NEH Enduring Questions Course on Morality and Material Progress

FAIN: AQ-228774-15

University of North Carolina, Asheville (Asheville, NC 28804-3251)
Robert Charles Tatum (Project Director: September 2014 to October 2018)

The development and teaching of a new undergraduate seminar on the relationship between morality and material progress.

Modern mainstream economics portrays itself as an amoral, positive science. Yet, issues of morality cannot be separated from issues of material well-being and progress. In fact, the moral philosopher Adam Smith is widely understood to be the "father of economics" precisely because he explained how the virtue of rational self-interest can improve material well-being in a free-market economy. Sixty-two years before Smith wrote "The Wealth of Nations" though, Bernard de Mandeville depicted self-love in "The Fable of the Bees" not as a virtue, but rather as a vice that nonetheless brings about material progress. This raises the question: Can the good life be lived in both moral and material terms? Historic thinkers have answered this question in many different ways. Accordingly, the course I seek to develop through this grant will examine the various answers to this question over the ages.

Associated Products

A Newbie’s Guide to Developing a Question-driven and Humanities-infused Course in Economics (Article)
Title: A Newbie’s Guide to Developing a Question-driven and Humanities-infused Course in Economics
Author: Robert Tatum
Abstract: An economics course is developed that utilizes writings from major thinkers across the ages to explore the question: Can the good life be lived in both moral and material terms? The question-driven course brings economics, philosophy, religion, and classics into dialogue on matters of contemporary importance. This article illustrates how such a course can help students broaden their literacy, develop a wider skill set, as well as navigate moral questions and interdisciplinary issues. It also illustrates how such a course can better serve diverse students and provide a diversity of thoughts, worldviews, and epistemologies.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: http://christianeconomists.org/2022/07/27/a-newbies-guide-to-developing-a-question-driven-and-humanities-infused-course-in-economics/
Primary URL Description: Journal site
Access Model: Subscription only initially
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Faith and Economics
Publisher: Faith and Economics

---