Why Economics is a Moral Science

This chapter addresses the role our moral preferences play in our choices. Specifically, what is the relation between economics and moral science? At first sight, there seems to be a sharp contrast between the way human beings make moral choices and the way in which homo oeconomicus makes individual choices. The former is meant to be made from behind the veil of ignorance or with the objectivity of impartial spectator and is subject to contestation, whereas the latter is a person's personal preference and not a matter of contestation. However, there are connections between ethical preferences behind the veil of ignorance and personal preferences. The chapter then shows how our ethical preferences can affect our personal preferences and choices. By this intertwining of ethical and personal choices, it focuses on some of the earliest concerns of economics and tries to rehabilitate economics as a moral science.