V.S. Solovyov on the Correlation between Economy and Morality: Modern Aspects

Abstract

The processes of the development of a market economy, entailing the commercialization in all spheres of social life, raise the question of the correlation between the role of human beings as economic subjects and our role as moral beings. In economics, this this issue is associated with the discussion about the way norms pervade economic theory, expressed in the dichotomy between holistic and individualistic methods. The scope of the influence of governmental bodies and large corporate structures on the socio-economic, cultural and natural environment highlights the philosophical problem of applying moral criteria to collective economic actors, which is reflected in the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The author, in this paper, opines that the question of introducing ethical principles into economic practice cannot be entirely resolved within the framework of economic theory and requires an appeal to moral philosophy. The problem of the correlation between the economic and the moral spheres is considered on the basis of V.S. Solovyov’s work “The Justification of the Good”. The principal economic ideas stated in this work are discussed in the context of assessments by past and present researchers, of economic history, and of philosophical and economic-managerial conceptions. The author presents a comparative analysis of V.S. Solovyov’s ideas about the correlation between economics and morality and the principal ideas behind corporate social responsibility. The author reveals axiological and teleological differences between the two conceptions. Whereas V.S. Solovyov deals with moral and religious categories and notions of progress, the concept of corporate social responsibility is based on economic and legal priorities and is focused on sustainable development. At the same time, the similarities identified between the concepts (such as their complex nature, the acknowledgement of the role of moral principles of the economic participants, the importance of environmental issues and legal regulators) lead us to conclude about the possibility of their further convergence and the surmounting of the limitations of corporate social responsibility based on the teachings of V.S. Solovyov.