Homo oder Homunkulus? Der Gesichtsverlust der Ökonomie

Abstract

Worldwide fiscal crises and depressions call for a moral taming of the market. Regulations and laws are intended to control what otherwise threatens to get out of control. However, it is easily forgotten that regulations and laws alone are nothing but smoke and mirrors unless they are taken up by human beings with an educated sense of morality. But this very sense of morality, and along with it humanity altogether, is systematically dismissed from economic contexts. The result is loss of face on the part of the economy – the behavioural point of orientation of which, after all, is homo oeconomicus. To counter this dismissal, one might seek to strengthen perception, thinking and action – which are the axis of judgment, including ethical and economical judgment.