Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces the necessity and impossibility of morality. It presents a general argument about the epistemological capacities. That argument is then illustrated by referring to the distinction between normative and positive analysis sustained by mainstream economics. The book examines the limitations of the axiomatic method. It analyses the major moral doctrines. The analysis of moral philosophies helps in making explicit the philosophical underpinning behind the development of economic theories. The book also examines the economic theory as an intellectual undertaking orientated at developing technical knowledge about the best ways of organising the use of limited resources at a social level. It considers the validity of the market mechanism as a moral tool for determining resource allocation. The book also analyses the contemporary mainstream economics theory.