Megan Way - Economics and Merton, Developing the Negatives

What kind of economic system might Thomas Merton advocate? What principles would it be based on and how would it differ from what we see in the United States, or Sweden, or China, or Cuba? Answering these questions requires developing the negatives. Merton's writings are full of critiques of capitalism and its voracious appetites, its obsession with technology, its triviality and tricks, its relationship to the war machine, and its degradation of humans in pursuit of profit. Merton also critiques communism and its materialism, its obsession with technology, its relationship to the war machine, its degradation of humans in pursuit of production, and its repression of individual freedoms. In this talk, Megan Way will attempt to develop Merton's negatives into an imagined picture of a more "Mertonian" type of economic system, and will ask the participants to lend their imaginations and insights from Merton to this process. Megan Way, PhD. is an Associate Professor of Economics at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate business students, and her research spans several areas, including family economics, ecological economics, socio-ecological systems and most recently, spiritual leaders and economic ideals. Megan completed the Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM, in 2021. She and her husband Rob have four grown children, and live on Cape Cod. See future programs and register to join a future discussion live at: https://merton.org/twm/