For some time, the effect of the market economy on moral values has been strongly debated amongst many.
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI released his third encyclical titled Caritas in Veritate or “Charity in Truth.” The encyclical addressed a variety of issues but it focused on ethics and the economy. In his encyclical, Benedict stated the need for a “true world political authority” with “real teeth” to manage the global economy with God-centered ethics.
In October, the John Templeton Foundation also addressed the issue of ethics and the economy in its conversation on “Does the free market corrode moral character?” It is the fourth question in a series of conversations that the Foundation hosts among leading scientists, scholars, and public figures about the “Big Questions.” A few of the respondents answered with a strong “No!”, while others answered with an indecisive “Yes, sort of” or “Yes and no.”
Few agree on what exactly is moral, not to mention what corrodes morality. However, if the question Does the free market corrode moral character? was posed to you, how would you respond?
