The Power of Ideas in Economics and Society

Quotes on the Influence of Ideas

"Ideas control the destiny of the world, and the absence of ideas or the confusion of ideas can destroy the world "
-.Heinrich Pesch
"The idea of economists and political philosophers both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."
-John Maynard Keynes
Reading Assignment
• Course pack Unit 4 Buddhist Economics (Schumacher) • The Land of Realism and the Shipwreck of idea-ism: Thomas Aquinas and Milton Friedman on the Social Responsibilities of Business (Wishloff) • Responsible Free Enterprise: What it is and Why We Don't Have It. Teaching Business Ethics, volume 7, Number 3, August 2003, 229-263 (Wishloff)) Read section: Revoking the Moral Order pp. 240 — 251.
• Byron: chapter Six Human Dignity • Handout: The Far Side (Email distribution)
Hand-in Questions:
1) In his article, Buddhist Economics, E.F. Schumacher states that conventional economic thinking suffers from a metaphysical blindness. To make his point he contrasts how economics configured from a Buddhist perspective differs from modern economics along the following dimensions: 1) View of Labor/Value of Work 2) Essence of Civilization 3) Essential Values/Hierarchy of Values 4) Relationship to or View of the Natural Environment
Draw out the position of both economic systems on the dimensions given. Why is conventional economics metaphysically blind? Hint: It is obvious enough, as the name suggests, that Buddhist economics is developed from the worldview of Buddhism but what worldview underlies modern economics?