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Sun Nov 8 20:45:29 CET 2015

m.edu</a>&gt;<br>
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Dear All,<br>
Dear Paul,<br>
<br>
Thank you for starting this conversation. As I am new to the list and duly =
impressed with the quality of posts and intellectual rigor presented therei=
n, I simply wanted to share some basic thoughts and information.<br>
<br>
I do agree with most that has been said regarding economics and economism. =
As Economics is assumption-based it resembles faith. In many ways, other sc=
iences operate on certain assumptions as well, consciously or not (sociolog=
y, psychology and physics). While we sometimes call those assumptions laws,=
 they are more malleable than we are made to believe. The reason why econom=
ic assumptions are so powerful, I believe, is their simplicity and partial =
truth.<br>
<br>
The ontology of the self/human as psychopathic individual accurately descri=
bes 1-4% of the people and maybe more so those in positions of power (those=
 positions that social scientists tend to study). There is a self-fulfillin=
g prophecy at work when buying into the narrative (which I agree most insti=
tutions largely have, including political and media institutions).<br>
<br>
While Richard Noorgard argues (if I understand correctly) for a new &quot;i=
sm&quot; to emerge to counter the religious power of economism, I would sub=
mit that we may be able to build on an old &quot;ism&quot;, namely humanism=
. A renewed form of humanism which bridges the wisdom of the ancestors (say=
 philosophy/theology) with the insights created by science (say evolutionar=
y biology/neuroscience) will not be able to avoid &quot;ontological assumpt=
ions&quot; about who we are as people/humans, but may be able to help trans=
ition into a form of organizing society, economy and beyond that is more li=
fe-conducive..<br>
<br>
The Humanist Management Network, of which I=E2=80=99m a founding partner, h=
as been working on reconnecting the old humanistic traditions with the insi=
ghts of the sciences to provide an alternative narrative for human organizi=
ng (<a href=3D"http://www.humanetwork.org" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_bl=
ank">www.humanetwork.org</a>). The baseline of this group is that to counte=
r the power of economism, you need to have a parsimonious (simple) assumpti=
on set of who we are as people and what we wish to organize for. We call it=
 =E2=80=9Cprotecting human dignity and promoting well-being.=E2=80=9D This =
is not new at all, yet possibly quite relevant when examining alternative w=
ays of organizing (which I would submit is the crux of many problems we are=
 facing: poor organization).<br>
<br>
Here is a link to a video (3 minutes) that may describe the above a bit bet=
ter:<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DkRcBveTN1Y8" rel=3D"noreferrer"=
 target=3D"_blank">www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DkRcBveTN1Y8</a><br>
<br>
We therefore do not get rid of assumptions, but think we can better defend =
those (see below)<br>
1) we are endowed with dignity, intrinsic value<br>
2) we do care about us and each other (otherwise we would not have survived=
)<br>
3) we ultimately wish to flourish/be happy<br>
4) we therefore intuitively understand that treating others with dignity se=
rves us all best (we still need to learn how: education is the humanist the=
ory of change)<br>
5) and we are in pain when we destroy our life-systems.<br>
<br>
I would argue that the notion of dignity as that which is intrinsically val=
uable can be helpful. Dignity escapes the exchange and market logics and th=
erefore could be critical in the quest for organizing formats that compleme=
nt/supersede the market. Just a couple of ideas.<br>
<br>
Thanks for this rich conversation and all the best,<br>
Michael Pirson<br>
<br>
Director for Social Innovation<br>
Director, Center for Humanistic Management<br>
Associate Professor, Fordham University<br>
<br>
********************************************************************<br>
<br>
Friday, October 30, 2015<br>
<br>