Manfred Max-Neef
The fact that we live in a world full of answers and very few questions, has allowed for certain disciplines -particularly economics- to construct their arguments and theories based on an imaginary world. From quantum physics we now know that the world is not as we thought it was. The world is not mechanic and not Cartesian, but organic and holistic. We are actually facing a perplexing reality. “This new “reality” is not based on matter anymore (matter is not made of matter) but relates to a fundamental immaterial connectedness obeying non deterministic laws. Reality is not “reality” but potentiality, which establishes and intimate, non-separable, non-reducible, holistic relationship between everything. Man is an integral and inseparable part of this more general, all-embracing immaterial reality.1 These fundamental messages have not reached the teaching of economics which is still anchored in the mechanical worldview of the 19th century. In order to open the new space into which economics should adapt itself, the essay presents four visions that attempt to answer what are probably the most important questions: Why do we exist? and What is the purpose of life? The paper ends with considerations about “Economics and Life” and “Economics for Life”. The conclusion is that drastic changes in the teaching and application of economics are fundamental for survival. 1Dürr H (2001) “The Crisis and Challenge of Globalization: Insights from Physics”. Max Planck Institut für Physik, München.
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