5. Toward a Humanistic Paradigm?

This chapter tries to advance the present state of economic ethics by merging the insights of the teleological and liberal traditions into a “humanistic paradigm.” This paradigm is characterized by the foundational status of human dignity for all economic relationships. But is there a conceptual form of the notion of dignity that reconciles the unity and the diversity of humanity’s normative aspirations? As bedrock for intercultural dialogue and cooperation the principle of human dignity can serve us, if and when its specification is entrusted to participatory processes open to all concerned. This project is advanced by the fact that, over the centuries, a substantial ethical consensus across temporal and cultural divides has already been reached. From the cosmopolitan foundation of this “global ethic,” the outlines of a discipline of “humanistic management,” devoted to social, moral, and ecological sustainability, become visible. Last, but not least, business models of Social Entrepreneurship are studied as exemplars for the humanistic management model.