The Spiritual Poverty of Material Economy

Abstract

The spread of free-market doctrine across the globe is a discouraging sign for the col lective well-being of humanity. Central to the problems posed by modern economy is its inability to rise above the simplistic assumptions of the Enlightenment and its idealistic purification of rationality. The following paper discusses the limitations of modem economy and its unfortunate tendency to ignore and destroy the immaterial values that cannot be contained within its own nar row measures of human well-being. Any adequate reduction in its potential for ulti mate harm will require nothing less than a radical reconsideration of the dispirited and limited western worldview from which it emanated.