The Moral Force of Exploitation

Exploitation generally is ubiquitous in human affairs, as is the specific injustice involved in exploitation in the domain of trade. This chapter explores how to respond to occurrences of exploitation. It develops a general perspective of constrained agency and an accompanying differentiated vocabulary to delineate obligations of particular agents. The chapter also offers a theory of stepping stones towards as well as of prices worth paying for the creation of a just world. Such an approach allows to distinguish between two kinds of cases: first, cases of exploitation that can be accepted temporarily on a decent progression from the current unjust state of the world to a more just one, and secondly, cases that cannot be put into perspective this way and that must be terminated forthwith. The chapter reflects on how to use such arguments properly since overusing them is tempting.