Deirdre McCloskey: per un'etica borghese

Abstract

Professor of Economics, History, English Literature and Communication at the University of Illinois, Deirdre McCloskey's figure is certainly unique. Her personality combines a transgender identity, an Episcopalian faith and a right-wing libertarian political ideology. A strong supporter of the "night-watcher State" theory, her strenuous defence of bourgeois virtues would seem provocative to the average intellectual mainstream, and her appeal in favour of the rehabilitation of bourgeois ethics in economics presents interesting aspects which fruitfully contribute to contemporary debate. This essay aims to analyse the account furthered in her "bourgeois trilogy", both in its historical and its ethical aspects.