This book presents a unique real-world-centred approach to economic life from a phenomenological approach. It offers a much-needed alternative to conventional economic thinking, giving a transdisciplinary depiction of the economic process's social, cultural, technological, political, and ecological dimensions. Doing so appeals to students and researchers in economics aiming to get an alternative to the reductionist model-based approach.Written in a jargon-free and non-technical way, it appeals to non-economists alike and those seeking a more profound and living understanding of the economic process. What is the role of nature in the economic process? Is there more to economics than we have been told? Do we have infinite needs? What are these needs? Can we keep on growing forever? Does economic growth improve our wellbeing? Why is the income gap widening? What is the role of financial capital in our current world? Are there other forms of producing, distributing, and consuming wealthbeyond markets? What are the functions of markets, and how do they work in the real world? These and many other aspects are discussed in living and holistic ways in this book. It is a must-read for all those interested in gaining a more profound and genuine understanding of our current reality and those looking for ways out of our current crises.

Autorentext

Andri W. Stahel has graduated in economics, in public administration, has a master's degree in international economics, and holds a PhD in social sciences. Stahel has been teaching and researching for over 30 years in ecological economics, associative economics, development studies, social phenomenology, complexity theory, Goethean Science, epistemology, and post-normal science. Currently, he is affiliated with the Associative Economy Institute (ELO), Brazil. During this time, he developed a unique, living, and holistic perspective into the economic process, which he termed regenerative oikonomics. Lately, he has been writing about and promoting his phenomenological, transdisciplinary, and holistic understanding to offer a living and real-world perspective of economic life to a larger audience. This perspective provides a much-needed alternative to the standard model-based and reductionist approach to the economy found in mainstream economics.

Inhalt

Part I. What Went Wrong with Modern Economic Science?.- Chapter 1. Introduction: Encounter of the Fifth Kind with an Alien Science.- Chapter 2. Is Economics a Science?.- Chapter 3. About Economists and Theologians.- Chapter 4. Taking a Phenomenological Approach to Oikonomics: Looking at the World in Living and Holistic Terms.- Part II. What is the Oikonomy all About?.- Chapter 5. Aristotles' View - Oikonomy as the Art of Living and Living Well.- Chapter 6. Polanyis' View - The Different Forms of Oikonomy.- Chapter 7. The Troubles with Free-Markets.- Part III. Nature's Oikonomy.- Chapter 8. The Ways of Gaia.- Chapter 9. A Matter of Scale.- Chapter 10. Learning to See Again.- Chapter 11. The Evolution of Consciousness.- Part IV. Human's Oikonomy.- Chapter 12. Humans as Part of Nature's Oikonomy.- Chapter 13. Are We in Need of Our Needs?.- Chapter 14. Money, Cancer and Finances: Why the Rich Get Rich, and the Poor Stay Poor.- Chapter 15. Conclusion - In Freedom and Responsibility.