E**thicmentality 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.
