According to Marx, "at any given epoch of a given society, [there is] a quantity of necessaries [recognized as] the necessaries of life habitually required by the average worker." The variations in the type and amount of goods recognized as necessary for life between different epochs and different societies is due to the different 'physical conditions' and to the different 'degrees of civilization' and 'comfort' prevalent. In advanced capitalist societies, the necessities of life include a heated dwelling, food, clothing, and access to some means of transportation, be it public or private. However, the average laborer in advanced capitalist societies has access not only to the necessaries of life but to a variety of luxury items as well. For example, the average worker has access to fine food and drink, an automobile, a television, and a stereo system. In my paper, I explain Marx's theory of the nature of capitalist exploitation. I then indicate how the phenomenon described above may be interpreted as evidence against Marx's theory, and then sketch an interpretation of this phenomenon that reconciles it with Marx's theory. My interpretation will suggest that the average worker's access to luxury items can be explained by the necessity in capitalism of reproducing the working class.

Allais' paradox provides a convenient way to demonstrate that the distribution of alternatives we face in a situation of choice may give rise to new factors. These emergent factors may need to influence a one time choice of rational decision-makers, although they should not be taken into account in long reiterative games.

When analyzed within economic methodology, the Duhem-Quine thesis has been given a particularly restrictive interpretation, with the focus on the testing of individual hypotheses. The most recent contributions however have shifted the focus from the testing of individual hypotheses to that of more extensive structure such as paradigms or schools of thought within economics. In this connection the impact of the Duhem-Quine thesis remains extremely pessimistic in prohibiting the rejection of an economic paradigm. In this paper we refute the basis for this methodological pessimism by focusing on an alternative and broader framework of analysis, which is termed "causal holism." Contrary to the standard approaches to economic methodology, causal holism does not start with the Duhem-Quine thesis at the level of testing. Rather we distinguish between the Duhem-Quine thesis at the level of meaning and at the level of testing. This distinction necessitates a reinterpretation of the role of economic theory. At the level of testing, contrary to the standard interpretation, which distinguishes between a strong and a weak thesis, we introduce a threefold distinction. Applying this distinction to economic methodology, we demonstrate how economic theory can be exposed to holistic testing while incorporating the causal holistic reinterpretation of the Duhem-Quine thesis.

1. A strong interest shown by modern society to the sphere of economic attitudes, and connected to it the growing authority of the economists. - 2. Perception about the "iron" laws of economics as highest criteria of economic activity and life in general (economic fatalism). - 3. An exploration of the most widespread motives of housekeeping: struggle for a survival, earning one's "life", earning on "the black day". - 4. Logical "circumvention" of all these motives confirmed by the daily facts. - 5. Managing for the sake of managing - professions for amateurs. - 6. Narrowing the sphere of action of the economic "laws" from "all" to "wishing". - 7. Optionality of the "iron laws" of economy, even for those wishing to be engaged in it. (with examples). Dependence of economy on ethics and psychology. - 8. The essence of the moderate fatalism, its incompleteness and discrepancy. - 9. Economics as a game, initiated and regulated by the government. Decreasing of the status of economic game with the eldering of the population. - 10. Inevitability of occurrence of "shadow" sector in economy, which considers as its basic purpose the obtaining of the profit. 11. A dilemma rising before any man without preconception: to admit economy to be a "dirty business", fun for the adults, or to search for the "third" way, which... 12. ...on my sight, consists of returning to the initial sense of the word: economics-a reasonable running of an economy, or keeping house keeping) - 13. The elementary analysis of this definition. - 14. The task of philosophy of economics in the given context. - 15. Concept of "organic economics" demanded by real life, instead of the obsolete, and diminishing influence of the exclusively mechanical approach. Universal character of this concept.

The concepts of Utility and Universality form an answer to the utilitarian topology of Utility and the General Good. Starting from the realization that utility cannot be determined materially, but only formally, the very premise of utilitarian philosophy has to be abandoned. The greatest good is not the good of the greatest number, but the universal good.

This paper begins with an explanation of the "life sequence of value," which is defined by the formula Life->Means of Life->More Life (L->MofL->L1). The analysis then contrasts this general sequence of value to the "money sequence of value," which is shown to have three autonomous forms not before distinguished: (1) Money->Means of Life->More Money ($->MofL->$1); (2) Money->Means of Life Destruction->More Money ($->MofD->$1); (3) Money->More Money->More Money ($->$1->$2->$3->$n). I explain how the first money sequence of value, analyzed by Marx in his classical formula of industrial capital (M->C->M1), has mutated so that the standard sequence of (1) assumed by economists has, in fact, been increasingly displaced by sequences (2) and (3). The argument shows that these sequences of economic "growth" increasingly dismantle environmental and civil life-fabrics, but remain unproblematic to the dominant economic paradigm whose measures of value do not register life-losses in their value accounts. It is concluded that a regrounding of economic understanding in the life sequence of value is required to avoid a cumulative breakdown in the conditions of social and planetary existence.

This article is an attempt to sketch a philosophical view of money as a social phenomenon. I show that the way to understand the substance of money is to analyze its meaning as a medium of exchange in connection with its meaning as a purpose of exchange, thereby providing an investigation of its social value. This approach has been used by many of the great philosophers and economists of the past, but not today. Modern economics is a policy oriented theoretical discipline and concentrates its efforts on solving practical tasks. I hope to contribute a philosophical approach to economic research.

The thesis of this paper is that the ethics of environmental economy must search for a virtue-ethical basis. The traditional utilitarian approach has been the dominant ethical paradigm in neoclassical economics, but it is very problematic regarding environmental issues. Alternative orientations for an environmentally responsible economy can be found from (a) the history of economics, especially from the Aristotelian tradition (Aristotle, the physiocrats, Hegel, Marxism, etc.), and (b) recent discussions about values in nature. Through these, one can look for economic virtues which are ecologically sound and, at the same time, socially and culturally possible. Some such virtues do already exist (e.g., saving) which must be interpreted only ecologically. Others (e.g., ethical control over the level of demand) can be found from the economic ethics of Antiquity. Economic virtues are usually followed unconsciously and alternatives are scarce. The ethics of ecological economics must develop ecologically meaningful virtues: through that it can make a place for new environmentally sound practices and policy.