The Values of Economics: An Aristotelian Perspective

Economics has often been accused or losing its connection to some of the basic characteristics of human behaviour: commitment, emotion, deliberation and the different forms of interaction through which human actors in economic life provide for themselves and for others. Irene van Staveren draws upon the work of Aristotle and Amartya Sen's notions of capability and commitment, to propose an alternative methodology to utilitarianism that is not normative. In his "Ethics", Aristotle argued that human beings try to further a variety of values by balancing them, stating that people try to find a middle road between excess and deficiency. The author develops and applies this idea to the values of economics, arguing that in the economy, freedom, justice and care are also balanced to further ends with scarce means. Freedom is furthered through market exchange, justice through a redistributive role of the state, and care through mutual gifts of labour and sharing of resources in the economy.