Using Agent-based Models (ABM) for Ethical Prescriptions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62876/lr.vi41.5465Keywords:
Agent-based models, ethical prescriptions, Business EthicsAbstract
We propose to use Agent-based models (ABM) for estimating trend consequences of following concrete ethical prescriptions in impersonal social relationships. We discuss the potential and limitations of this methodology and its utility for the many sources of ethical prescriptions in our society--among them, University courses in professional and corporate Ethics, CSR, Sustainability, and similar ones.
We follow an Aristotelian conception of Ethics, where the goodness of a prescription results both from its relation to moral principles and from its expected consequences. ABM allow to enrich the knowledge about expected consequences in defined contexts with a generality, similar to the one intended by the prescription. Thus, ABM may contribute to the discernment of ethical prescriptions.
For demonstration, we develop a basic example of ABM for the study of commutative justice in a stylized market. We derive some hypotheses from that model, and propose several ways for further confirmation or refusal of those hypotheses.
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