Ethics Case Study Part 4 (UPSC/IAS)

Ethics Case Study >>> We live in a time when almost everything can be bought and sold. Over the past few years, markets and market values have come to govern our lives as never before. Today the logic of buying and selling no longer applies to material good alone but increasingly governs the whole of life. However, there is a wide spread realization that markets have become detached from morals and we need to somehow reconnect them. The use of markets to allocate social goods has also been a cause of concern. In this context, answer the following:

(a) Is greed wholly a vice or a trait of character that has both positive and negative sides? Could you relate it to the utilitarian philosophy that emphasizes pursuit of self interest by individuals as the basis of economic well being?

(b) Are there some things that money shouldn’t buy? Illustrate with examples.

Approach

• Write a brief introduction about market and market values
• Discuss how greed is perceived as a vice, elaborating it negative shades
• As a trait of character, discuss how greed can have a few positive shades
• Discuss greed as a pursuit of self-interest, in context of utilitarian philosophy
• To answer part (b) of the question, explain how money shouldn’t be able to buy everything and provide a reasoning which should be applied before applying market values
• Conclude

Answer

(a) Markets and market thinking have enjoyed unrivaled prestige in last few decades because no other mechanism for organizing the production and distribution of goods has proved as successful at generating affluence and prosperity. However, the pervasive nature of market values in every aspect of life has raised economic as well as moral concerns. (a) Greed has been defined as an intense and selfish desire for something, such as power and wealth, usually more than what one really needs. Greed is a vice as it has proven to be a cause of many ills, even wars and crimes against humanity. Still, many free market economists argue that though greed has a negative connotation, it has many positive aspects such as:

Without greed, a person, community, or society may lack the motivation to build or achieve, move or change—and may also be rendered more vulnerable to the greed of others.

It creates competition among individuals as well as firms to aspire to be the best

However, there are good reasons for which greed is commonly understood as one of the Seven Deadly vices. This is so because it brings discontentment, saps limited resources, favors those with power and influence and deprives the others. It may lead to irresponsible risk-taking and undermines trust in the society, with following consequences:

Inequality: In a society, where everything is for sale, life is harder for those of modest means. As money comes to buy more political influence, good medical care, safe neighborhood, access to good education, the distribution of income becomes more uneven.

Corruption: Putting a price on the good things in life can corrupt them because of corrosive tendencies of markets. Markets don’t only allocate goods; they also express and promote certain attitudes towards the goods being exchanged. For example, auctioning seats in colleges to highest bidder might raise revenue but erodes the integrity of the college and the value of its degree.

Economic crises: The greed of market led to financial crisis of 2008 and there is looming risk of similar crises in future.

Greed in the context of Utilitarian Philosophy:

Utilitarian philosophy hinges on the argument of maximizing social utility. As free market allocates goods to the buyers who value them most and are most willing to pay, it improves economic efficiency and collective well-being.

However, the pursuit of legitimate self-interest has been harmful in the past few decades. The gap between rich and poor has been worsening, the world is more prone to financial crisis and greed has led to environmental destruction among various other issues.

Thus, there are flaws in this reasoning and greed clearly leads to irresponsible risk taking and undermines critical element of trust in the society.

(b) Though in respect of individual freedom, people should be free to buy and sell whatever they please as long as they do not violate basic rights of others. Yet, markets should have moral limitations and money shouldn’t be able to buy everything. Certain values should govern the various domains of social and civic life and not all goods can be valued in terms of profit and gain. For example, earlier human beings were treated as commodities, as part of slave trade. Such treatment failed to value human beings in the appropriate way, as persons worthy of dignity and respect.

For many things there is a strong realization that, it is not for sale. For example, citizens are not allowed to sell their votes because of the belief that civic duties should be viewed as public responsibility and not as a private property. Similar arguments can be used for various other things. Some of them are:

• proliferation of for-profit schools, hospitals
• marketing of designer eggs and sperms for assisted reproduction
• outsourcing of pregnancy to surrogate mothers
• buying and selling by companies and countries, of the right to pollute
• system of campaign finance that come close to permitting the buying and selling of elections
• Use of guinea pig in drug safety trial with higher pay for more invasive procedures.
• Flesh trade

Without being realized, the market economy has transformed into a market society in which human beings are reduced to commodities. The difference is that a market economy is a tool for organizing productive activity whereas a market society is a way of life in which material market values seep into every aspect of human endeavor. Hence, there is a need to have a debate in contemporary politics about the role and reach of markets based not only on economic consideration but also on moral reasoning.

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