Individual versus regulatory ethics: an economic-ethical and theoretical-historical analysis of german neoliberalism

  • Following Foucault's analysis of German Neoliberalism (Ordoliberalism) and his thesis of ambiguity, this paper introduces a two-level distinction between individual and regulatory ethics. In particular, its aim is to reassess the importance of individual ethics in the conceptual framework of Ordoliberalism. The individual ethics of Ordoliberalism is based on the heritage of Judeo-Christian values and the Kantian individual liberty and responsibility. The regulatory or formal-institutional ethics of Ordoliberalism which has so far received most attention on the contrary refers to the institutional and legal framework of a socio-economic order. By distinguishing these two dimensions of ethics incorporated in German Neoliberalism, it is feasible to distinguish different varieties of neoliberalism and to link Ordoliberalism to modern economic ethics.

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Author:Manuel Wörsdörfer
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-332845
URL:http://ssrn.com/abstract=2354439
Document Type:Report
Language:English
Year of Completion:2013
Year of first Publication:2013
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2014/03/19
Tag:Freiburg School of Economics; Individual Ethics; Michel Foucault; Neoliberalism; Ordoliberalism; Regulatory Ethics
Page Number:28
First Page:1
Last Page:28
Note:
Forthcoming in: OEconomia. History, Methodology, Philosophy Vol. III-4-2013.
HeBIS-PPN:339987170
Institutes:Wirtschaftswissenschaften / Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Exzellenzcluster / Exzellenzcluster Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft
3 Sozialwissenschaften / 34 Recht / 340 Recht
JEL-Classification:B History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches (Updated!) / B2 History of Economic Thought since 1925
B History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches (Updated!) / B2 History of Economic Thought since 1925 / B25 Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian
B History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches (Updated!) / B3 History of Thought: Individuals
B History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches (Updated!) / B5 Current Heterodox Approaches / B52 Institutional; Evolutionary
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht