케인즈의 윤리와 논리

The Ethics and the Logic of Keynes

본고에서는 케인즈의 윤리관을 살펴본다. 그리고 그의 윤리관을 합리화해주는 논리로서 확률론을 살펴본다. 그리고 나서 인생 후반에 이루어진 그의 윤리관에 대한 지기반성을 알아본다.

This note reviews the development of the ethics of Keynes. His ethics is influenced by the ethics of G.E Moore, namely the ideal utilitarianism. Thus he thinks that the first principle of the goodness is the love among people and the enjoyment of beautiful objects. Keynes asserts that, using the logic of probabilities, one can judge the right action which enhances the love and the beauty. The Treatise on Probability is the logical basis of the ethics of Keynes. Keynes has confidence on the human reason and claims for the individual rational judgement on the right actions. This is in line with the individual rationalism. However, his logical basis for the ethics is shaken by the incidence of two World Wars. His confidence on the human reason is shaken. He also admits the subjectivity of the probability judgement in response to Ramsey’s critics so that the objective reasoning for the ethical judgement is shaken. For all, he seems to stick to his ethics of individual rationalism. His ethics is similar to that of Christianity in that it emphasize the love among people and the freedom from the laws and conventions. His ethics is different from that of Christianity in that it has too much confidence on the human reason. Christianity notes the imperfect human reason and emphasizes the necessity of healing the imperfectness by the guidance of Holy Spirit.