Homo Œconomicus, Social Order, and the Ethics of Otherness

Abstract

Economics is often believed to be a 'value-free' discipline, and even an `a-moral' one. My aim is to demonstrate that homo œconomicus can recover his ethical nature if the philosophical roots of contemporary economics are laid bare. This, however, requires us to look for an alternative foundation for the idea of 'social order,' a foundation which economics (and also part of sociology) is ill-equipped to provide because of its exclusive focus on calculative rationality. But a new ethical perspective on homo œconomicus and on the manner in which he chooses his actions is possible. My aim here is to make this new perspective explicit.