Religion, Ethics, the Economy and Economics

• Published in: Journal of institutional and theoretical economics Vol. 153; no. 1; pp. 182 - 206
• Main Author: Herms, Eilert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tübingen Mohr Siebeck 01.03.1997; Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen; Mohr
• Series: Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE)
• Subjects: Christian ethics; Economic systems; Economic theory; Economics; Ethics; Human life; Human nature; Humans; Moral judgment; Religion; Religious ethics; Scientific ethics; Social interaction; Social theory
• ISSN: 0932-4569

The paper proposes a concept of "ethos" (conceived as a system of interaction covering the whole range of the essential functions of a society and shaped from within by convictions concerning the origin, the constitution and the destiny of reality and of human life within it), "religion," "the economy" and "economics" (conceived as three different subsystems of any ethos). As a theory of "ethos," "ethics" is primarily descriptive, both on a conceptual and on an empirical level. But on this basis, ethics is able to pass value judgements on the preferability of interaction in every sphere of any given ethos, because its descriptive work encompasses the basic orientation of ethos by religion or Weltanschauung. The concept of "ethos" in itself is no result of observation and empirical research. On the contrary, it guides observation and theory-building. It is gained through reflection on the universal traits of the conditio humana. Thus, in short, ethics is the conceptual meta-theory of interactional life in general. It determines the proper locus of science, including economics, within the whole system of interactional life as well as its own proper locus: the conceptual elaboration and application of the general view of human existence which as the content of religion or Weltanschauung shapes any ethos from within.