Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Cultivating Conscience : How Good Laws Make Good People / Lynn Stout.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2010]Copyright date: ©2011Edition: Course BookDescription: 1 online resource (320 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691139951
  • 9781400836000
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 171/.6 22
LOC classification:
  • BJ1471 .S725 2011eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- PART ONE -- Chapter 1. Franco's Choice -- Chapter 2. Holmes' Folly -- Chapter 3. Blind to Goodness: Why We Don't See Conscience -- PART TWO -- Chapter 4. Games People Play: Unselfish Prosocial Behavior in Experimental Gaming -- Chapter 5. The Jekyll/Hyde Syndrome: A Three-Factor Social Model of Unselfish Prosocial Behavior -- Chapter 6. Origins -- PART THREE -- Chapter 7. My Brother's Keeper: The Role of Unselfishness in Tort Law -- Chapter 8. Picking Prosocial Partners: The Story of Relational Contract -- Chapter 9. Crime, Punishment, and Community -- PART FOUR -- Conclusion: Chariots of the Sun -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index
Summary: Contemporary law and public policy often treat human beings as selfish creatures who respond only to punishments and rewards. Yet every day we behave unselfishly--few of us mug the elderly or steal the paper from our neighbor's yard, and many of us go out of our way to help strangers. We nevertheless overlook our own good behavior and fixate on the bad things people do and how we can stop them. In this pathbreaking book, acclaimed law and economics scholar Lynn Stout argues that this focus neglects the crucial role our better impulses could play in society. Rather than lean on the power of greed to shape laws and human behavior, Stout contends that we should rely on the force of conscience. Stout makes the compelling case that conscience is neither a rare nor quirky phenomenon, but a vital force woven into our daily lives. Drawing from social psychology, behavioral economics, and evolutionary biology, Stout demonstrates how social cues--instructions from authorities, ideas about others' selfishness and unselfishness, and beliefs about benefits to others--have a powerful role in triggering unselfish behavior. Stout illustrates how our legal system can use these social cues to craft better laws that encourage more unselfish, ethical behavior in many realms, including politics and business. Stout also shows how our current emphasis on self-interest and incentives may have contributed to the catastrophic political missteps and financial scandals of recent memory by encouraging corrupt and selfish actions, and undermining society's collective moral compass. This book proves that if we care about effective laws and civilized society, the powers of conscience are simply too important for us to ignore.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400836000

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- PART ONE -- Chapter 1. Franco's Choice -- Chapter 2. Holmes' Folly -- Chapter 3. Blind to Goodness: Why We Don't See Conscience -- PART TWO -- Chapter 4. Games People Play: Unselfish Prosocial Behavior in Experimental Gaming -- Chapter 5. The Jekyll/Hyde Syndrome: A Three-Factor Social Model of Unselfish Prosocial Behavior -- Chapter 6. Origins -- PART THREE -- Chapter 7. My Brother's Keeper: The Role of Unselfishness in Tort Law -- Chapter 8. Picking Prosocial Partners: The Story of Relational Contract -- Chapter 9. Crime, Punishment, and Community -- PART FOUR -- Conclusion: Chariots of the Sun -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Contemporary law and public policy often treat human beings as selfish creatures who respond only to punishments and rewards. Yet every day we behave unselfishly--few of us mug the elderly or steal the paper from our neighbor's yard, and many of us go out of our way to help strangers. We nevertheless overlook our own good behavior and fixate on the bad things people do and how we can stop them. In this pathbreaking book, acclaimed law and economics scholar Lynn Stout argues that this focus neglects the crucial role our better impulses could play in society. Rather than lean on the power of greed to shape laws and human behavior, Stout contends that we should rely on the force of conscience. Stout makes the compelling case that conscience is neither a rare nor quirky phenomenon, but a vital force woven into our daily lives. Drawing from social psychology, behavioral economics, and evolutionary biology, Stout demonstrates how social cues--instructions from authorities, ideas about others' selfishness and unselfishness, and beliefs about benefits to others--have a powerful role in triggering unselfish behavior. Stout illustrates how our legal system can use these social cues to craft better laws that encourage more unselfish, ethical behavior in many realms, including politics and business. Stout also shows how our current emphasis on self-interest and incentives may have contributed to the catastrophic political missteps and financial scandals of recent memory by encouraging corrupt and selfish actions, and undermining society's collective moral compass. This book proves that if we care about effective laws and civilized society, the powers of conscience are simply too important for us to ignore.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)