In this article we reply to George Selgin’s counterarguments to our article “Fractional Reserve Free Banking: Some Quibbles”. Selgin regards holding cash as saving while we focus on the real savings necessary to maintain investment projects. Real savings are unconsumed real income. Variations in real savings are not [...].

Barnett and Block (Journal of Business Ethics, 2009 ) attack the heart of modern banking by claiming that the practice of borrowing short and lending long is illicit. While their claim of illegitimacy concerning fractional reserve banking can be defended, their justification lacks substance. Their claim is herein strengthened by a legal analysis of deposits and loans based on Huerta de Soto (Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles, 2006 ). A combined legal and economic analysis shows that while lending deposits (...) can be regarded as illicit, the maturity mismatching of loans is legitimate contrary to Barnett and Block’s claim. No over-issuance of property rights is involved with this practice once the distinction between present and future goods is taken into account. However, while the practice is not illicit per se , it is greatly assisted and developed through the presence of a fractional reserve banking system, and can sometimes breed detrimental effects. (shrink)

How ethical have recent banking practices been? We answer this question via an economic analysis. We assess the two dominant practices of the modern banking system – fractional reserves and maturity transformation – by gauging the respective rights of the relevant parties. By distinguishing the legal and economic differences between deposit and loan contracts, we determine that the practice of maturity transformation (in its various guises) is not only ethical but also serves a positive social function. The foundation of the (...) modern banking system – the holding of fractional reserves against deposits – is, however, problematic from economic, legal and ethical perspectives. Starting from a microanalysis of money's function, a reassessment of the current laws concerning the practice is encouraged, with the aim not only to rectify economic irregularities but also to realign depositors' rights with the obligations of the banking sector. (shrink)

How ethical have recent banking practices been? We answer this question via an economic analysis. We assess the two dominant practices of the modern banking system – fractional reserves and maturity transformation – by gauging the respective rights of the relevant parties. By distinguishing the legal and economic differences between deposit and loan contracts, we determine that the practice of maturity transformation (in its various guises) is not only ethical but also serves a positive social function. The foundation of the (...) modern banking system – the holding of fractional reserves against deposits – is, however, problematic from economic, legal and ethical perspectives. Starting from a microanalysis of money's function, a reassessment of the current laws concerning the practice is encouraged, with the aim not only to rectify economic irregularities but also to realign depositors' rights with the obligations of the banking sector. (shrink)

Barnett and Block (J Bus Ethics 18(2):179–194, 2011 ) argue that one cannot distinguish between deposits and loans due to the continuum problem of maturities and because future goods do not exist—both essential characteristics that distinguish deposit from loan contracts. In a similar way but leading to opposite conclusions (Cachanosky, forthcoming) maintains that both maturity mismatching and fractional reserve banking are ethically justified as these contracts are equivalent. We argue herein that the economic and legal differences between genuine deposit and (...) loan contracts are clear. This implies different legal obligations for these contracts, a necessary step in assessing the ethics of both fractional reserve banking and maturity mismatching. While the former is economically, legally, and perhaps most importantly ethically problematic, there are no such troubles with the latter. (shrink)

Depositors have perceived banks as acting unethically during the most recent recession. One area of consternation is the ambiguity of the legal obligations entailed by the deposit contract when it is backed with only fractional reserves. In this article, we apply an existing analysis of the legitimacy and ethicality of banking practices to a wider range of financial transactions, including insurance policies, securities lending, perpetual bonds, and callable loans. Securities lending in particular creates rights violations analogous to those in fractional-reserve (...) banking. Both callable loans and perpetual bonds have clear legal obligations which are not inherently problematic, though we herein clarify what these obligations are. Finally, we apply our ethical framework to demonstrate that insurance products are distinct from banking deposit contracts, and that perceived parallels between the two products underestimate these differences. (shrink)

Science is critical and thrives on discourse. However, new challenges for science and academic freedom have arisen from an often-discussed cancel culture and an increasing demand for safe spaces, which are justified by their assumed protection against microaggressions. These phenomena can impede scientific progress and innovation by prohibiting certain thought processes and heterodox ideas that eventually result in new ideas, publications, statements, etc. In this paper, we use the approach of property rights ethics to shed light on these phenomena, especially (...) in academia. First, we argue that microaggressions must be generally tolerated according to property rights ethics as the starting point for discussion. Then, we analyze cancel culture and safe spaces in academia. To this end, we distinguish between two basic cases in the educational system. We show that cancel culture and safe spaces seem justifiable in a private education system but have no place in public, tax-funded universities from the perspective of property ethics. Our essay contributes, on the one hand, to the economic analysis of science and, on the other hand, to the ethical study of new phenomena in modern societies. (shrink)

The financial crisis has led to new interest in the ethics of financial markets. In this article, we further the debate on the nature of banking contracts by showing that the fundamental subjective purposes of loan and deposit contracts are irreconcilable. Any resultant mixture of the two contracts is a legal aberration. We consider a mutual fund as an important and legitimate alternative to the common demand deposit to provide high liquidity and some yield without offering full availability of a (...) nominal sum. Besides being a close substitute for how many deposit accounts function today, the mutual fund has the additional benefit of satisfying all legal and ethical requirements. Loan and investment contracts allow for the “bank” to make use of their clients’ funds while the intents of money owners are clearly classified without running into legal or ethical problems. (shrink)

In the pages of this journal, a fruitful debate has evolved on the ethical legitimacy of fractional-reserve banking. In this article, we respond to the new arguments raised by Evans as we clarify our position on the unethical and illegitimate nature of fractional-reserve banking. Fractional-reserve banking is not a recent financial innovation but represents a long-standing legal aberration. The co-mingling of two mutually exclusive financial contracts, deposit and loan, confounds the contracting parties’ purposes, intents, rights, and obligations. As a result, (...) it creates unsolvable legal difficulties and ethical dilemmas. While these problems are most evident in the case of a bank run, they also arise when trying to answer the simple question of “who owns a deposit?”. (shrink)

Commentators believe that the COVID-19 pandemic reveals the inconveniences of capitalism and that the end of “neoliberalism” could be near. In this article we show that a capitalist ethics is capable to deal with the challenges of pandemics and comes with important advantages such as the prevention of overreactions. We apply both utilitarian and rights-based ethics to the case of epidemics in general and COVID-19 in particular. First a libertarian natural law ethics is used to assess the government interventions in (...) the Corona pandemic. We maintain that these interventions cannot be justified from a libertarian point of view despite of the possible objections that are discussed such as the “potential threat argument”. Moreover, the utilitarian argument in favor of government lockdowns is evaluated. The negative effects of lockdown on mental health, addictions, domestic violence, etc. have to be taken into account. The utilitarian argument in favor of lockdown is far from convincing, as economic calculation is not possible. (shrink)

Barnett and Block claim that Bagus and Howden support indirectly the concept of market failure. In this paper, we show that maturity mismatching in an unhampered market may imply entrepreneurial error but cannot be considered a market failure. We demonstrate why fractional-reserve banking leads to business cycles even if there is no central bank and why maturity mismatching does not per se lead to clusters of errors in a free market. Finally, in contrast to the examples provided by Barnett (...) and Block, we assure that maturity mismatching does not imply the creation of two incompatible contracts due to the fungible nature of money. (shrink)

The growing importance of the cryptocurrency phenomenon has raised concerns about the ethical implications of a hypothetical widespread use of these new forms of digital money. In this paper, we undertake an ethical assessment of cryptocurrencies drawing upon two specific ethical theories: private property ethics and utilitarianism. Particularly, we focus on three distinctive aspects. First, we examine the advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrencies vis‐à‐vis central bank fiat money. Second, we analyze cryptocurrencies as facilitators of tax evasion and the ethical implications (...) arising therefrom. Finally, we explore the use of cryptocurrencies for nefarious consumption. We conclude that, were cryptocurrencies to become widespread media of exchange, governments capacity to undertake monetary, fiscal, and drug policy would be undermined. We argue that this would be an ethically desirable outcome from both a private‐property‐rights and a utilitarian perspective since it would force governments to reduce their size and scope in these three areas. (shrink)

The growing importance of the cryptocurrency phenomenon has raised concerns about the ethical implications of a hypothetical widespread use of these new forms of digital money. In this paper, we undertake an ethical assessment of cryptocurrencies drawing upon two specific ethical theories: private property ethics and utilitarianism. Particularly, we focus on three distinctive aspects. First, we examine the advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrencies vis‐à‐vis central bank fiat money. Second, we analyze cryptocurrencies as facilitators of tax evasion and the ethical implications (...) arising therefrom. Finally, we explore the use of cryptocurrencies for nefarious consumption. We conclude that, were cryptocurrencies to become widespread media of exchange, governments capacity to undertake monetary, fiscal, and drug policy would be undermined. We argue that this would be an ethically desirable outcome from both a private‐property‐rights and a utilitarian perspective since it would force governments to reduce their size and scope in these three areas. (shrink)

The growing importance of the cryptocurrency phenomenon has raised concerns about the ethical implications of a hypothetical widespread use of these new forms of digital money. In this paper, we undertake an ethical assessment of cryptocurrencies drawing upon two specific ethical theories: private property ethics and utilitarianism. Particularly, we focus on three distinctive aspects. First, we examine the advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrencies vis‐à‐vis central bank fiat money. Second, we analyze cryptocurrencies as facilitators of tax evasion and the ethical implications (...) arising therefrom. Finally, we explore the use of cryptocurrencies for nefarious consumption. We conclude that, were cryptocurrencies to become widespread media of exchange, governments capacity to undertake monetary, fiscal, and drug policy would be undermined. We argue that this would be an ethically desirable outcome from both a private‐property‐rights and a utilitarian perspective since it would force governments to reduce their size and scope in these three areas. (shrink)

What role do demand deposits serve in the financial system? The answer to this simple question has great implications in keeping the legal terms of the contract consistent with the demands of the financial system. Demand deposits are a perfect monetary substitute. Since money is only held to hedge against perceived uncertainty in both the timing and magnitude of future expenditures, demand deposits are demanded for the same reason. From this we derive three main conclusions. First, a financial contract similar (...) to a demand deposit cannot substitute for money. Second, full agreement to a financial contract does not create a perfect substitute for money unless it provides money’s two key characteristics: on demand and par value redemption. Finally, the demand for fractional-reserve demand deposits is fostered by an exogenous source and that demand for a good or service is not a sufficient condition to justify its legality or ethicality. (shrink)

Solar radiation management (SRM) may help to reduce the negative outcomes of climate change by minimising or reversing global warming. However, many express the worry that SRM may pose a moral hazard, i.e., that information about SRM may lead to a reduction in climate change mitigation efforts. In this paper, we report a large-scale preregistered, money-incentivised, online experiment with a representative US sample (N = 2284). We compare actual behaviour (donations to climate change charities and clicks on climate change petition (...) links) as well as stated preferences (support for a carbon tax and self-reported intentions to reduce emissions) between participants who receive information about SRM with two control groups (a salience control that includes information about climate change generally and a content control that includes information about a different topic). Behavioural choices are made with an earned real-money endowment, and stated preference responses are incentivised via the Bayesian Truth Serum. We fail to find a significant impact of receiving information about SRM and, based on equivalence tests, we provide evidence in favour of the absence of a meaningfully large effect. Our results thus provide evidence for the claim that there is no detectable moral hazard with respect to SRM. [Open access]. (shrink)

An introduction to semantics for the general reader. How things mean, from animal communication to music.

Die vorliegende Studie ist die erste umfassende Darstellung, die Kierkegaards Verfahren einer indirekten Mitteilung als hermeneutischen Schl ssel zu seinem Gesamtwerk entfaltet. Erkenntnisleitend ist das philosophische Interesse, die indirekte Mitteilung als Kierkegaards denkerische Methode und als das bestimmende Strukturprinzip seiner Existenzphilosophie zu begreifen. Indirekte Mitteilung meint nicht blo eine u erliche Form maieutischer und existenzieller Kommunikation, sie ist vielmehr zugleich eine Theorie ber die Grenze von Sprache und Begriff. Zudem ist die perspektivisch gebrochene, experimentalphilosophische Methode ein Gegenentwurf zur geschlossenen Form (...) des Systems. Hierin zeigt sich Kierkegaards geschichtliche Zwischenstellung in der Umbruchskonstellation von Idealismus und Moderne: Er st t sich im Ganzen vom Systemdenken Schellings und Hegels ab und weist voraus auf die Experimentalphilosophie Nietzsches und das Differenzdenken Derridas. Die Studie ist in dreierlei Hinsicht strukturiert: Systematisch wird die indirekte Methode als ein gegen sich selbst arbeitendes, prinzipiell unabgeschlossenes Verfahren bestimmt; geschichtlich wird sie vor dem Hintergrund der Tradition der Ironie und weiterer paradoxaler Begriffskonstellationen entfaltet; werkgeschichtlich-exegetisch werden Kierkegaards weit verzweigte Reflexionen ber den Begriff der indirekten Methode rekonstruiert, ihre Praxis und Durchf hrung anhand ausgew hlter Werke exemplarisch herausgearbeitet. (shrink)

Dans La Volonté de savoir, Foucault écrit : "Là où il y a pouvoir, il y a résistance".

We want to highlight the strong link between learning systems such as deep learning neural networks and neutrosophy. The latter is above all a representation considering a neutral state which is at the heart of many phenomena of reality as well as mathematical and information theories. Here, we start from the recent understanding of neural networks, which considers their internal functioning and the learning that characterizes them as based on adapted representations (both of the information to be processed and of (...) the task to be performed) that are in fact optimal compressions. Compression means discriminating the similar and the different between cases by identifying representative characteristics through focusing on the most significant and rejecting of the rest. These three operations of neural processing, learning and compression owe their existence to non-linear treatments which essentially amount to distinguishing a neutral zone between two filtered zones, corresponding to the neutrosophical approach. (shrink)

"Si la souffrance semble être l'existential majeur qui domine l'oeuvre de Bernanos, c'est parce qu'elle permet la révélation d'une expérience fondamentale : l'homme habite le monde parce qu'il y tombe. Dans cette chaotisation de l'espace et du temps qu'est la chute se dit en effet la constitution même de l'être comme corps. Ainsi l'écrivain ne nous donne-t-il à voir l'écroulement que pour nous conduire aussi à le vivre comme dimension de l'être-là de ce que nous sommes - non pas en (...) luttant contre lui, mais en nous laissant rouler en lui comme en une vague. Nul n'a son corps. Nul n'est son corps. C'est à se tenir à la frontière, ou à accepter de tomber sans trop immédiatement se relever, que la philosophie pourra donc sans doute repenser le sens de l'inhabitation du corps, voire de l'inhabitation de l'homme même par Dieu."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Le libertinage n'est pas circonscrit à un groupe social uniforme, classe d'âge, catégorie socioprofessionnelle, famille philosophique. Il ne forme pas davantage un isolat culturel. Dans la diversité même de ses manifestations, il illustre la variété des situations et des rôles que l'individu peut souhaiter expérimenter dans une vision dynamique, vitaliste, de sa sexualité. Les présents fragments visent moins à établir un catalogue exhaustif des possibles de la performance libertine qu'à apporter quelques éléments de réflexion sur ce qui s'y joue sur (...) les plans relationnel et émotionnel. Ils interrogent une réalité formalisable en de nombreux de ses aspects et tentent d'approcher ce qui se dit à travers elle de l'humaine capacité à acter le désir sexuel comme forme créative."--From publisher's website. (shrink)

La conscience ne nous est pas donnée a priori : il nous revient de l'édifier en nous. Descartes, Kant et Fichte ont tracé le chemin. Mais les penseurs aujourd'hui affirment qu'il n'est rien en nous au-delà du visible, de l'évident. La recherche de l'humain en nous est rejetée comme métaphysique voire subversif de l'ordre. Cet ordre marchand est celui de la valeur, notre seule mesure.

L'immeuble du mobile invite à faire l'expérience d'une manière de penser, par gestes et par diagrammes. Il est une poursuite du travail de Gilles Châtelet soutenue par un approfondissement de la conception du virtuel et de l'événement propre à Gilles Deleuze. Refusant le face-à-face de la nature et de la pensée, il déploie un projet de renouveau de la Naturphilosophie dans le cadre du physico-mathématique, de Galilée jusqu'à la physique quantique. Il expose une dialectique comprenant des centres d'indifférence au cœur (...) des gestes et de leurs dimensions (symétries). Ces dimensions spatiales-temporelles-intensives de l'effectuation du virtuel sont des paliers de la nature et de la pensée, avec des modes différents de mobilité. Des expériences de gestes en pensée sont proposées au lecteur-acteur pour accéder à chacun des paliers, suivant une narration induisant les passages par les subjectivités propres à chacune de ces mises en scène. Ces subjectivités gestuelles sont les fantômes de l'immeuble, ses Horla, le virtuel... (shrink)

A study of how contemporary cinema and film-philosophers explore radical skepticism about our knowledge of the world.

"Heidegger est la dernière autorité philosophique de notre histoire. Il est le dernier grand initiateur dont le jugement soit assuré. Il est aussi le dernier homme de l'ancien monde selon ses trois destinations élevées : le culte, la guerre militaire, l'aristocratie native. En partant d'une lecture de Être et Temps, cet essai se confronte aux grands thèmes de la pensée initiée par Heidegger et propose un nouveau sens de l'individuation appelé l'individualité moderne.".

In so far as the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang Tzu are life-philosophies, they are philosophies of solitude. My aim in the following pages is to explain and defend this claim, clarifying the distinctive kind of solitude that is taught by Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.

Loincloth or business suit, djellaba or Chanel tailleur, blue jeans or leotard, evening gown or shorts, dress has always and everywhere been present as an object of material and symbolic investment. Why does a man belonging to a certain society dress as he does if not because a set of values and constraints such as custom, price, taste or decency prescribes or forbids certain usages, tolerates or encourages certain conduct? Dictating the use and assortment of various garments, this set of (...) values is the expression of a veritable ethics of dress, protected by a series of sanctions that, from simple mockery to punitive measures (sumptuary laws or the present-day repression of transvestism and the illegal wearing of military, ecclesiastical or judiciary garb) guarantees the easy recognition of certain signs that are vital to the social order. (shrink)

Foucault n'aimait pas les logiques de l'identité : celles-ci témoignent de l'assignation de nos discours aux figures de l'autorité ou de la vérité ; mais cette assignation pousse aussi sa prise au-delà de nos discours, jusque dans nos vies, alors vouées à décliner leur identité, à s'identifier à des formes de vie qui sont aussi des normes de vies. Il importe d'analyser de manière détaillée les ressorts théoriques et pratiques de ces logiques d'assignation identitaire ainsi que leurs effets individuels et (...) collectifs. Mais il faut également se demander, avec Foucault et pour une part à partir de sa pensée, si refuser les logiques de l'identité est non seulement possible mais surtout souhaitable pour des sujets qui, s'ils ne sont pas « identifiés » ou identifiés comme de « bons » sujets, peuvent aussi bien souffrir de cette absence d'identité qui fait d'eux des entités spectrales et vulnérables : des identités négatives, abandonnées dans les marges de la reconnaissance politique et sociale, et ne bénéficiant d'aucune ressource pour déployer leur puissance d'agir et leur mode d'existence. (shrink)

Es wird gezeigt, dass gerade in kulturellen Kontaktzonen nicht nur das kulturell Unterschiedliche ubernommen oder angeeignet wird. Vielmehr entsteht im transkulturellen Ubersetzungsprozess etwas Drittes. Dieses Dritte resultiert sowohl aus der kulturellen Vermittlung jedweder Wahrnehmung als auch aus der menschlichen Bestimmung zur Kulturalitat. Indem die empirischen Kulturwissenschaften dieses Dritte im Dialog mit der Kulturphilosophie wieder mehr zum Thema machen, konnen sie ihren Mangel an einem inneren Zusammenhang uberwinden.