Abstract
Laszlo Zsolnai’s oeuvre focuses on the individual: the model of economic actor, human motivations in decision making, and the problem of the modern self. The paper seeks, first, to present Laszlo Zsolnai intellectual journey through which he broadened his views on the relevant motivations of economic actors from ethical to spiritual ones. Second, it analyses the pivotal role behavioral models play in the construction of social sciences showing that any social inquiry involves some degree of normative content. Behavioral models are not merely descriptive, but prescribe a certain view on reality. Therefore ‘transformative sciences’, like business ethics or ecological economic, should devote special attention to the problem of human agency. This is a view, which is not necessarily widely shared, but certainly hold by Laszlo Zsolnai.
Friends (by Vajda Lajos)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
For example, what we are supposed to think about monetary speculation. Is it a mechanism, serving like a „lubricant”, to drive economy towards equilibrium, or is it rather a mechanism, quite similar in its effects to herd spirit, which repeatedly causes imbalance.
- 3.
Appreciating this, Etzioni proposed a new paradigm: socio-economics (Etzioni 1988).
References
Bandura, Albert, Gian-Vittorio Caprara, and Laszlo Zsolnai. 2000. Corporate transgressions through moral disengagement. Journal of Human Values 6 (1): 57–64.
Boda, Zsolt. 2005. Business ethics as critical thinking. Ethics Matters March: 1–3.
Boda, Zsolt, and Laszlo Zsolnai. 2016. The failure of business ethics. Society and Business Review 11 (1): 93–104.
Bouckaert, Luk. 2006. The ethics management paradox. In Interdisciplinary yearbook of business ethics, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, 191–193. Oxford/Bern/Berlin/Bruxelles/Frankfurt am Main/New York/Wien: Peter Lang.
Boudon, Raymond. 2006. Are we doomed to see the homo sociologicus as a rational or as an irrational idiot ? In Understanding choice, explaining behaviour, essays in the honour of O.-J. Skog, ed. J. Elster, O. Gjelsvik, A. Hylland, and K. Moene, 25–42. Oslo: Unipub Forlag/Oslo Academic Press.
Daly, Herman. 2007. Ecological economics and sustainable development. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Etzioni, Amitai. 1988. The moral dimension: Toward a new economics. New York: The Free Press.
Frank, R.H., T. Gilovich, and D.T. Regan. 1993. Does studying economics inhibit co-operation? Journal of Economic Perspectives 7 (2, Spring): 159–171.
Frey, Bruno, and Margaret Osterloh. 2005. Yes, managers should be paid like bureaucrats. Journal of Management Inquiry 14 (1): 96–111.
Friedman, Milton. 1953. Essays in positive economics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Goshal, Sumantra. 2005. Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning and Education 4 (1): 75–91.
Illes, Katalin, and Laszlo Zsolnai. 2015. The role of spirituality in business education. Society and Business Review 10 (1): 67–75.
Ims, Knut J., Lars Jacob Tynen Pedersen, and Laszlo Zsolnai. 2014. How economic incentives destroy social, ecological and existential values: The case of executive compensation. Journal of Business Ethics 123 (2): 353–360.
March, James G. 2006. The myth of rationality. In Interdisciplinary yearbook of business ethics, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, 17–30. Oxford/Bern/Berlin/Bruxelles/Frankfurt am Main/New York/Wien: Peter Lang.
Myrdal, G. 1984. Implicit values in economics. In The philosophy of economics, ed. Daniel M. Hausman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Higgins, Eleanor, and Laszlo Zsolnai, eds. 2017. Progressive business models: Creating sustainable and pro-social enterprise. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Polanyi, Karl. 1957. Trade and market in the early empires. New York: The Free Press.
Polanyi, Michael. 2015. Personal knowledge. Towards a post-critical philosophy. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Sen, A. 1987. On ethics and economics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Taylor, Charles. 1989. Sources of the self. The making of modern identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Tencati, Antonio, and Laszlo Zsolnai, eds. 2010. The collaborative enterprise: Creating values for a sustainable world. Oxford/Bern/Berlin/Bruxelles/Frankfurt am Main/New York/Wien: Peter Lang.
Zsolnai, László. 1987. Mit ér az ökonómia, ha magyar? Budapest: KJK.
———. 1989. Másként gazdálkodás. Címszavak az altenatív gazdaságtanho. Budapest: KJK.
Zsolnai, Laszlo. 1998. Rational choice and the diversity of choices. Journal of Socio- Economics 5: 613–622.
———. 1999. Moral responsibility and economic choice. In Managing business in Hungary, Berács József és Chikán Attila (szerk) ed. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, pp. 496–506.
———. 2002. New agenda for business ethics. In Ethics in the economy – Handbook of business ethics, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, 1–7. Oxford/Bern/Berlin/Bruxelles/Frankfurt am Main/New York/Wien: Peter Lang.
———. 2004. Genuine business ethics. Ethics Matters 2004: 1–3.
———. 2006. Ethical decision making. In Interdisciplinary yearbook of business ethics, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, 97–113. Oxford/Bern/Berlin/Bruxelles/Frankfurt am Main/New York/Wien: Peter Lang.
———. 2007a. The moral economic man. In Ethics in the economy. Handbook of business ethics, ed. L. Zsolnai, 36–56. Oxford: Peter Lang.
———. 2007b. Why ethics needs spirituality? In Spirituality as a public good, ed. Luk Bouckaert and Laszlo Zsolnai. Antwerpen/Apeldoom: Garant.
———. 2008. Responsible decision making. New Brunswick: Transaction Books.
———. 2010a. Ethics, competitiveness and the sustainability of companies. Journal of Creativity and Innovation 3 (1): 15–32.
———. 2010b. Ethics needs spirituality. In Spirituality and business. Exploring possibilities for a new management paradigm, ed. Sharda S. Nandram and Margot Esther Borden. Heidelberg/Dordecht/London/New York: Springer.
———. 2011. Environmental ethics for business sustainability. International Journal of Social Economics 38 (11): 892–899.
———. 2013. The importance of meta-economics. In Responsible economics. E.F. Schumacher and his legacy for the 21st century, ed. Hendrik Opdebeeck. Oxford: Peter Lang Academic Publishers.
———. 2016. Ethics education of business leaders. Emotional intelligence, virtues, and contemplative learning. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion 13 (3): 266–268.
———. 2017a. Issues and themes in moral economics. In Economics as a moral science, ed. Peter Rona and Laszlo Zsolnai. Cham: Springer.
———. 2017b. Ecological economics in the anthropocene. Ecological Economics 139: 158–159.
Zsolnai, Laszlo, and Wojciech W. Gasparski, eds. 2002. Ethics and the future of capitalism. New Brunswick/London: Transaction Books.
Zsolnai, Laszlo, Sven Junghagen, and Antonio Tencati. 2012. Redefining the roles and duties of management. Journal of Global Responsibility 3 (1): 121–133
Zsolnai, Laszlo, and Katalin Illes. 2017. Spirituality-inspired creativity in business. International Journal of Social Economics 44 (2): 195–205.
Zsolnai, Laszlo, and Antonio Tencati. 2010. Beyond competitiveness, A. Tencati, and L. Zsolnai, ed., pp. 5–15.
Zsolnai, Laszlo, and Doirean Wilson. 2016. Art-based business. Journal of Cleaner Production 135 (4): 1534–1538.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Boda, Z. (2018). From Ethics to Spirituality: Laszlo Zsolnai on Human Motivations. In: Bouckaert, L., Ims, K., Rona, P. (eds) Art, Spirituality and Economics. Virtues and Economics, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75064-4_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75064-4_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75063-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75064-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)