Moral Parsimony and Political Legitimacy

Abstract

We inhabit a social world in which our political institutions are either structured by or modeled on the image of the market. The market is a dominant - perhaps 'the' dominant - system for the organisation of our social life. As such theories of political legitimation must 'inter alia' address both what justifies the market and how any justification of the market fits within claims about the legitimacy of our forms of social and political organisation more generally. A common justification of the market, and more specifically the 'laissez-faire' or free market, is predicated upon the idea of the invisible hand. The unintended benefit that the pursuit of profit generates is said to be intrinsically a good thing and a justification for both private property rights and commodity production and distribution.