This white paper from the Institute of Leadership and Social Ethics exposes the assumptions hidden in economic thinking: the assumption that humans function as Homo Economicus.
The Institute of Leadership and Social Ethics is critical of the one-sidedness of this Homo Economicus and proposes the Homo Florens as a complement to it. Central to this proposal is the hypothesis that humans have four fundamental "drives," namely 1) the desire for survival, 2) the need for control of the environment (Homo economicus best fits this drive) 3) the desire for connection with others (people, nature) and 4) the need for meaning.
The white paper describes the importance of doing justice to these fundamental human drives in economic thinking about humans, and thereby avoiding the over-reduction of the Homo Economicus.
