ABSTRACT
Why do we need an analysis of the concept of exploitation? One reason, a general one, is that although exploitation is a heavily used and widely accepted moral concept, moral philosophers have paid relatively little attention to it. As Wertheimer notes,
despite the frequency and ease with which we make exploitation claims in ordinary moral and political discourse, I think it fair to say that with the major (and I do mean major) exception of the Marxist tradition, exploitation has not been a central concern for contemporary political and moral philosophy.2
