This volume celebrates the work of Laszlo Zsolnai, a leading researcher and scholar in the field of the ethical and spiritual aspects of economic life, who has made significant contributions to the connection between ethics, spirituality, aesthetics and economic theory. The book offers a selection of essays concerned with the ethical, spiritual and aesthetic context within which economics as a social studies discipline should be situated in order to avoid the sort of dehumanising consequences that theories based on utility maximisation and rational choice necessarily entail. It presents the economic activities of human beings not as some sort of preordained obedience to universal laws that operate independently of other human concerns, but, rather, as a part of the human desire for the Aristotelian good life. It looks at the various considerations ¿moral, spiritual and aesthetic ¿ that take part in the formation of economic decisions in sharp contrast with theories that purport to explain economic phenomena solely on the basis of utility maximisation.

Celebrates Laszlo Zsolnai's significant contributions to the connection between ethics, spirituality, aesthetics and economic theory Includes essays concerned with the ethical, spiritual and aesthetic context Presents the economic activities of human beings as a part of the human desire for the Aristotelian good life

About the authors.- Part I: Introduction.- 1 Laszlo Zsolnai, as friend and moral scientist; Luk Bouckaert, Knut Ims and Peter Rona.- 2 Laszlo Zsolnai 's academic career: an overview; Luk Bouckaert, Knut Ims and Peter Rona.- Part II: The power of art.- 3 The Essential, the Beautiful and the Economic: the Brotzeit by Eduard Grützner and Zsolnai's Philosophy; Carlos Hoevel.- 4 The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci and the links to food, conviviality, sharing, and spirituality; Antonio Tencati.- 5  A dog. Just a dog; Josep M. Lozano.- 6  The Light of the World;  Katalin Illes.- 7  Friedensreich Hundertwasser - The Five Skins of the Ecological Man; Ove Jakobsen and Vivi ML Storsletten.- 8  Antarctica - Natures's Awesome Artwork; Eleanor O'Higgins.- 9  Az Öreg Halász (The Old Fisherman): An essay for Zsolnai László; Mike Thompson.- Part III: Beyond rational ethics.- 10 From ethics to spirituality: Laszlo Zsolnai on human motivations; Zsolt BODA.- 11 Angels from the Future. The voice of coming generations; Luk Bouckaert & Rita Ghesquiere.- 12 The Aesthetics of Energy Resilience;  Paul Shrivastava.- 13  On the experience of beauty in nature, in mathematics and science, and in spirituality; Peter Pruzan.- 14  Management and liberal arts: A Transformational Odyssey with Rabindranath Tagore; Sanjoy Mukherje.- Part IV: Economics and the creation of meaning.- 15 The capitalistic religion: Old questions, new insights; Luigino Bruni.- 16  Nature, Economics, and Scream; Knut J. Ims.- 17   The Idea of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Responses of Economic Theory; Stefano Zamagni.- 18  What can sense making economies learn from the GNH of Bhutan?; Hendrik Opdebeeck.- 19 Innovation in the intervention into nature by legal means; Dániel Deák.