Author O. J. Schumann

In the discussion about ethics and economics, the approach of ethical systems analysis in different variations has become one of the most central subjects. Ethical systems analysis indicates that kind of (economic) approach which considers the formal conditions in which individuals act and communicate ignoring the person (individual) himself. Nevertheless, the meaning an individual has in this context is to be viewed very differently in each case, which will be illustrated by means of several examples. Finally, this perspective will be confronted with the constructivistic-systemic view in fact on the institutional as well as the individual level. This leads to an extension concerning three aspects: (i) the interdependence of individual and social system, (ii) the controllability of social systems and (iii) the systemic character of the individual respectively the person himself.