Economics and the Virtues

Jennifer A. Baker is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the College of Charleston. She has published over a dozen articles and chapters on ethics, with a particular focus on practical-rationality based accounts of virtue. Her most recent publications are 'Visible Hands: The Justification of the Market and Moral Agency', 'Children's Agency, Interests, and Medical Consent', 'Virtue Ethics and Practical Guidance', and 'Who's Afraid of a Final End? The Omission of Traditional Practical Rationality from Contemporary Virtue Ethics.'Mark D. White is Chair and Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, where he teaches courses in philosophy, law, and economics. He is the author of four books, including Kantian Ethics and Economics: Autonomy, Dignity, and Character (Stanford University Press) and The Illusion of Well-Being: Economic Policymaking Based on Respect and Responsiveness (Palgrave Macmillan), as well as over 50 journal articles and book chapters. He has also edited or coedited a number of books, including The Thief of Time: Philosophical Essays on Procrastination (with Chrisoula Andreou) and Retributivism: Essays on Theory and Policy (both from Oxford University Press).

• PART I: APPROACHES TO VIRTUE AND ECONOMICS; PART II: VIRTUE AND ECONOMICS IN THEORY; PART III: VIRTUE AND ECONOMICS IN PRACTICE

What kinds of habits to markets engender? Does capitalism corrupt, or does it promote trust, cooperation, and the development of human excellance? Can economists really make sense of human behaviour without paying attention to questions of character? Jennifer A.Baker and Mark D.White's fascinating volume assembles a wide-raning roster of scholars who lay out the best current thinking on these questions in erudite yet readable prose. It turns out that economists do have much to learn from the rich moral psychology of Aristotle, the Stoics, Adam Smith, and Kant. It turns out that markets aren't so bad for the soul. This is an indispensable collection for anyone interested in moral psychology, economic theory, or the morality of markets.