SubjectsSubjects(version: 970)
Course, academic year 2024/2025
   Login via CAS
--:--
 
 Search ... Teachers Departments Classes Classification View by plans Setup
 
 
 
 Details
 
 
 
 
Ethics and Economics - JPB368
Title: Ethics and Economics
Guaranteed by: Institute of Economic Studies (23-IES)
Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
Actual: from 2019
Semester: winter
E-Credits: 5
Examination process: winter s.:
Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/2, Ex [HT]
Capacity: unknown / unknown (97)
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Teaching methods: full-time
Is provided by: JEM020
Additional information: http://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=3695
Note: enabled for web enrollment
Guarantor: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
Teacher(s): doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
Jan Mošovský, M.Sc.
Yermone Sargsyan, M.Sc.
Mgr. Dimitra Spyropoulou
Class: Courses not for incoming students
Incompatibility : JEM020, JPB338
Is incompatible with: JPB338
Files Comments Added by
download LNWeek1EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the First Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek10EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Tenth Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek11EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Eleventh Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek12EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Twelfth Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek2EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Second Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek3EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Third Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek4EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Fourth Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek5EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Fifth Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek6EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Sixth Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek7EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Seventh Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek8EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Eighth Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
download LNWeek9EE.pdf Lecture Notes for the Ninth Week doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
Annotation -
There are no required prerequisites for this course.

This course is interdisciplinary: different concepts from moral and political philosophy, methodology, social sciences, economics and finance are used for discussing many relevant topics. Used concepts are explained in lectures, relevant topics specified in the syllabus are discussed in seminars.

This course is also part of the inter-university programme prg.ai Minor. It pools the best of AI education in Prague to provide students with a deeper and broader insight into the field of artificial intelligence.
More information is available at https://prg.ai/minor.
Last update: Cahlík Tomáš, doc. Ing., CSc. (09.11.2023)
Aim of the course -

By the end of this course students will be able to discuss different topics with understanding of relevant concepts from moral and political philosophy, methodology, social sciences, economics and finance.
Last update: Cahlík Tomáš, doc. Ing., CSc. (03.09.2021)
Literature -

Lecture notes for each week  are in the SIS..

Recommended readings for each week are specified in the syllabus.

 

Recommended videos:

Harvard Justice course:   justiceharvard.org

Yale open course "The Moral Foundations of Politics":   https://oyc.yale.edu/political-science/plsc-118/lecture-1

Last update: Cahlík Tomáš, doc. Ing., CSc. (11.06.2025)
Teaching methods -

Both seminars and lectures are in the classroom 109, Opletalova building.

"Virtual mobility" and "4EU+" students can attend both lectures and seminars online, upon request, in MS Teams. Online seminars are in different time than insite seminars, 

Last update: Cahlík Tomáš, doc. Ing., CSc. (27.08.2024)
Requirements to the exam -

Grading:

  • Three online midterm tests (10 % each) and an online final test (70 %) in Moodle. You must be registered in Moodle on:

https://dl3.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=547

1st midterm test: October 31st, 2025 (the whole day)

2nd midterm test: November 28th, 2025 (the whole day)

3rd midterm test: January 2nd, 2026 (the whole day)

Final tests will be on January 8th at 2:00 p.m., on January 15th at 2:00 p.m., on January 29th at 2:00 p,m, and on February 12th at 2:00 p.m.

There are no retakes for midterm tests, you just lose the points. According to our study rules, you have two retakes for the final test.

After summarizing all points, our standard grading scale will be applied:

0-50 (F), 51-60 (E), 61-70 (D), 71-80 (C), 81-90 (B), 91-100 (A)

Last update: Cahlík Tomáš, doc. Ing., CSc. (11.06.2025)
Syllabus -

Week 1: Ethics as Practical Philosophy

      • Human Person and Social Structures
      • Ethics and Economics
      • Miscellaneous about Ethics
      • Seminar:
        • Moral Reasoning
        • Recommended Reading – Promotion

Recommended Reading:

Plato: The Republic. 2nd Book. (Can be found on web)

 

Week 2: Justice and Coordination

      • Where the Notion of Justice Comes from
      • Virtues
      • Coordination
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Legality of Drugs”
        • Recommended Readings - Promotion

Recommended Readings:

Alisdair MacIntyre: After Virtue.  Chapter 14: "The Nature of the Virtues"

(https://epistemh.pbworks.com/f/4.+Macintyre.pdf )

http://web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/viceCrime/m6/nadelmann%20-%20the%20case%20for%20legalization.htm

https://www.commentary.org/articles/james-wilson/against-the-legalization-of-drugs

 

Week 3: Utilitarianism and Justice

      • Empiricist Enlightenment
      • Utilitarianism
      • Utilitarianism in Current Economics
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Abortion”
        • Recommended Readings - Promotion

Recommended Readings:

Jeremy Bentham: An Introduction to the Principles of Moral and Legislation. Chapters 1-4.

(https://www.econlib.org/library/Bentham/bnthPML.html)

http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/Phil160,Fall02/thomson.htm

http://faculty.polytechnic.org/gfeldmeth/45.marquis.pdf

 

Week 4: Economics as a Social Science

      • Individuals and Social Structure
      • Definition of Economics and Coherent Schools of Contemporary Economics
      • Selected Topics from the Philosophy of Economics
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Helping to the Poor” and “Migration”
        • Recommended Readings - Promotion

 

Recommended Readings:

Ludwig von Mises: Human Action. Introduction  and Chapter I "Acting Man" 

 (https://cdn.mises.org/Human%20Action_3.pdf )

https://www.jefftk.com/rachels-2013-immorality-having-children.pdf

http://users.manchester.edu/Facstaff/SSNaragon/Online/texts/425/Sen,%20PropertyHunger.pdf

http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles_pdf/living_on_a_lifeboat.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/05/magazine/the-singer-solution-to-world-poverty.html

 

Week 5:  Neoclassical Synthesis, Post Keynesian Economics and Justice

      • Theory of Choice
      • Labor Market and Justice
      • Inflation and Justice
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of moral reasoning on “The Ethics of War and Peace”
        • Recommended Readings - Promotion

Recommended Readings:

David Hume: The Treatise of Human Nature. Book 3 “Morals”, Part 2 “Justice and injustice”, from 1 to 6

https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/hume1740book3.pdf

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~freeman/courses/phil100/14.%20The%20Ethics%20of%20War%20and%20Peace.pdf

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/wp-content/files_mf/1428085978JohnRawls.pdf

 

Week 6:  Immanuel Kant, Psyche and Conscience

      • Immanuel Kant
      • Psyche
      • Conscience
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Terrorism and Torture”
        • Recommended Readings – Promotion

Recommended Readings:

Immanuel Kant: Toward Perpetual Peace, Introduction, Section 1, Section 2.

https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/kant1795_1.pdf

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2002/11/27/0000184966

http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1163&context=facpub

 

Week 7: Self-realization

      • Freedom
      • The Sense of Life and Happiness
      • The Easterlin Paradox
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on the “Same Sex Marriage and Surrogate Motherhood “
        • Recommended Readings - Promotion

Recommended Readings:

Friedrich August von Hayek: Law, Legislation and Liberty - Volume 1, Chapter 4 "The Changing Concept of Law"

(https://libsa.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/hayek-law-legislation-and-liberty.pdf )

https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5933&context=lalrev

https://newrepublic.com/article/103297/for-better-or-worse-gay-straight-marriage

 

Week 8: Social Stability, Order and Liberty

      • Iterative Relation between Personal Rules and Social Norms
      • Social Stability - Giving Reasons to Ethical Norms
      • Order x Liberty
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on  “Freedom of Speech”
        • Recommended Readings - Promotion

Recommended Readings:

John Stuart Mill: On Liberty. Chapters 1 and 2. (https://www.econlib.org/library/Mill/mlLbty.html)

https://bigthink.com/thinking/is-speech-violence/

 

Week 9: Constitutional Economics

      • Constitutional Economics and the Protective Function of the State 
      • Productive and Distributive Functions of the State
      • Contractual Changes in Status Quo
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Animals Ethics”
        • Recommended Readings - Promotion

Recommended Readings:

This time, it is about listening to James Buchanan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=178aognlYHA

https://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/phil1200,Spr07/singer.pdf

https://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/phil1200,Spr07/cohen.pdf

 

Week 10: Justice and Democracy

      • Justice as Fairness
      • Libertarianism
      • Democracy and Majority Voting
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Environment”
        • Recommended Reading - Promotion

Recommended Reading:

Jurgen Habermas: Between Facts and Norms - Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy: Chapter 3.2 "Moral Norms and Legal Norms: On the Complementary Relation between Natural Law and Positive Law" (https://teddykw2.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/jc3bcrgen-habermas-between-facts-and-norms.pdf)

 

Week 11: Democratic Justice

      • Democratic Justice Theory
      • Democratic Justice Applications
      • Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy
      • Seminar:
        • Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “ICT and AI development”

 

Week 12: Ethics, People and Society

      • Marketing, Sophists and Socrates
      • Breaking the GDP Fascination
      • Christianity and Morality
      • Seminar
        • Ethics Codes
        • CFA Ethics Code
        • Charles university Code of Ethics

Recommended Reading:

CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conducts (just 2 pages) (please find on https://www.cfainstitute.org/pages/index.aspx  under EthicsAndStandards) 

Last update: Cahlík Tomáš, doc. Ing., CSc. (11.06.2025)
 
Charles University | Information system of Charles University | http://www.cuni.cz/UKEN-329.html