Unconscionability and Fairness: Comments on Wertheimer
评论韦特海默关于显失公平原则的论文，探讨该原则如何揭示交换关系中的剥削与公平问题，对商业伦理有重要启示。
A LAN Wertheimer's paper on S*Unconscionability and Contracts's preslents an enlightening discussion of a complex and contentious legal concept4 His primary objective is not to contribute to legal scholarship, but to use the law to shed light on the ethics of exchange relationships. Specifically, he wants to S*use the doctrine of unconscionability in contracts as a lens through which to get a clearer understanding of exploitation its essential characteristics and moral (p. 480). It is apparent that he sees exploitation (and unconscionability) as closely linked to a more general notion of fairness. Wertheimerss paper is of particular significance to business ethics on two levels. Substantively, the very presence of unconscionability in contract law gives comfort to those who want to believe that business dealings should be suEect to a standard of fairness beyond the minimal prohibitions against force and fraud. Wertheimer's analysis is important because it raises serious questions about the coherence and the legitimate reach of this concept. He confronts us with a challenge. His paper is also important from a methodological poin£ of view. It provides a potential model for using the law to facilitate practical ethical analysis. Wertheimer's method is suggestiveX but it has some serious flaws and ltmitations, particularly if we keep in mind his primary (non-legalistic) objective. Though his analysis of particular cases is often insightful, he places too much weight, in his central line of argument, on a rather imprecise notion of competition and he seems to lose sight of his primary objective. Nonetheless, he is able to draw out of his analysis a number of significant conclusions and distinctions.