Mathias Risse* and Gabriel Wollner Three Images of Trade: On the Place of Trade in a Theory of Global Justice Abstract: Economic theory teaches that it is in every country’s interest to trade. Trade is a voluntary activity among consenting parties. On this view, considera- tions of justice have little bearing on trade, and political philosophers concerned with global justice should stay largely silent on trade. According to a very different view that has recently gained prominence, international trade can only occur before the background of an international market reliance practice shaped by states. Trade is a shared activity among states, and all participating states have in principle equal claims to gains from trade. Trade then becomes a central topic for political philosophers. Both views are problematic. A third view about the role of trade in a theory of global justice is then presented, which gives pride of place to a (non-Marxian) notion of exploitation. The other two views should be abandoned. DOI 10.1515/mopp-2014-0013 1 This paper advances a view about the role of trade in a theory of global justice that gives pride of place to a notion of exploitation. 1 We explore three images, or moral ontologies of international trade, one of which we recommend as philo- sophically preferred and develop in depth. 2 By the moral ontology of domain D, we mean a description of D that reveals what aspects of D matter, in what ways, *Corresponding author: Mathias Risse, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, 79 JFK St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA, E-mail: mathias_risse@harvard.edu Gabriel Wollner, London School of Economics 1 We are grateful to audiences in the political science department and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, the philosophy departments at the University of Manitoba and the University of Düsseldorf, the Otto Suhr Institut at the Free University Berlin and at a conference at Justitia Amplificata in Bad Homburg for discussion. We are indebted to Ben Ferguson, Micha Glaeser, Aaron James, Anja Karnein, Florian Ostmann, Cord Schmelzle and three referees for comments. 2 In this study “trade” is always “international trade.” Moral Philosophy and Politics 2014; 1(2): 201–225 Angemeldet | michael.schefczyk@uni.leuphana.de Heruntergeladen am | 04.03.15 09:11