Evolutionary analysis of the transformation of ethical approaches in economic science

Since the emergence of the first economic views, economic theory has been associated with ethics and reliance on ethical principles of behavior. In the process of historical development, there is a constant change in ethical interpretations in the consideration of economic relations. The development of economic theory in the twentieth century within the framework of Western scientific trends of neoinstitutionalism, neoclassical and neoliberal economic thought, Keynesian theory, behavioral economic theory, etc. led to the rejection of moral and ethical assessments of economic behavior, which in turn leads to the need to fill the expediency of economic activity and the formation of target guidelines, replacing universal values with a monetary assessment of the latter. In modern conditions, the formation of the ethical basis of economic science is becoming more relevant. The purpose of the work is to study the transformation of ethical concepts of economic science and identify the stages of transformation of ethical principles in economic science. The methodological basis of the study is presented by the evolutionary approach using the methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison and generalization of the ethical content of the concepts of economic science. The analysis of the content of the stages of transformation of the ethical content of economic science is a progressive development of economic science aimed at substantiating the mechanisms of economic choice, acquiring the mechanistic nature of the analysis and weakening the influence of ethical norms and rules. The study identifies six stages of transformation of ethical concepts in economic science: ethics as the basis of economic relations; ethics of individual categories and mechanisms, ethics of means of economic choice, ethics of rational economic behavior, ethics of the Soviet economic model, the modern stage. The presented evolutionary model shows the movement of economic science and its relationship with the interpretation of the content of economic relations and their goal-setting, which allows us to see the formation of public demand for the analysis of economic relations based on moral and ethical attitudes. However, within the framework of modern discourse, a pluralistic interpretation of the ethical principles of economic science is developing, requiring further detailed research and the formation of conceptual approaches.