009. "Moral Vision: Iris Murdoch and Alasdair MacIntyre," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 315-327, December.
    4. Boettke, Peter, 2012. "A behavioral approach to the political and economic inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 753-756.
    5. Colignatus, Thomas, 2008. "Review of Howard DeLong (1991), "A refutation of Arrow’s theorem", with a reaction, also on its relevance in 2008 for the European Union," MPRA Paper 9661, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Jul 2008.
    6. Christopher Coyne, 2009. "The politics and economics of global interventionism," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 181-191, June.
    7. Langlois, Richard N., 2013. "Business groups and the natural state," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 14-26.
    8. George Bragues, 2009. "Adam Smith’s Vision of the Ethical Manager," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(4), pages 447-460, December.
    9. D. Den Uyl, 2009. "Homo moralis," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 349-385, December.
    10. Walton Padelford & Darin White, 2009. "The Shaping of a Society’s Economic Ethos: A Longitudinal Study of Individuals’ Morality of Profit-Making Worldview," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(1), pages 67-75, March.
    11. James Alm & Benno Torgler, 2011. "Do Ethics Matter? Tax Compliance and Morality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(4), pages 635-651, July.
    12. Luuk Knippenberg & Edwin Jong, 2010. "Moralising the Market by Moralising the Firm," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 17-31, September.
    13. Grantham, George, 2013. "Reflections on the legacy of Gaidar," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, pages 7-37, February.
    14. Khalil, Elias, 2007. "The Mirror-Neuron Paradox: How Far is Sympathy from Compassion, Indulgence, and Adulation?," MPRA Paper 3509, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. David Lipka, 2013. "The Max U Approach: Prudence Only, or Not Even Prudence? A Smithian Perspective," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 10(1), pages 2-14, January.
    16. Andrea Migone, 2011. "Embedded markets: A dialogue between F.A. Hayek and Karl Polanyi," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 24(4), pages 355-381, December.
    17. McCloskey, Deirdre Nansen, 2009. "Bourgeois dignity and liberty: Why economics can’t explain the modern world," MPRA Paper 16805, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. McCloskey, Deirdre Nansen, 2006. "Thrift as a Virtue, Historically Criticized," MPRA Paper 4088, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    bourgeois virtues; virtue ethics; Simon Schama; Deirdre McCloskey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N - Economic History

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpmh:0509002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: EconWPA (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.