Abstract

Ethicmentality is an innovative book. It blends ethics with mentality to capture the interdependence of ethical life and social life creatively. The book is also innovative because of the way this interdependence is explored. By focusing on practical ethical behavior in today’s economy, business, and society, Michela Betta has advanced an understanding of ethics freed from the burden of moral theory. By introducing a new type of analysis this book also contributes to methodological innovation. Familiar issues are revisited through the notion of ethicmentality. Capitalist economy is presented in terms of a mentality embedded in society, culture, and politics. Government is revealed as mentality about how to govern economically through market freedom rather than human rights. The rise of the financial economy is described as challenging the traditional capitalist mentality of equal opportunities. A money mentality around debts and owing is perceived as having replaced credit and owning, and the rise of corporation managers as having destroyed the old mentality of ownership. Ethicmentality shows the potential of constructive critique from economic, business, and society perspectives. It also breaches traditional limits by developing the idea of ethical capital and entrepreneurial ethics. Ethical thinking is infused with the Aristotelian notion of virtues and moderation to reflect about modern work. Ethicmentality helps us see the complexity of social and personal life. Given the pervasive nature of mentality and ethics’ focus on individual deliberation, ethicmentality represents their productive combination, a new blend for ethical and social analysis.