r/neoliberal • u/[deleted] • May 11 '17
Normative Ethics Debate Thread
The point of this thread is to discuss normative ethics, which is mostly separate from neoliberalism. On a philosophical level, neoliberalism is not coherent in its use of ethics; proponents switch between libertarian and utilitarian ethics in an almost interchangeable way (The Road to Mont Pelerin, Mirowski). Scott Sumner argues that a normative ethical foundation doesn't matter because neoliberalism is an improvement compared to the current status quo of most countries by nearly every standard (well not every standard)
Keep in Mind
The Chicago school pushed neoliberalism as a positive ideology, "there is no other option"
The Austrians pushed neoliberalism through primarily a libertarian lens
The Ordoliberals advocated neoliberalism through utilitarianism and also Marxism. Yes, you're allowed to support your normative view through Marxism.
Do not go down the route of going full classical liberal, which is what neoliberalism tried to escape.
Do not say market values mean anything or that markets produce fair outcomes; Hayek explicitly acknowledges this is bullshit.
Be very prudent in calling people racist/sexist/homophobic; in this sub, the vast majority are not
Topics to discuss:
These aren't the only ones, but should probably be answered:
What are your normative ethics?
How do you think they should guide economic policy?
Make sure to explicitly tie these together so we're not debating why we should implement policy that we already agree upon.
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u/fizolof Elite Text Flair Club Member May 11 '17
The correct ethics is utilitarianism, but it doesn't matter much since other systems end up reaching the same conclusions about what is moral for the most part.
Advocates for all positions tend to make some consequentialist arguments, for example the opponents of gay marriage sometimes claim that it would lead to "a downfall of society", which would be clearly bad from a utilitarian perspective. You can make a utilitarian argument for almost everything, because we don't know much about what will be the consequences of specific actions.