Economic Good as Indifferent
Economic Good as Indifferent
The Stoics’ Radical Approach
Most approaches to ethics and economics today are “Aristotelian” in methodology. Although he had a psychological account of virtue to which to refer, Aristotle largely analyzed economics in terms of market norms and general social good. This chapter argues for the radical proposal of the Stoics. It suggests that we need, in addition to an account of virtue, a tool for considering the role markets play in our lives—and only the Stoics provide us with the right kind of theoretical tool in their virtue ethic. The key to their agility with ethics and the market is their theoretical approach to economic goods. They term economic goods “indifferents” and the benefits from making this distinction enable us to talk about ethics and economics without confusing the two.
Keywords: virtue, Stoics, Aristotle, economics, market norms, ethics, economic good, indifferents
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