Some Explorations in the Twilight Zone Between Economics and Ethics

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Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology

ISSN: 0743-4154
Series editor(s): Professor Jeff Biddle, Professor Ross Emmett, Marianne Johnson

Subject Area: Economics

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Document Information:
Title:	Some Explorations in the Twilight Zone Between Economics and Ethics
Author(s):	Ross B. Emmett
Volume:	29 Editor(s): Ross B. Emmett ISBN: 978-1-78052-008-7 eISBN: 978-1-78052-009-4
Citation:	Ross B. Emmett (2011), Some Explorations in the Twilight Zone Between Economics and Ethics, in Ross B. Emmett (ed.) Frank H. Knight in Iowa City, 1919–1928 (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Volume 29), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.263-284
DOI:	10.1108/S0743-4154(2011)000029B025 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Extract:	Students of the social sciences do not need to be reminded that one of the leading modern schools of ethics has been made up chiefly of economists. I refer of course to the utilitarian school. Utilitarianism, or economic ethics, is the type of ethical theory which has been predominant in the past century and a half – the “modern era” if we date from the great overturn in social theory brought in by the Enlightenment and the American and French Revolutions. If its predominance in literary and academic discussion may possibly be questioned, its predominance in the thought and actions of statesmen, law-givers, publicists, and reformers certainly cannot be. A brief consideration of the utilitarian ethics will form the starting point for my argument.