Papers

The Awakened Brain

Laszlo Zsolnai’s review on Lisa Miller’s book “The Aawkened Brain” has been published in Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion 19(5) October 2022. pp. 546-549. DOI: https://doi.org/10.51327/YYAK1825 Lisa Miller is a professor of psychology at Columbia University who has a joint appointment at Columbia Teachers College and Columbia Medical School. She is a well-known scholar in the field of spirituality and depression and serves as the founding director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at… Read More »The Awakened Brain

Spirituality and Economics

My paper on “Spirituality and Economics” has been published in the Journal for the Study of Spirituality in the UK. https://doi.org/10.1080/20440243.2022.2126136 This paper argues that mainstream economics is a materialist and reductionist science. It criticizes the core assumptions of mainstream economics – namely, the existence of ‘Homo Oeconomicus’ and the goals of profit maximization, economic efficiency, and economic growth; and shows that these goals lead to an economy that is not only unhealthy for people… Read More »Spirituality and Economics

Ecologies of Transdisciplinary Research

Paul Shrivastava, Laszlo Zsolnai, David Wasieleski, and Philippe Mairesse: “Ecologies of Transdisciplinary Research” Ground Works 2022 August https://groundworks.io/journal/commentaries/9 In this paper the authors consider transdisciplinarity to be qualitatively different from interdisciplinarity or multidisciplinarity in several crucial ways. Transdisciplinary work takes its problems from the real world and not disciplinary gaps in knowledge or combining disciplines for innovative new understandings. Transdisciplinarity involves co-creation of integrated knowledge across disciplines with stakeholders to solve problems on the ground.… Read More »Ecologies of Transdisciplinary Research

Spirituality, religion and the functioning of the economy

Laszlo Zsolnai: “Spirituality, religion and the functioning of the economy” JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF SPIRITUALITY 2022. No. 1. This article describes the background to, and focus of, a new and extensive research program being undertaken at the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies of the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary. Entitled the Economy and Religion Program, it aims to explore and study the multiple roles that religion and spirituality play in the functioning of the… Read More »Spirituality, religion and the functioning of the economy

Wellbeing Oriented Organizations

I published a major paper on Wellbeing Oriented Organizations with Paul Shrivastava (Penn State University). We argue for connecting human flourishing with ecological regeneration and provide real world examples of innovative business and social organizations doing this. The paper is available online as open access publication at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/beer.12421

Art and Aesthetics in Sustainability Education

Sybille Persson, Paul Shrivastava and Laszlo Zsolnai: “Art and Aesthetics in Sustainability Education. Insights into Beautifying Management Education with François Jullien” RIPCO (Revue Internationale de Psychosociologie et de Gestion des Comportements Organisationnels) Vol XXVII, Issue 71, 2021 pp. 75-98. The paper questions the conceptual basis of art and aesthetics used in management education in order to foster sustainability education. Our specific approach is to open a dialogue with the Chinese conception of aesthetics, particularly focusing… Read More »Art and Aesthetics in Sustainability Education

Ethics and Spirituality

Laszlo Zsolnai: “Ethics and Spirituality” in Yochanan Altman, Judi Neal and Wolfgang Mayrhofer (Eds.): Workplace Spirituality. Making a Difference. 2022. De Gruyter. pp. 75-83. The paper discusses the relationship between ethics and spirituality in business and management context. It shows that business ethics lacks a deeper existential-spiritual foundation which causes inadequate and ineffective functioning of ethics in business and management. The paper argues for spiritual-based business ethics and presents some research tracks, namely Integral Ecology,… Read More »Ethics and Spirituality

Frugality, Intrinsic Value of Nature, and Wellbeing-Oriented Businesses

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Frugality, Intrinsic Value of Nature, and Wellbeing-Oriented Businesses.’ The Journal of the Macau Ricci Institute, 2021, vol. 7. The paper suggests three key ideas that are crucial to change the economic paradigm towards an economy oriented to the common good based on solidarity and fairness. These are frugality in consumption and production, acknowledging the intrinsic value of nature, and developing wellbeing oriented businesses. Frugality, Intrinsic Value of Nature, and Wellbeing-Oriented Businesses (English) Frugality, Intrinsic Value… Read More »Frugality, Intrinsic Value of Nature, and Wellbeing-Oriented Businesses

Business and Violence

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Business and Violence.’ , in New Frontiers in Conflict Management and Peace Economics: With a Focus on Human Security, eds. M. Chatterji, and P. Gangopadhyay, Emerald, UK, 2021. (This book may be available at: Emerald) Today business, especially mainstream global business, seems to be at war with society and nature. Striving for profit and competitiveness, mainstream business produces monetary results at the expense of nature, society and future generations. With its exclusive focus on profit-making, mainstream businesses… Read More »Business and Violence

The Responsibility of Scientists

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘The Responsibility of Scientists.’ Magyar Tudomány, 2001, vol.182, no. 3, pp. 425-427 This Hungarian essay discusses the prospective (future oriented) responsibility of scientists related to the various stakeholders affected by the application of their scientific results. It uses negative examples from business and management sciences including the agency theory and shareholder value maximization theory. It suggests the scientists should avoid focusing on wrongly defined problems and should take ethical criteria seriously. The Responsibility of Scientists