Economic Sanctions, well-being, and the duty to trade

Fernando Arancibia-Collao

doi:10.13135/2704-8195/9217

Fernando Arancibia-Collao Pontifical Catholic University of Chile https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8837-4901

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13135/2704-8195/9217

Keywords: prima facie duties, survival, self-realization, indispensability, state

Abstract

In this paper I would argue that, in the context of the ethics of economic sanctions, there is a duty to trade, and that duty is grounded in the practical and instrumental indispensability of trading for well-being of the people of the states. I understand well-being as the optimal conditions for survival and self-realization that states must warrant to people. I will answer the arguments against a duty to trade, as well as the arguments for a duty not to trade in those cases where the parties to the trade are dictatorships. I will develop my argument based on the metaethical argument about deliberative indispensability in favor of moral facts, developed by David Enoch, and raise an analogy with practical indispensability. The way of states to promote well-being is by trading. If trade is essential for survival, states have a strong prima facie duty to trade. If trade is not essential for survival, but nonetheless it is important for well-being, then states have a weak prima facie duty to trade.

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Author Biography

Fernando Arancibia-Collao, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile

Fernando Arancibia Collao (1987) is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Applied Ethics of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He is Magister (2016) and Doctor in Philosophy (2018) from the same university. For his doctoral thesis he won the Cardinal Newman Prize (2018) awarded by the VRI and Pastoral UC. He holds a degree in Philosophy, a degree in Education and Professor of Philosophy (2013) from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. He teaches and conducts research in the area of applied ethics, with emphasis on the ethics of economics and business. He teaches Statistics (1st semester) and Ethics and Economics (2nd semester) for master's programs at the University. He is the author of the book Religión en el Espacio Público (Santiago, Chile: Ed. Olejnik, 2017) and specialized articles in indexed journals. He is currently working on a Fondecyt Initiation project on the notion of common good and its link with social welfare. He has been a keynote speaker in interviews and academic talks. He has taught in numerous institutions of higher education and public organizations, such as the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and the Judicial Academy. He is currently editor-in-chief of Veritas Journal (Scopus/SJR Q2).

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