The Ethical Framework of Individual Action

Abstract

Mises arguments are centred on the acceptance of capitalism because of its monetary consequences. But he does not deal with the relation between ethics and the market. We will centre in the way to link Mises’ theory of human action with the classic Aristotelian ethical theory. The social system of assigning goods is structured in norms. These norms allow basic and derivative needs to be provided for. The system puts in the actor’s reach a host of desirable objects within the type of person that society regards as best. Thus the elements forming ethics as a system appear: norms, goods and virtues. Recovering the Aristotelian ethical framework will show that ethics as a regulator of action has components that act on each of the elements analysed. If an analysis of human reality has led us to recognize that a person is being-with, i.e. that her living dynamism is in essence social and cultural, ethics as a system of goods, norms and virtues will integrate the whole system, giving it cohesion. Each one exercises control over each action-originating system. Norms and goods evaluate the social and cultural system jointly. Virtues exercise control over the individual.