A Social Morality for Mortals: A Review Essay of The Order of Public Reason: A Theory of Freedom and Morality in a Diverse and Bounded World

11 Pages Posted: 9 Sep 2014 Last revised: 21 Apr 2018

See all articles by Peter J. Boettke

Peter J. Boettke

George Mason University - Department of Economics; Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Rosolino Candela

George Mason University - Mercatus Center

Date Written: September 8, 2014

Abstract

This essay praises Gerald Gaus’s The Order of Public Reason as a building block for all normative explorations into the institutional foundations of human sociability. It evaluates the normative implications put forth by Gaus in terms of the Kirzner’s “finder’s keeper’s ethic.” This raises a question about the relationship between the moral order and the political order that underlies market processes. Examining the role of entrepreneurship in the market process in relation to Kirzner’s “finder’s keeper’s principle” suggests a deeper ethical foundation that underpins the institutional conditions of “social morality.”

Keywords: Gerald Gaus, Israel Kirzner, Socialist Calculation Debate, political economy

JEL Classification: B2, B53, P16

Suggested Citation

Boettke, Peter J. and Boettke, Peter J. and Candela, Rosolino, A Social Morality for Mortals: A Review Essay of The Order of Public Reason: A Theory of Freedom and Morality in a Diverse and Bounded World (September 8, 2014). The Review of Austrian Economics, vol. 30, no. 3 (2017): 365-375. , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2493119 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2493119

Peter J. Boettke

George Mason University - Department of Economics ( email )

4400 University Drive
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Mercatus Center at George Mason University ( email )

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Rosolino Candela (Contact Author)

George Mason University - Mercatus Center ( email )

3434 Washington Blvd., 4th Floor
Arlington, VA 22201
United States

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