Traditional economic models try to rationalize themselves through traditional modes of ethics

2. Recovering the hidden foundations of economic activities: An ethical perspective

The industrial economic system, together with widespread economic thinking, actually are responsible for the ecological and social crisis. Neoclassical economists claim their thinking to be value-free. They do not realize the many taken for granted foundations and the underlying value decisions on which their thinking is based. This narrow view has to be enlarged by the (re-)introduction of the ethical perspective in looking at the foundations on which industrial economies and the theoretical thinking about them are based. Revealing the often taken for granted foundations is looking at economics from an ethical perspective.

In Europe, the discussion about the relation between ethics and economics (re-)started in the 1980s. There are different approaches, of which two should be mentioned. One of them is the "economic theory of morals" (()konomische Theorie der Moral). The economic theory of morals does not question the economic model of action, but applies it to ethics as well (Homann and Biome-Drees, 1992).

The other approach is the "ethical theory of the economic foundations" (Grundlagenkritische Wirtschaftsethik). It considers and, thus, makes visible the usually taken for granted foundations of economic theory and practice. In this case the ethical perspective in economics is understood as a critical view of the existing economic and social structures (Ulrich, 1990). The ethical theory of the economic foundations reconstructs general presuppositions of economics and economy. It is based on discoursive ethics or communicative ethics (Apel, 1976; Habermas, 1988), which makes use of the Kantian process of reflexive justification. The essence of this process is the reconstruction of the presuppositions of practical reason. Communicative ethics uses this idea and reconstructs the necessary presuppositions of discourses. The fundamental norm of communicative ethics is the principle of egalitarian reciprocity, the recognition of the subject in any human being. Every human being is recognized as a reasonable subject who has the same rights and duties as oneself.

But every philosophy is based on a certain experience and it can be assumed that the fundamental norm of communicative ethics reflects the experiences of their often male authors. Therefore, we also have to ask for potential androcentric biases within this fundamental norm. Feminist philosophers have been pointing to this problem. There are at least two aspects of discoursive ethics which might be called androcentric: first, the separation of questions of justice from questions of the 'good life' and, second, the conception of the autonomous self.

The separation of questions of justice from questions of the so-called good life results in questions of justice as discussed in public whereas questions of the good life are relegated to the private sphere. Furthermore, the neglect of questions of the good life means that experiences of women are not discussed in moral theory. The conception of the autonomous self bare of any social relations reflects an individual who is in our society much closer to a man's than a woman's conception of self. Again, experiences of women remain more or less excluded.

The task of feminist ethics is to make visible the experiences of women in moral theory. Feminist discoursive ethics argues that the 'generalized other' should be completed by the 'concrete other' to take into account experiences of women and their conception of self. Thus, besides the principle of egalitarian reciprocity, which concentrates on the social and ecological compatibility, we have to recognize the principle of 'complementary reciprocity' to make possible a 'communicative ethics of need interpretation' (Benhabib, 1986).

The ethical theory of the economic foundations and its feminist critique help us to identify as a main foundation of the present economic system what we call maintenance economy. In this paper we define maintenance economy as productive and creative (reproductive) activities that are carried out without payment of money. To these belong ecological processes as well as the maintenance of social and physical relations that are indispensable for human existence and which we call caring activities. In our society these numerous caring activities are mainly carried out by women.

Our hypothesis is that any understanding of the maintenance economy is the basis for an understanding of economic activities as a whole (Busch-Liity et al., 1994; Biesecker, 1992). We have to take into account the fundamental impact of this realm for any economic and other human activity. Traditional economists often fail to notice the importance of this maintenance economy for every economic system. The ethical theory of economic foundations in its broadened view helps us to make this impact visible. By rewriting economics from an ethical and feminist perspective against the background of the ecological and social crisis, we will get necessary insights to redesign the socio-politicai structures towards a better future for women, men, and children. 3. The importance of caring activities and their principles for any economy

3.1. The ICE-model

Viewed from an ethical perspective, our analysis has three main elements: industrial economic thought and action (I), caring activities (C), and ecological processes (E). All three of them are densely interrelated in at least six different ways as presented in Fig. 1.

3.1.1. The elements

Present day industrial economies have some fundamental characteristics: they are monetary

(Figure Omitted)

economies; as free enterprise systems they are largely profit oriented; goods and services are produced by (gender) division of labor and are distributed and exchanged on the market. The main paradigm of money-making economies consists in the production of exchange value. This paradigm emphasizes the overall target for economic systems producing commodities. In practical terms, therefore, the rationality of exchange value is identified with economic action as such (Immler, 1989). In monetary economies the exchange value of a commodity or a service is in most cases identical with its price. That means that present day economic processes attribute value only to what can be priced and, therefore, they can only react to what is of exchange value. The free enterprise, money-making economy is the kind of economy that mainstream economists refer to in defining and discussing economics. But the economic world understood as a monetary and profit-oriented world is by no means identical with the world from which economic activity actually profits (Binswanger, 1991).

Economic thinking that is aware of its responsibility as regards the present crises has to take into account the natural and social contexts of life. These contexts of life constitute the basis and framework of any economic activity. Responsible economic thinking and action do not take these contexts for granted and drown them in its implicit assumptions or banish them as invariable data. On the contrary, it considers the prior conditions of economies and acknowledge their fundamental significance.

The base of the triangle we call maintenance economy. To the maintaining basis of every economy belong ecological processes and caring activities. To this foundation of every economy belong parts of the eco-sphere which have not been used at all or which have been used only with regard to ecological exchange processes, such as the recycling of air by forests or the ground as storage room for industrial and household waste. Thus, the economic value of large parts of nature is neglected by economic thought, but nevertheless used and relied upon in economic activity.

To this foundation also belongs the sphere of what we call caring activities, in which production and consumption are not yet linked by the monetary process, but where the 'wage' of the work is its very product. We still find such elements today, not only in third world economies, but also to a large extent in the basis of industrial economies.