Ethics Out of Economics: the Futile Attempt of Rendering Economics a Neutral Science

The aim of this paper is to illustrate one of the reasons of the inadequacy of the orthodox economic thought to tackle with the main problems of the time, especially with those caused by some exceptional events occurred in Western countries like, for example, the 2007-2008 financial crisis and the continuing changing process of globalization tacking place all over the world in recent decades. To pursue the above aim, there are obviously several key-readings available and different paths to follow. What will be done in the present paper, however, will be that of inquiring into the motivations which seem ultimately responsible in having put ethics definitely outside the orthodox economic thought (which, in the present context, will equivalently and alternatively be taken to coincide with the market-centered paradigm of neo-liberalism). To the effect of rendering the exposition as clear as possible, it will be necessary to single out some crucial stages through which the ethical problem has been dealt with in the development of the economic thought. The refined task of putting ethics outside the orthodox economic thought had initially the strong motivation of transforming the economic discipline into a neutral science, that is to say, free from any value-judgment. In this way, it could legitimately be considered scientific and, as a consequence, it could be viewed on the same footing as any other proper science, like Mathematics and Physics