Abstract
In this chapter, the formation of ethical capital is discussed. I begin by using Michel Foucault’s work on the formation of ethical subjectivity. I do so to elaborate on his idea that people can resist power through ethics, particularly through the care-knowledge nexus that sustains ethical living. I then propose to consider the ethical subject as someone who has built up ethical capital through which it becomes possible to attain independence from the power of others. Ethical capital is presented as a form of accumulation of ethical capabilities that might have started early in life. Accordingly, I suggest that birth represents the start-up of a personal enterprise from which ethical capabilities can be expanded. Ethical capabilities, although influenced by human ethical dispositions, cannot survive on their own. Hence, I further argue that ethical capabilities are the product of upbringing, education, and socialization. To make this latter point I use Carol Gilligan’s work on care. Ethical capabilities are continually improved to attain an ethical status. By being the result of human activity, ethical capital is exposed to risks and can be lost. Attempts to keep ethical capital unchanged might inadvertently lead to a decrease in a person’s overall ethical wealth. Ultimately, personal ethical capital can be protected by incessantly growing it.
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- 1.
By this I do not mean that all people’s activities are continuously checked in terms of their ethical content. In fact, reading a publicly available newspaper or book, for example, implies no ethical consideration. Similarly, people do no continue to check the level of their knowledge.
- 2.
Particularly Madness and Civilization ([1961] 2006), The Birth of the Clinic ([1963] 1973), The Order of Things ([1966] 1970), and Discipline and Punish (1977).
- 3.
Particularly in the History of Sexuality Volume 1 (1979), Volume 2 (1986), and Volume 3 (1990).
- 4.
Birth marks the beginning of a person, a juridical subject protected by the law. And although that person is not independent from the authority of parents or guardians until the age of 18, even as a half-person a young child and an adolescent are equipped with independent rights that no one can remove. The human being who exists from the moment of conception has not the same rights.
- 5.
She particularly singled out the work of Lawrence Kohlberg (1963, 1969, 1981).
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Betta, M. (2016). Ethical Capital. In: Ethicmentality - Ethics in Capitalist Economy, Business, and Society. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 45. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7590-8_7
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