Exploitation and consent

To exploit someone is to take unfair advantage of their vulnerability or weakness. But are exploitative interactions necessarily non-consensual? This essay explores the relationship between exploitation and consent, and argues that exploitative exchanges need not involve any defect in consent. Nor do defects in consent such as coercion or ignorance necessarily render an interaction wrongfully exploitative. Defects in consent are thus neither necessary nor sufficient for exploitation, though they may be relevant in determining its moral weight and moral force.