The Whole Breadth of Reason. Rethinking Economics and Politics

The financial and economic crisis and the rapid geo-political\r\ntransformations we are experiencing, including the recent developments\r\nin Middle East and north-Africa, urgently call for their\r\nbroad and realistic understanding.The 2011 ASSET summer School was a small but significant\r\nstep in re-planning our journey, starting from the very beginning:\r\nfrom re-thinking the notions of human reason, especially\r\neconomic and political “reason”. The inadequacy of the dominant paradigms – reducing economic reason to rational calculation\r\non one side, and politics to mere realpolitik on the other –\r\nis all too evident and has crucial ethical implications. To adopt a\r\nrealistic attitude when facing economic and political crises requires\r\nother than mechanistic and disciplinary approaches.The aim of the ASSET Summer School 2011 was focussing on\r\nhuman reason in ways that are “sensitive to the truth”, examining\r\nthe complex links between rationality and freedom, economics\r\nand politics, exploring how best to develop and foster reasonable\r\npractices in the economy and in politics in a “wider” interdisciplinary\r\nperspective. Academics, researchers, professionals,\r\njournalists were called to reflect upon the full breadth of human\r\nexperience, mind and heart, courageously overcoming narrow\r\ndisciplinary perspectives. Contributors include: Angelo Scola, Alva Noë, David Schmeidler, David J. Storey, Antoine Nasri Messarra, Edward Hadas, Adrian Pabst, Mathias Nebel, and others