Business ethics and a faith-inspired solution to the problem of economism

This article examines the influence of economism on contemporary business practice. The first part surveys some of the recent scholarship from the business field regarding economism and particularly its accretion from business academia into the workplace. Part two identifies the central problem of economism in an implicit anthropology. Drawing from a variety of commentary and studies, this part illustrates that while reason identifies the deficiency in the economistic view of the human person, an authentic anthropology lies beyond reason’s grasp. The last part aims to show how the encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate of Benedict XVI demonstrates that a reason open to faith points to a solution. The work of the now emeritus pope offers an anthropological vision capable of supplying a foundation to a business ethics that can support a commercial practice better designed to contribute to human development and the satisfaction of human needs.