Is the Pursuit of Money Incompatible with Morality? Some Historical and Philosophical Reflections

In this chapter, the Incompatibility Thesis, according to which morality and the pursuit of profit are mutually exclusive, is explored and critically evaluated via an analysis of relevant historical and contemporary writings on the moral status of the market. The focus is on the profit motive and its role in the working lives of economic agents, especially within the financial sector. The key thesis of the chapter is that although the profit motive can drive agents towards unethical ends, it need not necessarily do so. We should not think of it as a single motive. In the chapter, a number of different profit motivational sets are outlined, some of which it is argued are compatible with morally permissible ends. The significance of these distinctions for financial ethics is central to the discussion in the chapter.