Consensual exploitation: the moral wrong in exploitation and legal restrictions on consensual exploitative transactions
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Van Der Neut2014.doc (782.5Kb)
Date
02/07/2014Author
van der Neut, Wendy
Metadata
Abstract
This thesis is about so-‐called consensual exploitative
transactions: transactions to which all parties agree
voluntarily, and which are beneficial for all parties,
but which are still widely considered exploitative,
and for that reason legally restricted in many countries.
The thesis asks two main questions:
1. What is wrong with consensual exploitation?
2.What implications does the answer to this question
have for the legal restriction of consensual transactions
that are regarded exploitative in modern liberal societies?
In answer to the first research question, the thesis starts
by distinguishing and analysing five competing views
of
the
wrong
in
consensual
exploitation
that
exist
in
the
present-‐day
philosophical
debate
on
exploitation;
and
rejects
all
five
answers.
Next,
the
thesis
offers
an
alternative
answer,
which
is
that
the
wrong
in
consensual
exploitation
can
best
be
understood
as
a
matter
of
greediness—a
failure
of
the
virtue
of
generosity.
The
thesis
then
turns
to
the
second
research
question:
what
understanding
exploitation
as
greediness
implies
for
the
legal
restriction
of
exploitative
transactions.
It
discusses
and
rejects
the
view
that
law
ought
only
to
be
used
to
regulate
‘right’
and
‘wrong’
behaviour,
and
not
to
promote
virtues
or
discourage
vices,
such
as
generosity
and
greediness.
The
thesis
argues
that
legal
restrictions
on
consensual
exploitative
transactions
can
be
justified
as
a
means
to
prevent
greediness,
and
to
promote
a
certain
other-‐regardingness,
and
illustrates
this
argument
with
two
examples
of
laws
that
regulate
consensual
transactions
which
are
widely
regarded
exploitative:
minimum wage laws and payday loan laws.