Ethics and Economics - JEM020

• Title: Ethics and Economics
• Czech title: Ethics and Economics
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Economic Studies (23-IES)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2023
• Semester: winter
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/2, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 185 / 185 (1000)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: yes
• Virtual mobility / capacity: yes / 20
• Key competences: critical thinking, data literacy
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.
• Teacher(s): doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc.; Mgr. Vojtěch Mišák; Jan Mošovský, M.Sc.; Yermone Sargsyan, M.Sc.
• Class: Courses for incoming students
• Incompatibility : JPB338
• Is incompatible with: JPB368, JPB338

Annotation

English

Last update: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc. (09.11.2023)

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.

Aim of the course

English

Last update: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc. (03.09.2021)

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.

Literature

English

Last update: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc. (30.07.2022)

Required readings for each week are specified in the syllabus, homeworks are based on required readings.

 

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

 

Recommended Readings:

Buchanan, James: The Limits of Liberty (Between Anarchy and Leviathan)

Mappes, T.A., Zembaty J.S., DeGrazia, D.: Social Ethics - Morality and Social Policy. McGraw Hill 2012

Rachels, J., Rachels, S.: The Elements of Moral Philosophy. McGraw Hill 2015

Rachels, J., Rachels, S.: The Right Thing to Do. McGraw Hill 2015

Rosenberg, A: Philosophy of Social Science

Teaching methods

English

Last update: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc. (10.10.2023)

This course is run insite, in the Opletalova 26 building, room 109. 

In really necessary cases (e.g. you are not in Prague because of some visa problems or you have logistic problems with running from the Opletalova building to the Jinonice building), you can use following information: Lectures on Thursdays morning are  broadcasted from the classroom, seminars on Thursdays afternoon are just in the classroom - not broadcasted and seminars on Fridays morning are just online. Each week, both seminars are on the same topic specified in the syllabus. Recordings of lectures and online seminars will be accessible for two weeks after.

 

****************************************************************

Tomáš Cahlík is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Ethics and Economics - Lecture
Time: Oct 5, 2023 08:00 AM Prague Bratislava
Every week on Thu, until Dec 21, 2023, 12 occurrence(s)
Oct 5, 2023 08:00 AM
Oct 12, 2023 08:00 AM
Oct 19, 2023 08:00 AM
Oct 26, 2023 08:00 AM
Nov 2, 2023 08:00 AM
Nov 9, 2023 08:00 AM
Nov 16, 2023 08:00 AM
Nov 23, 2023 08:00 AM
Nov 30, 2023 08:00 AM
Dec 7, 2023 08:00 AM
Dec 14, 2023 08:00 AM
Dec 21, 2023 08:00 AM
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Weekly: https://cesnet.zoom.us/meeting/tJYpd-CtqTwqEtGBUiGxD56XiJc9aD6l9gyK/ics?icsToken=98tyKuCqqjsjH9OSsBGCRowQBoigXe_wtmZfj7d6virsJDh3N1XOP8hBa7NbRtSJ

Join Zoom Meeting
https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/92409577085

Meeting ID: 924 0957 7085

---

One tap mobile
[phone],,92409577085# Czech Republic
[phone],,92409577085# Czech Republic

---

Dial by your location
• [phone] Czech Republic
• [phone] Czech Republic
• [phone] Czech Republic

Meeting ID: 924 0957 7085

Find your local number: https://cesnet.zoom.us/u/azM5uyg8q

***********************************************************************

Tomáš Cahlík is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Ethics and Economics - Friday Seminar
Time: Oct 6, 2023 08:00 AM Prague Bratislava
Every week on Fri, 12 occurrence(s)
Oct 6, 2023 08:00 AM
Oct 13, 2023 08:00 AM
Oct 20, 2023 08:00 AM
Oct 27, 2023 08:00 AM
Nov 3, 2023 08:00 AM
Nov 10, 2023 08:00 AM
Nov 17, 2023 08:00 AM - Cancelled: National Holiday
Nov 24, 2023 08:00 AM
Dec 1, 2023 08:00 AM
Dec 8, 2023 08:00 AM
Dec 15, 2023 08:00 AM
Dec 22, 2023 08:00 AM
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Weekly: https://cesnet.zoom.us/meeting/tJcqfuGvpjopGNNtJ0XVzB0ioqN-WuIkvz72/ics?icsToken=98tyKuCrqTIiHdyUsxuARowqB4r4We3xiH5ejY1ziDW1OxZJQFP_OfNsf4VqOdPG

Join Zoom Meeting
https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/93798781327

Meeting ID: 937 9878 1327

---

One tap mobile
[phone],,93798781327# Czech Republic
[phone],,93798781327# Czech Republic

---

Dial by your location
• [phone] Czech Republic
• [phone] Czech Republic
• [phone] Czech Republic

Meeting ID: 937 9878 1327

Find your local number: https://cesnet.zoom.us/u/abAiGAjn9r

Requirements to the exam

English

Last update: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc. (30.11.2023)

Grading:

• Homeworks (40 %, related to required readings, 8% for each homework). There are five homeworks: in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th week. You put the pdf file with your homework into the SIS UK (starting menu, part Education, icon with four persons), till Sunday 23:55 of the relevant week. Homeworks sent by e-mail are not accepted. The SIS does not allow you to enter your homework after the deadline. In each homework, you write two critical appraisals of required readings from previous two weeks. Each critical appraisal is structured into 4 paragraphs as follows: Paragraph introducing your appraisal, paragraph with strong (what you agree with) poins of appraised reading, paragraph with weak (what you do not agree with) points of appraised reading and paragraph concluding your appraisal. The expected length of each appraisal is 1 page, but feel free to write more.

• Three online midterm tests (10 % each) and online final test (30 %) in Moodle. You must be registered in Moodle on:

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

1st midterm test: October 31st, 2023 (the whole day)

2nd midterm test: November 28th, 2023 (the whole day)

3rd midterm test: January 2nd, 2024 (the whole day)

Final tests will be on January 4th at 2:00 p.m., on January 18th at 2:00 p.m., on February 1st at 2:00 p,m, and on February 15th 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)

Syllabus

English

Last update: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc. (14.12.2023)

Week 1: What is, What I/We want to be and What ought to be

• Introduction to the Course
• Ethical Pre-Understanding of Real Situations
• What is Ethics?
• Human Person in Human Relations
• Human Relations in Institutional Intermediation
• Social and Economic Ethics
• Seminar:
• Required Reading – Promotion
• Moral Reasoning
• Sound and Valid Arguments
• Consequentialist x Categorical Reasoning

Required 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:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Legality of Drugs”

Required Reading:

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

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

Optional Readings:

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 Ethics
• Utilitarianism
• Utilitarianism  in Economics after the Marginalist Revolution
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Discussion of the 1^st homework
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Abortion”

 

Required Reading:

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

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

 

Optional Readings:

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

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

 

Week 4: Economics as Social Science

• Individuals and Social Structure
• Philosophy of Economics
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Helping to the Poor” and “Migration”

 

Required Reading:

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

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

Optional Readings:

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:  Justice in Neoclassical Synthesis and Postkeynesian Economics

• Neoclassical Synthesis x Postkeynesian Economics, Epistemological and Methodological Differences
• Theory of Choice
• Mainstream Approach
• Uncertainty, Substantial and Procedural Rationality
• Post Keynesian Approach
• Labour Market and Justice
• Mainstream Approach
• Post Keynesian Approach
• Inflation and Justice
• Mainstream Approach
• Post Keynesian Approach
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Discussion of the 2^nd  homework
• Exercising of moral reasoning on “The Ethics of War and Peace”

Required Reading:

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

Optional Readings:

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: Psyche, Transcendentality and Immanuel Kant

• Immanuel Kant and Transcendental Philosophy
• Psyche
• Sigmund Freud
• Karl Gustav Jung
• Immanuel Kant and Categorical (Deontological) Reasoning
• Thomas Aquinas and Conscience
• Seminar:
• Required Reading – Promotion
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Terrorism and Torture”

Required Reading:

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

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

Optional Readings:

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: Happiness, Selfrealization and Freedom

• Happiness
• Easterline Paradox
• Sense of Life
• Selfrealization and Freedom
• Guilt and Shame
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Discussion of the 3^rd  homework
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Family, Marriage and Household “

Required Reading:

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 )

Optional Readings:

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

• Four Levels of Assessing Behaviour
• Iterative Relation between Personal Rules and Social Norms
• Social Stability - Giving Reasons to Ethical Norms
• Order x Liberty
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Language, Freedom of Speech, Censorship, Hate Speech and Violence

Required Reading:

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

Optional Readings:

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

Week 9: Constitutional Economics

• Constitutional Economics  
• Origin
• Constitutional Contract
• The Contractarian Birth of State
• Post constitutional Contract
• Public Goods and Common Resources
• Status Quo
• Contractual Changes in Status Quo
• Roles of the State
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Discussion of the 4^th  homework
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Animals”
• Ethology and Konrad Lorenz

Required Reading:

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

Optional Readings:

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: development of the idea
• Majority Voting
• Democracy: insigt of economists
• Seminar:
• Required Reading – Promotion
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Environment”

Required 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:
• Discussion of the 5th homework
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “ICT and AI development”

Week 12: Ethics, People and Society

• Marketing, Sophists and Socrates
• Postmodern World, Stoicism and Epicureanism
• Godness, Goodness and Christianity
• Seminar
• Ethics Codes
• CFA Ethics Code
• Charles university Code of Ethics

Optional 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) 

Czech

Last update: doc. Ing. Tomáš Cahlík, CSc. (14.12.2023)

Week 1: What is, What I/We want to be and What ought to be

• Introduction to the Course
• Ethical Pre-Understanding of Real Situations
• What is Ethics?
• Human Person in Human Relations
• Human Relations in Institutional Intermediation
• Social and Economic Ethics
• Seminar:
• Required Reading – Promotion
• Moral Reasoning
• Sound and Valid Arguments
• Consequentialist x Categorical Reasoning

Required 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:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Legality of Drugs”

Required Reading:

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

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

Optional Readings:

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 Ethics
• Utilitarianism
• Utilitarianism  in Economics after the Marginalist Revolution
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Discussion of the 1^st homework
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Abortion”

 

Required Reading:

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

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

 

Optional Readings:

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

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

 

Week 4: Economics as Social Science

• Individuals and Social Structure
• Philosophy of Economics
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Helping to the Poor” and “Migration”

 

Required Reading:

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

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

Optional Readings:

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:  Justice in Neoclassical Synthesis and Postkeynesian Economics

• Neoclassical Synthesis x Postkeynesian Economics, Epistemological and Methodological Differences
• Theory of Choice
• Mainstream Approach
• Uncertainty, Substantial and Procedural Rationality
• Post Keynesian Approach
• Labour Market and Justice
• Mainstream Approach
• Post Keynesian Approach
• Inflation and Justice
• Mainstream Approach
• Post Keynesian Approach
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Discussion of the 2^nd  homework
• Exercising of moral reasoning on “The Ethics of War and Peace”

Required Reading:

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

Optional Readings:

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: Psyche, Transcendentality and Immanuel Kant

• Immanuel Kant and Transcendental Philosophy
• Psyche
• Sigmund Freud
• Karl Gustav Jung
• Immanuel Kant and Categorical (Deontological) Reasoning
• Thomas Aquinas and Conscience
• Seminar:
• Required Reading – Promotion
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Terrorism and Torture”

Required Reading:

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

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

Optional Readings:

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: Happiness, Selfrealization and Freedom

• Happiness
• Easterline Paradox
• Sense of Life
• Selfrealization and Freedom
• Guilt and Shame
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Discussion of the 3^rd  homework
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Family, Marriage and Household “

Required Reading:

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 )

Optional Readings:

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

• Four Levels of Assessing Behaviour
• Iterative Relation between Personal Rules and Social Norms
• Social Stability - Giving Reasons to Ethical Norms
• Order x Liberty
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Language, Freedom of Speech, Censorship, Hate Speech and Violence

Required Reading:

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

Optional Readings:

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

Week 9: Constitutional Economics

• Constitutional Economics  
• Origin
• Constitutional Contract
• The Contractarian Birth of State
• Post constitutional Contract
• Public Goods and Common Resources
• Status Quo
• Contractual Changes in Status Quo
• Roles of the State
• Seminar:
• Required Reading - Promotion
• Discussion of the 4^th  homework
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Animals”
• Ethology and Konrad Lorenz

Required Reading:

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

Optional Readings:

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: development of the idea
• Majority Voting
• Democracy: insight of economists
• Seminar:
• Required Reading – Promotion
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “Environment”

Required 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:
• Discussion of the 5th homework
• Exercising of Moral Reasoning on “ICT and AI development”

Week 12: Ethics, People and Society

• Marketing, Sophists and Socrates
• Postmodern World, Stoicism and Epicureanism
• Godness, Goodness and Christianity
• Seminar
• Ethics Codes
• CFA Ethics Code
• Charles university Code of Ethics

Optional 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)