Economists have tended to assess choices by their contribution to a single good, often pleasure or preference-satisfaction. I discuss how some values can be relevant to social and political choices, ie education, the free market, etc.
Plural Goods
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Economists have tended to assess choices by their contribution to a single good, often pleasure or preference-satisfaction. I will briefly defend a more pluralistic view of an individual's good, valuing in particular pleasure, knowledge, achievement, and moral virtue. I will then discuss how the last three values, the perfectionist ones, can be relevant to social and political choices, for example about education, the free market, and social assistance.
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Many people and countries are now beginning to evaluate the success of their lives or society not purely in terms of money or gross domestic product. The currency of traditional economics - preference satisfaction - has fallen into question as an ethical value. The global financial crisis is seen by many as a failure of capitalism. Some countries have proposed a Gross Happiness Index to replace GDP as the measure of the productivity of a country. What is of intrinsic value in human lives?...
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