Multi-aspectual Economics
A Foundation for Rethink
Overview, Contents and Summary
(These pages are best viewed in a narrowish window.)
There are several 'rethinks' of economics; why do we need yet another? Lots of things seem wrong with economics ...
And there is a plethora of proposals on what to do about the problems:
De-growth; Sharing Economy; Microfinance; God's Good Economy; Redeeming Economics; Freakonomics; Gift Economy; Digitalization; Relational Economics; Wellbeing economics; Value of Everything; Value(s); Human Development Index; Biodiversity; Economics of Arrival; Economics of Enough; Economy for the Common Good; Economy of Communion; Utopia for Realists; Poor Economics; Gross Happiness Index; Blossoming Economy; Circular Economy; Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism; Participatory Market Systems Development; Mission Economy; Post-Growth; Natural Order of Money; True Price Movement; Doughnut Economics; Foundational Economics; Development Economics; Civil Economy; Environmental Economics; New Environmental Economics ...
Each proposal addresses one or two of the problems. To each, one or two main aspects, beyond the economic aspect, are meaningful and give concern. It is as though recent thinking is suddenly discovering the aspects of life that economics previous overlooked. So many different schools in economic theory are calling us to take account of aspects beyond and in addition to the economic aspect, that a multi-aspectual approach must be taken seriously.
We take that challenge seriously, and, at the very root of our thinking is the question, "What aspects are there, how do they interact?" Answering this helps us bring the insights of all these schools into a common picture, an overall view. We 'join the dots' - in both theory and practice in economics, as a discipline and as a sphere of life, its activities and its outcomes, its good and its bad points.
Rethinking tries to generate an overall view and "The need to reconstruct (or reorient) economics is almost unanimously acknowledged" [Cojanu 2017], so there have been many attempts to rethink economics over the past 50 years. But even these are a plethora, and point in many different directions (see Rethinkers in Economics).
Here we set down a foundation for rethinking. Attempts to rethink economics do seek some overall view, but most come at it from inside economics; we come to economics from the outside, allowing a wider view. We bring a rare set of perspectives: from everyday life, from philosophy, from Christian (and other religious) thinking, from seeking to embrace rather than reject or take sides. The foundation we present comes not just from philosophy but from actually practising rethinking, so this exercise might be seen as a rethink in its own right, shaped by the realities encountered by all as well as by these perspectives. To achieve this, it also comes from the inside of economics, engaging with economic theory and practice in detail: listening, affirming, critiquing and enriching. This has led to several main principles ...
Overview of Main Foundational Principles of Rethink
Consider:
Have economics and the economy lost their way? In Chapter 4, we discuss the meaning, mandate and mindset of economics as integral economics and not just from outside. Example Key takeaway: Economics as 'serving' other spheres of life, all together aimed at Multi-aspectual Overall Good, rather than being the most important.
Is economics too narrow in what it values? In Chapter 5, we argue that a wide range of values is important, to be taken account of within economics theory as well as practice - especially the natural world, unpaid household work, and even subtle things like happiness, aesthetics and faith. Example Key Takeaway: A sound foundation for refusing to make money the measure of all things: Dooyeweerd's Aspects to understand diversity of value(s).
Do economic predictions keep going wrong? Do we truly understand economic activity? Chapter 6 presents a multi-aspectual idea of functioning and repercussions, in which economics theory and practice take account of other spheres of human life rather than treating them as 'externalities'. Example Key Takeaways: 1. Take every aspect into account, especially hidden mindset and attitude. 2. Here is a way to include unpaid work.
How much damage does the economy do to the world, to human health and happiness? Chapter 7 finds a way to properly distinguish harmful and useless economic activity from good in multiple aspects, rather than just lump them all together as GDP and the desire for growth do. Example Key Takeaways: 1. GDP should subtract Harmful economic activity from Good, rather than add it. 2. A way to decide where growth and de-growth should occur.
What of the entities in economics, like money, markets or banks? Chapter 8 reconceives entities as bundles of meaning, bringing responsibility right into the centre rather than bolted on. Example Key Takeaway: Money is not a resource for satisfaction; money is an opportunity for responsibility.
That sums up our rethink or reframing of economics.
(These ideas are still being developed, but are substantially complete if you are forgiving.)
This page: a contents list with summaries of each chapter and section. Reading through the summaries should give you an overall idea of what the Rethink / Reframing is about.
Ten chapters in three parts:
Part I, Chapters 1, Introduction. Chapter 2, Overview of Recent Ideas. Chapter 3, Explanation of Perspectives.
Part II, Chapters 4-8, discussing the five questions above.
Part III, Chapters 9-10, Application and Conclusion.
In Part III, Chapter 9 discusses, as a challenging example of how all that can be applied, to understand and prevent environmental destruction.
In Part I, Chapter 1 introduces the problems economics causes, not least environmental problems. Chapter 2 reviews recent and conventional thinking in economics - a plethora of proposals. Chapter 3 presents six perspectives from which we develop the rethink: everyday reality, embracing all views, a multi-aspectual philosophy of the world, a healthy a Christian and other religious perspective, an idea of Multi-aspectual Good, and our methodology of LACE. Embracing? Our rethink recognises valid insight and gross error in both capitalist and socialist economics, orthodox and heterodox, and treats them as part of the same picture.
What is in a Rethink? Pespectives that Guide Us
Every rethink of economics is guided by a number of perspectives, which shape it, often unconsciously. It is good to make them explicit. We have six:
A rethink needs a stance on how it treats the complexities of real-life economics and how authoritative it takes theory and academic material to be. We prioritise pre-theoretical experience over theories and rules, especially for evidence and input, but do so critically.
A rethink will draw upon previous ideas, usually to incorporate or reject. Instead, we treat all ideas as offering some valid insight, yet also some falsehood. So we embrace recent and conventional, left- and right-wing, environmental and human, capitalist and socialist, ...
A rethink presupposes some philosophical underpinnings. Our rethink emanates from Dooyeweerd's multi-aspectual philosophy and especially employs his suite of aspects as a conceptual tool for understanding diversity and coherence.
A rethink takes a stance on the role of religion and ideology, most trying to ignore them or adopt them. We believe religion and ideology offer important insights for economics, but we clearly identify them, so that they do not dominate.
A rethink presupposes some aim to which economics contributes. We believe economics should contribute to Multi-aspectual Overall Good.
A rethink adopts a methodology towards engaging with extant ideas. We listen, affirm, critique, and enrich (LACE), in each of the topics we include within "economics"
Overview of Ten Chapters
Part 1: Introductory Chapters:
Chapter 1. Introduction
Summary: This chapter sets out the whats, whys and hows of this Rethink / Reformation of economics, so that readers can understand it more fully.
Chapter 2. A Brief Overview of Recent and Conventional Thinking in Economics
Summary: This chapter summarises a range of insights from recent thinkers, and perhaps also some conventional ideas from both left and right of economics. It ends with the need for an integrated picture and a way to detect other issues not yet widely discussed.
Chapter 3. Perspectives We Employ in Our Rethink
Summary: Six perspectives guide this rethink and make it possible: 1. Everyday life; 2. Embracing all ideas (left, right and recent); 3. Dooyeweerd's philosophical understanding of reality; 4. Christian/religious perspectives and the insights they bring; 5. Multi-aspectual Overall Good; 6. Engaging with extant ideas.
Part II - The Five Main Chapters
Chapter 4. The Meaning, Mandate and Mindset of Economics
Summary: Economics does not reflect enough on its place among other spheres of life. It is too isolated from them. We discuss the meaning and mandate of economics, its embeddedness among other spheres, and the mindset that tends towards isolation.
Chapter 5. Value
Summary: Economics does not know how to take full account of value beyond its sphere, such as of environment. This may be done systematically using Dooyeweerd's aspects.
Chapter 6. Economic Activity as Human Functioning
Summary: Economics does not have a strong enough understanding of functioning and repercussions, both human and non-human. Dooyeweerd's ideas offer a practical understanding of this.
CHAPTER 7 - Good, Harmful and Useless Economic Functioningpdf
Summary: Economics does not adequately differentiate harmful and useless from good economic activity. We discuss how this may be accomplished by reference to Multi-aspectual Good and Dooyeweerd's aspects.
Chapter Summary: This chapter sets out the whats, whys and hows of this Rethink / Reformation of economics, so that readers can understand it more fully.
Chapter Summary: This chapter summarises a range of insights from recent thinkers, and perhaps also some conventional ideas from both left and right of economics. It ends with the need for an integrated picture and a way to detect other issues not yet widely discussed.
Summary: Conventional economics, both left- and right-wing, also offers value insights, though also many that are not valid. The valid insights contribute to understanding how the economic aspect of reality itself operates.
Summary: We seek a framework for understanding economics as such. Instead of just responding to the above insights, we consider five main issues drawn from philosophy.
Chapter Chapter Summary: Five perspectives guide this rethink and make it possible: 1. Everyday life; 2. Dooyeweerd's philosophical understanding of reality; 3. Christian/religious perspectives and the insights they bring; 4. Engaging with and embracing extant ideas (all: left, right and recent); 5. Multi-aspectual Overall Good.
Summary: We aim to respect the pre-theoretical stance of 'everyday' experience of the reality of economics, along with the theoretical stances that generate ideals and theories.
3-2.2 Diversity and Complexity Summary: Diversity is founded in distinct modalities of meaning (aspects) that, together, yield countless types of thing, process, etc.
3-2.4 Using Dooyeweerd's Aspects as Conceptual Tool Summary: Dooyeweerd's suite of aspects offers a very useful and versatile conceptual tool because it enables us to clearly separate out issues and is a yardstick by which to detect ignored issues, in both theory and practice.
3-2.5 Characteristics of Aspects Summary: To employ Dooyeweerd's aspects we need to recognise their irreducibility, inter-dependency, normativity and a host of other characteristics.
3-2.5.3 Third, about relationships among aspects. Summary: Aspects relate by being irreducibly distinct, depending on each other, which implies an order, are never in conflict, and in which the meaning of each contains analogical echoes of others.
3-2.6 What Aspects Enable in Reality Summary: Reference to aspects help us understand things, properties, functioning, good and evil, etc. more deeply, because aspects make all these possible.
3-2.7.2 On Functioning and repercussions Summary: All that occurs is multi-aspectual functioning with repercussions, both good and harmful. This helps us understand and guide economic activity at all levels.
3-2.7.3 The functioning of attitude and mindset Summary: Two aspects, the ethical and pistic, will be found especially important in understanding the realities of economics, as the hidden influences of attitude and mindset.
3-2.8 The Economic Aspect Summary: Economics centres on the economic aspect; what does this imply for how we understand it?
3-2.9 Conclusion About Dooyeweerd Summary: Dooyeweerd's philosophy is a good philosophical foundation for rethinking economics, and his suite of aspects offers a useful conceptual tool, comprehensive, flexible and embracive.
Summary: Christian, other religious and spiritual perspectives can offer insights that are usually overlooked in economics theory and practice, but which are important for a full understanding of economics, and especially to motivate and enable deep change rather than just discuss.
3-3.1 A Christian Economics? Summary: We do not seek a Christian Economics, but rather to bring valuable insights into economics from Christianity and other religions or spirituality.
3-3.2 Using Scripture Verses? Summary: Instead of using Scripture verses to dictate economic policy or theory, we look for deeper insights from religious / spirituality perspectives.
3-3.7 Judaic Perspective 2: The Role of Humankind Summary: Humankind is to 'shepherd' the rest of Creation with love and care and open up its potential - by science, technology, discourse, policy, etc. Heart attitude is central.
3-3.8.1 Sin Summary: The idea of sin is that Harm is not inherent in Creation but arises from evil human functioning.
3-3.8.2 Individual and structural sin Summary: Corrupt heart and sinful, harmful activity occur at both individual and structural (societal) level, each reinforcing the other.
3-3.8.3 Repentance Summary: Repentance is "I am / we are wrong and choose to change." I / we no longer blame others, even if they too are wrong. Economics needs to repent.
3-3.9 Christian Perspective 1: Change of Heart Summary: A Christian perspective offers a way of inner transformation to change the heart of people; salvation through Jesus Christ and the work of the Spirit of God.
Summary: In rethinking economics we try to engage fruitfully with, and embrace, all ideas, regardless of source. To do this, we need to understand how ideas arise.
3-4.1 Embracing All Ideas (in Principle) Summary: We embrace all ideas, whether from left or right, orthodox or heterodox, recent or ancient, seeking to discern the valid insight and understand where they might be flawed.
3-4.5 Aspectual Analysis Summary: Aspectual analysis involves Dooyeweerd's suite of aspects to identify how each element of a situation or text is meaningful, and it overcomes some problems frequently encountered in analysis.
3-4.6 Scientific Theory-Formation Summary: Scientific theory-formation requires appropriate reasoning from data. Each aspect offers an irreducibly distinct kind of rationality, all of which must be considered. Paradigms express meaningfulness of selected aspects.
3-5.7 Philosophical Reflection Summary: Philosophy reflects on the whole range of meaningfulness that makes all theories, analyses and even everyday life important. It is what enables us to understand paradigms and worldviews, and their emergence.
Chapter Summary: Economics does not reflect enough on its place among other spheres of life. We discuss the meaning and mandate of economics and the prevailing mindset towards economics, of isolation and reductionism instead of embeddedness among other spheres of life. We offer a new basis for discussing economic growth.
4-1.2 Multi-aspectual Overall Good Summary: Most discussions of economics implicitly presuppose some kind of Multi-aspectual Good aim for economics. We make this explicit.
Summary: Economics: so what? The meaning of economics is given by the economic aspect of reality closely linked with all other aspects, omitting none. With the help of Dooyeweerd, but going further, we discuss what unique, kernel meaning the economic aspect offers.
4-2.1 How to Discuss the Meaning of Economics Summary: Any question of meaning is best answered by reference to aspects (modalities of meaningfulness). To discuss the meaning of economics we first try to disclose the kernel meaningfulness of the economic aspect, and then bring in its links with all other aspects. Kernel meaning includes Good, norms, operations and links with other meanings.
4-2.4 The Economic Among Other Aspects Summary: The full meaning of economics involves the meaningfulness of all other aspects, and externalities need to be brought into the heart of economics.
4-2.5 Externalities Summary: Externalities may be understood as links to other aspects.
4-2.6 Embedded Economics Summary: Economics should not be isolated from other spheres of life but embedded among them, interwoven with them.
Summary: What should economics aim to do in the world? Seldom is its mandate discussed. The mandate for economics is to help humanity manage what it deems resources with respect (frugally), so that, as we employ those resources we contribute towards Multi-aspectual Good.
4-3.1 On Mandates Summary: Mandates point to the future, are normative, and apply to both theory and practice.
4-3.2 The Mandate Specific to Economics Summary: The mandate for economics is to help humanity manage what it deems resources with respect (frugally), that are employed to better contribute towards Multi-aspectual Overall Good, without harm or waste.
4-3.5 Economic Growth Summary: Economic growth is not bad in itself but has become an evil because of selfish attitude and idolatrous mindset. In place of discussing questions of whether economic growth is good o bad, or how much growth to allow, we suggest several principles by which we may understand and manage it.
Summary: Sadly, economics is often isolated from other spheres of life, both in its theories and its practice, and by both many economists and also by those who use economics. This is society's mindset towards economics; it tends towards reductionism and idolatry, but needs to change to embeddedness.
4-4.1 Mindsets Summary: Mindsets are our functioning in the pistic aspect, as both individuals and societies. They range from valid and good to idolatrous, destructive. They deeply affect both theory and practice.
4-4.3 Undue Elevation of Economics Summary: Economics has been elevated above other spheres of life, especially by those who use it. This is unhealthy and needs to be rectified.
4-4.4 Reductionism Summary: Reductionism is when one aspect is presupposed as able to account for all else, and all other kinds of value are reduced to it.
4-4.5 Idolatry Summary: Idolatry treats the favoured thing, aspect or sphere of life as 'divine', with absolute authority over us. Economics is often an idol.
4-4.4 Toward Embedded, Humble, Embracive Economics Summary: Instead of being isolated from other spheres of life, arrogantly seeing itself as superior to them, and ignoring what is meaningful in other aspects, economics should see itself as embedded among them, humble, and embrace them.
Summary: To overcome problems in economics we need to explicitly recognise multi-aspectual meaning, a mandate towards Good and abandon a mindsets that elevate, isolate or idolise economics, by recognising every aspect explicitly in both practice and tneory.
Chapter Summary: Economics does not know how to take full account of value beyond its sphere, such as of environment. This may be done systematically using Dooyeweerd's aspects.
Summary: There are multiple, irreducibly distinct kinds of value. Economic value is only one kind and needs to be able to express all others faithfully.
Summary: Value has been variously understood. We link value of something to the Good in contributes, or could contribute, to Multi-aspectual Good. Dooyeweerd's aspects can help us understand the diversity of kinds of value.
Summary: Economic value is the value of an object as resource that enables us to function with wisdom in contributing sustainably to Multi-aspectual Good.
Summary: Assessing value is a useful tool, but is complex and inherently distorts our understanding of real value, which needs to be properly understood.
5-4.3 Using Aspects in Assessment Summary: Aspects may be used to separate out different kinds of value, uncover hidden values and deepen our understanding of values.
5-4.4 Indices Summary: Many quantitative indices: GDP, HDI, GPI, etc. All are limited and some work against others.
5-4.5 Price Summary: What exactly is wrong and right with price as a measure of value?
5-4.6 Wages Summary: Wages are more than money, and express at least three different things.
5-4.7 Judgment Summary: Ultimately, all assessment is done to make good judgments, and we must remember that there are ways of doing this without assessment.
Summary: Dealing with a few known issues can indicate how the above ideas can bring fresh insight.
5-5.1 Valuing Externalities Summary: Instead of labelling impact of economic activity on other spheres of life anonymously as "externalities", and considering their value only as they impact the economy, we value them directly.
5-5.2 The Value in Unpaid Activity Summary: To value only paid work brings many problems. Unpaid (household) activity has immense value, which should be brought into economics (theory and practice). Dooyeweerd's aspects can help us understand its diverse value.
5-5.2.2 Why unpaid activity must be valued Summary: Unpaid economic activity should be valued because it generates much Good (or Harm) that needs to be taken into account, and also because it is often of higher quality than equivalent paid work.
5-5.5.1 Value of Capital Summary: Capital gains its value from its potential to enable people to contribute to Multi-aspectual Good.
5-5.5.2 Value of Labour Summary: The value of labour is of two types, both of which are important. The main one being indirect, in that labour produces goods and services that others use in functioning that contributes to Multi-aspectual Good. Labour also contributes directly from its own multi-aspectual functioning.
5-5.6 Productivity Summary: Productivity is variously (mis)understood, and so misleads us. An aspectual understanding can avoid this.
5-5.7 GDP Summary: GDP needs radical rethink, and governments' adherence to it is a disaster. GDP should indicate the what not just the how-much. It should subtract the Bad from the Good, not add it to it. Aspects can help us do this.
Chapter Summary: Economics does not have a strong enough understanding of the functioning and repercussions of economic activity, especially not of hidden attitudes and mindset. Dooyeweerd's ideas offer a practical understanding of this, and we offer a model of economic activity.
Summary: The range of theories about how we behave in economic activity is wide, though not wide enough, and rather fragmented. We suggest how Dooyeweerd offers a fuller and more integrated picture.
6-1.3 Behavioral Economics Summary: Behavioral Economics offers some understanding on how other aspects impact economic activity, but it is fragmented and patchy in its coverage.
6-1.4 Limitations of Behavioral Economics Summary: Behavioral Economics brings in other aspects, it currently has several limitations, and we suggest how they might be tackled.
6-1.5 Macroeconomic Economic Activity Summary: Macroeconomics can be understood within the same framework as microeconomics, by recognising that whole economies also function in all aspects.
Summary: If we understand economic activity as multi-aspectual functioning led by the economic aspect, then we discover a systematic, integrative treatment that is able to embrace most extant theories, and also recognise unpaid activity.
6-2.1 Kernel Meaning: What is Economic Activity? Summary: Understanding the kernel meaning of the economic aspect brings many activities into economics alongside buying and selling. Understanding all aspects enriches .
6-2.3 Normativity: The Norms of Economic Activity Summary: The kernel norm of economic activity, defined by the economic aspect, is frugality without waste - but for flourishing economic activity the norms of all aspects are important.
Summary: The culture of economics needs to change, but what is culture and how do we change it? The ethical and pistic are two main aspects of culture, and understanding how they operate therein reveals lets us understand the hidden impact that culture has on economics, and suggests what needs to be done to change culture. Especially, benefit from the experience that religions have accumulated about these two aspects.
6-3.1 Some Views about Economics and Culture Summary: People are now discussing cultural and spiritual issues in economics, but few discuss how these operate and what to do. Trainer does, but his ideas need extending.
Summary: A model of economic activity based on Dooyeweerd's ideas, and how to use it to understand things.
6-4.1 The Model Summary: The model in simplified and detailed form: multi-aspectual functioning generating (anti-)value, and our viewpoints.
6-4.2 How to Use the Model in Practice and Research Summary: We may study multi-aspectual functioning by examining situations (and reports) closely to find out in which aspect each detail is meaningful, and then see how the aspects link together.
Summary: This section demonstrates how the above understanding can help us rethink concepts, practices, paradoxes and problems in economics.
6-6.1 A Richer Understanding of Poverty Summary: We redefine poverty to recognise all its aspects, not just numerical amounts of money. Similarly inequality. This will both enrich theory and make policy more successful.
6-6.2 Inequality Summary: Both the causes of inequality, and what is actually problematic about inequality are usefully understood and discussed by reference to Dooyeweerd's suite of aspects.
6-6.4 Labour and Use Summary: Understanding labour as multi-aspectual functioning led by the formative aspect that makes productiveness and quality meaningful, helps us deal with labour-related issues more clearly.
6-6.4.1 Understanding labour with Dooyeweerd Summary: We understand labour as multi-aspectual functioning that generates an object intended for someone else to use, some aspects having special roles.
6-6.4.2 Application Summary: That conceptual framework can help us tackle various labour-related issues and themes.
6-6.5 Unpaid Activity Summary: Unpaid household work is usually ignored in economic calculations, which puts so-called LDNs at a disadvantage. A central focus on human functioning that contributes to Multi-aspectual Good automatically brings unpaid activity into the purview of economics, both theory and practice.
6-6.8 The Circular Economy Summary: The idea of circular economy is appealing and important, but its flaws have not yet been properly understood or addressed.
Chapter Summary: Economics does not adequately differentiate harmful and useless from good economic activity. We discuss how this may be accomplished by reference to Multi-aspectual Good and Dooyeweerd's aspects.
Summary: Good, Harmful and Useless economic activity mix together in real life but need to be separated out in analysis, assessment, planning and theory - yet are not.
7-1.1 Some Examples Summary: Economic activity does much Harm as well as Good, at all levels, and much of it is Useless, and yet it is all mixed together.
7-1.2 Expressions of Concern Summary: Much recent discussion does expose the difference between Good and Harmful and Useless economic activity but it does not offer adequate understanding.
7-1.3.3 Combining these Summary: Taking both Useless and Harmful figures together should make us think carefully and urgently undertake research.
7-1.4 Conflation and Confusion Summary: In most economics theory and practice, especially in finance, Harmful and Useless economic activity are confused and conflated with Good. We need a basis for distinguishing them.
7-1.5 Our Approach Summary: We differentiate Harmful and Useless economic activity from Good on the basis of the normativity and diversity of aspects.
Summary: This is how to use the normativity and diversity of aspects to differentiate Harmful from Good economic activity, in both theory and practice?
7-2.9 On Assessing Harm (and Good) Summary: To assess Harm separately from Good is challenging, but may be facilitated by aspectual analysis followed by qualitative and/or quantitative interpretation thereof.
7-3.2 The Unproductive Summary: Unproductive economic activity is a waste of human economic functioning, which could have been devoted to more Good.
7-3.2.1 What is (Un)productivity? Summary: There is little agreement on what productivity is, covering many aspects, so we employ a multi-aspectual view, which then offers more precision to understanding unproductivity.
7-3.2.2 What 'Causes' Unproductivity Summary: Both academics and reflective practitioners have identified a multitude of 'causes' of unproductivity - which may be understood by the aspects that make each meaningful. Ethical and pistic dysfunctions are often the root causes, corrupting our behaviour and decisions meaningful in other aspects.
7-3.3 Non-essentials Summary: Many goods and services, especially in affluent economies, are non-essential and should be discouraged rather than encouraged.
7-3.3.2 Our Approach to Non-essentials Summary: The challenges of understanding non-essentials might be faced using aspects, with especial reference to the aesthetic aspect.
7-3.3.3 What 'causes' non-essentials? Summary: Multiple reasons have been adduced for why we assemble non-essentials in our lives, each meaningful in a different aspect. Understanding this way draws an holistic picture.
7-3.3.4 Elephants in the room: three things to take into account Summary: Three things that need to be considered together, which are, at best, recognised by only one side in the De-growth debate: that many non-essentials do harm, that many livelihoods depend on non-essentials, and that many people actually want to live with less.
7-3.4 General Understanding of Why Useless Economic Activity Occurs, and How to Curb It Summary: The 'causes' of Useless economic activity (unproductivity and non-essentials considered together) can be understood more generally as meaningful in various aspects, often motivated by ethical and pistic dysfunction. Both individuals and governments have a role in curbing Useless economic activity.
7-3.5 Challenges of Identifying the Useless Summary: It is not easy to clearly distinguish essentials from non-essentials nor productive from unproductive, for several reasons. This is how we may use Dooyeweerd's aspects to do so.
7-5.3.1 National planning by sector Summary: As an example of the above, we show how Supply and Use Tables, employed in sectoral economic planning, may be enriched to differentiate between Good, Harmful and Useless.
7-6.3 Trickle-Down Economics Summary: Trickle-Down Economics, that money made available to the wealthy ends up helping the poor, is argued for or against. Instead, we try to understand the deeper reasons why it does not currently work well, but might have some validity. This is a worked example of the above thinking.
Chapter Summary: Economics puts too much emphasis on entities instead of the Good that we are called to do, resulting in fragmentation, envy and greed. Dooyeweerd helps us avoid this by making meaningfulness the foundation.
Summary: Entity-orientation, which is rife in most fields including economics, presupposes existence as such rather than existence-as. Though it is a fundamental philosophical problem, it has generated a dozen problems in economics.
Summary: Dooyeweerd suggests we understand being and things via meaningfulness, so that existence is existence-as-X, where X is an aspect. This offers a richer understanding.
8-2.1 Being and Meaning Summary: Most Western philosophy adopts an Immanence Standpoint, in which meaningfulness and normativity are divorced from being. Dooyeweerd roots being in meaningfulness, and normativity becomes inherent.
8-2.2 Aspectual Structure of Things Summary: Types of things are defined by profiles of aspects that play a necessary role in being of that type of thing. This enriches our understanding.
Summary: The dozen problems arising from entity-orientation discussed earlier may be addressed and maybe resolved by this new understanding of entities.
Summary: Microeconomics, macroeconomics, global economics, etc. are levels that need integrating into a single framework. Dooyeweerd can offer such a framework: each level is a functioning in different main aspects, which also defines its main responsibility for bringing Overall Good.
8-5.1 The Problem Summary: Traditionally, economics is divided into micro and macro levels, but other levels exist, and many want to understand how levels all relate to each other.
8-5.2 Main principle: Summary: At each level, different sets of aspects are important. Since they are from the same set of aspects, we can expect integration is possible without denaturing any level. And new levels might emerge.
Summary: The different discussions in the realm of environmental economics can all fit into a single picture, in which each is seen as focusing on specific aspects, and/or one or other of the pillars above.
Summary: How should the field of economics (both practice and theory) see itself and be seen by others in relation to the environment?
9-3.1 Overall Meaning of Economics and Environment: Contributing to Multi-aspectual Good Summary: Both economics and environment contribute to Multi-aspectual Good. From the perspective of the environment, Overal Good is usually seen as sustainability or harmony between human and non-human, and, from that of economics, as prosperity or having sufficient resources to contribute to Good.
9-3.1.3 Integrating These Summary: Green movements and environmental economics discourses tend to focus on one or two main aspects, so they can be brought together into a picture of multi-aspectual Multi-aspectual Good.
9-3.2 The Mandate of Economics in relation to the Environment Summary: The mandate of all economics is to enable humans and humanity be careful in its use of resources in contributing to Multi-aspectual Good. The discourses within environmental economics draw attention to the environmental aspects of that Good, but not in isolation from other aspects.
Summary: The non-human environment has multiple values, all of which should be recognised in economics, and environmental economics focuses on those values, especially biotic and psychical. Values provides clear and compelling norms for economics.
9-4.2 Assessing Environmental Value Summary: The qualitative and quantitative ways of assessinig value apply to environmental economics, and there are severall proposals on how to do this.
Summary: Dooyeweerd's aspects and idea of inter-aspect dependency offers a clear framework for understanding the impact of economics on the environment, and vice versa, and of all other aspects on those, especially aspects of mindset and attitude.
Summary: Environmental economics presupposes but seldom explicitly discusses the difference between Good and Harmful and Useless economic functioning. Dooyeweerd's aspects and their innate normativity helps make this explicit, so that it can be studied and used to guide practice systematically.
9-6.2 Other Harms, e.g. Poverty Summary: Environmental Harm must be understood alongside, and not divorced from other Harms, especially that of poverty.
9-6.3 Useless Economic Activity Summary: The three causes of Useless economic activity each apply to environmental economics. ===== actually the below does not seem to say that.
Summary: The environment should be a key stakeholder in the economy, and responsibility for it occurs at all levels. Money and environmental capital should be seen as enabling good functioning, rather than as an owned commodity.
Summary: How do we make economics more environmental? This is how we can apply the above. Each aspect defines and guides a different kind of strategic action in each aspect. For both theory and practice must be affected.
9-8.4 Example: Extinction Rebellion Summary: Extinction Rebellion burst onto the scene in 2019, and achieved a significant shift in environmental consciousness, but how deep did it go? How can we make it last?
Created: 5 June 2023.
Last updated: 6 June 2023 better links. 8 June 2023 r8 smy. 16 June 2023 new r4 smy, r4-mindset §. 27 June 2023 discussion box. 27 June 2023 Chapter 6. 30 June 2023 redid §4-2, Meaning of economics. 1 July 2023 new intro. 29 September 2023 Chapter 7. 26 October 2023 bold and key takeaways. 9 November 2023 added to box; rw smy 4-1; Chp Smy DIV. 10 November 2023 reformatted it all to have indents etc. 13 November 2023 kt money. 29 November 2023 5-4.4 redone. 30 November 2023 7-4.5 INW added. 15 December 2023 new section 3-2 embracing; renumbered rest. 16 December 2023 3-3.8 aspanal. 28 December 2023 r4. 25 January 2024 r6 msll. 27 January 2024 r3 rlg persp 1,2. 30 January 2024 saving. 2 February 2024 3-5.4 Rlg 3. 9 February 2024 MAOG. 17 February 2024 extra 6.2.2; renumber. 22 February 2024 errors, and rw perspectives; ch3 smy. 24 February 2024 rw most so it explains about the rethink, and no longer tries to be a home page. 26 February 2024 rw intro qns. 21 March 2024 §3-4 rw. 26 March 2024 §3-4 merged into §3-7, all renumbered, summaries altered. 10 April 2024 new intro. 22 April 2024 ch 8 headings. 24 April 2024 smy for §3-4.1. 23 May 2024 rw KeyT of r5. 1 June 2024 r4 chsmy. 4 June 2024 r4 on econ asp rw. 8 June 2024 r4 s-roam. 13 June 2024 r4 hdgs. 30 August 2024 new ch3 contents. 31 August 2024 hdg 3-3.5 change. 6 September 2024 USPs. 7 September 2024 hdgs in r6-fun. 16 September 2024 r3, spirituality. 21 September 2024 rw intro to have pix etc. 24 September 2024 new sect 3-3.2 on Scripture verses. 26 September 2024 better title: Multi-aspectual Ecx. 3 October 2024 updated r3 headings, summaries. 8 October 2024 new title: Foundation. 9 November 2024 mult rethinks. 11 November 2024 Cojanu. 13 November 2024 r5 contents. 19 December 2024 added 5-4.7 judgment. 27 January 2025 4-2.7 redef. 25 February 2025 gdp rw. 31 March 2025 ch 6 contents. 1 April 2025 ch6 smy rw. 7 May 2025 relabel. 8 May 2025 commented out usps. 16 May 2025 label. 13 June 2025 5-2.3 Human values. 7 July 2025 ch7 contents. 8 July 2025 ch3 and §3-4 smy rw.
