Aproximaciones éticas al problema del free rider: consecuencialismo, deontología y ética de la virtud

Abstract

In contemporary ethics, the free rider problem occurs when in a group of people who work for a common aim, someone takes advantage of the collective work and makes a comparatively lower effort than the rest of the group, receiving the same benefits. The problem consists in avoiding this behavior that, intuitively, is considered undesirable. This essay presents an analysis of the problem from three different perspectives in moral education: consequentialism, deontologic proceduralism and virtue ethics. I show the weaknesses of consequentialism and of eontology to analyze and solve this problem and avoiding the undesirable behavior. Finally, I show that an examination of the problem from the perspective of virtue ethics as a model of moral education offers certain advantages over the other models.

Keywords:

free rider

educación moral

ética normativa

virtud

racionalidad práctica

free rider

moral education

normative ethics

virtue

practical rationality

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