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Contractarian Foundations of Order Ethics

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Order Ethics: An Ethical Framework for the Social Market Economy

Abstract

This article discusses two major approaches to business ethics which rest on the foundation of social contract theory: The contractualist position of Integrative Social Contract Theory (ISCT) and the contractarian position of Order Ethics. Both are summarized and analysed critically. It turns out that Order Ethics might remedy some defects of ISCT.

This chapter reproduces material that has previously been published in C. Luetge, “The Idea of a Contractarian Business Ethics”, in: C. Luetge (ed.), The Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics, Dordrecht: Springer 2013, 647–658. We thank Springer Science+Business Media B.V. for their permission to reproduce it here.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interestingly, Buchanan already applied simple capital and investment theory to morals (Buchanan 2000: 159).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Business Ethics, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Christoph Luetge

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  1. Christoph Luetge
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Correspondence to Christoph Luetge .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Peter Löscher Chair of Business Eth, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Christoph Luetge

  2. München, Bayern, Germany

    Nikil Mukerji

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Luetge, C. (2016). Contractarian Foundations of Order Ethics. In: Luetge, C., Mukerji, N. (eds) Order Ethics: An Ethical Framework for the Social Market Economy . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33151-5_1

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