A Tripartite Model of the Homo Amans: Eros, Philia, and Agape

In the academic years 2020/21 en 2021/22 we have taught a broadening minor in the field of relational economics, values and leadership. Students were given a broader view of the human being grounded in the humanities (theology and classical philosophy) and social/life sciences (Sapolsky, Haidt, Kahneman), which they then learnt to translate into models in behavioral economics that included reciprocity and leadership. In the anthroplogical track, we will present a tripartite model of the human being as an organizing model for this multidisciplinary approach. We will relate the evolutionary development of animals, social animals and humans to the Hebrew conceptualizations of the human being as basar, nefesh and ruach, and the Greek conceptualization of the psyche as driven by epithumia, thumos and nous. We will borrow the terms of eros, philia and agapè from C.S. Lewis’ Four Loves to describe this tripartite model and relate this to the homo amans as the developed by Nullens e.a.. In the economic modelling track, we will show how this work can be used for the development of behavioral economic modelling.