We are delighted to present to you our newest ILSE publication, entitled Relational Anthropology for Contemporary Economics: A Multidisciplinary Approach. This volume is edited by Jermo van Nes, Patrick Nullens, and Steven van den Heuvel, and is published in the Ethical Economy series of Springer Publishing. It is freely and unlimited accessible as it is published open access (and in print). Supported by the Goldschmeding Foundation, the book is the result of a symposium organized by ILSE on June 6-7 (2019) in the Peace Palace in The Hague, the Netherlands, to address the importance of reflecting on the status of the prevalent Homo economicus model in contemporary economics. While this particular view on the human being is often assumed in economic models, a growing number of scholars have exposed the limitations of this model over the past decades.
For the symposium, Patrick Nullens and Jermo van Nes prepared a discussion paper drawing on anthropological research in the life sciences, social sciences, and humanities that outlined the contours of what could potentially serve as a refined version of Homo economicus, preliminarily entitled “Homo amans” – the human person as a loving being. A number of scholars working in various academic disciplines were invited to engage with this paper, including keynote speakers Deirdre McCloskey, Rebekka Klein, and Wesley Wildman as well as respondents Hendrik Opdebeeck, Gerrit Glas, and Joke van Saane respectively. Contributions by Dennis Krebs, James Beauregard, James Van Slyke, and Emilio Di Somma were added later. A response paper by Patrick Nullens, Steven van den Heuvel, and Jermo van Nes concludes the volume, engaging with some of the criticisms expressed by individual contributors.
The volume addresses the importance and potential of virtues, the notions of freedom and self-love, the potential of simulation models, the dialectics of love, and questions of methodology in constructing a relational anthropology for contemporary economics. The overall result is a highly informative and constructive dialogue, establishing inter alia a research agenda for future collaborative and multidisciplinary study.
Download your copy or puchase the book via this link.
