The Free Person and the Free Economy A Personalist View of Market Economics

by Santelli, Anthony J., Jr.; Sikkenga, Jeffrey; Sirico, Rev. Robert A.; Yates, Steven; Zúñiga, Gloria

• ISBN13: 9780739101865
• ISBN10: 0739101862
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-17
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

Foundations of Economic Personalism is a series of three book-length monographs, each closely examining a significant dimension of the Center for Economic Personalism's unique synthesis of Christian personalism and free-economic market theory. In the aftermath of the momentous geo-political and economic changes of the late 1980s, a small group of Christian social ethicists began to converse with free-market economists over the morality of market activity. This interdisciplinary exchange eventually led to the founding of a new academic subdiscipline under the rubric of economic personalism. These scholars attempt to integrate economic theory, history, and methodology with Christian personalism's stress upon human dignity, humane social structures, and social justice. This second volume in the series surveys the anthropological foundations to the disciplines of economics and moral theology. The first part of the book presents an overview of the German, French, and Polish branches of personalist thought. Particular attention is given to theological anthropology, especially as it is developed by such thinkers as Emmanuel Mounier, Max Scheler, Gabriel Marcel, Karol Wojtyla, and Emil Brunner. Part two surveys models of human nature that have been espoused by various schools of free-market thought--including mainstream neoclassical economics. In conclusion, the authors demonstrate how an expanded understanding of human nature can augment the ability of economic science to model and predict human behavior.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Part I: What Is Economic Personalism?	1	(32)
An Introduction to Economic Personalism	3	(14)
Previous Syntheses of Moral Theology and Economics	17	(16)
Part II: An Integrated Theory of Human Action	33	(56)
Economic Value and Moral Value	35	(14)
Human Action: Morality	49	(16)
Human Action: The Market	65	(16)
Human Capital	81	(8)
Part III: The Moral Significance of Economic Liberty	89	(34)
Economic Liberty	91	(20)
Economics and Community	111	(12)
Conclusion: Toward an Economic Personalism	123	(8)
Bibliography	131	(8)
Index	139	(8)
About the Authors	147	(2)
About the Center for Economic Personalism	149