Cardinal Issues in the Future of Social Economics: A Humanistic View

Abstract

Social economics must be seeking its unity in the forces of human nature. That is no easy task. Elsewhere (Lutz, 1990, 407-42), I have indicated that our Association can be characterized as a rather heterogeneous group with several divergent orientations, but with a common core: a strong conviction that economic thinking and discourse cannot be carried out in an ethical vacuum, and that it is this explicit ethical foundation which is so distinctive for social economics as an alternative to ordinary economics. The challenge before us, therefore, is essentially twofold: first, to develop and articulate this core further, and second, to indicate how such a foundation can generate meaningful guidance for policy makers. In what follows, I will attempt to indicate how this double challenge might apply to the humanistic tradition in social economics, a tradition that dates back 180 years to J. C. L. Simonde de Sismondi. As its name implies, the humanistic perspective centers upon the human person and human welfare. It does so explicitly and candidly and without apologies.1 As does conventional economics, we stress human agency and autonomy and like to make generalizations