A model for a new society: Values,ethics, and the global economy

Increasing interdependencies and vulnerabilities in the global economy appear to require a re-examination of our neoclassical economic individualism. The philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead provides a fundamentally new framework for a view of reality based on organic and social models rather than on mechanistic and individualistic ones. This article summarizes Whitehead's central concepts and explores the ethical implications of his social conception of reality for economic behavior. It also draws ecological implications from his thought and makes suggestions for management behavior. This article concludes that a new way of thinking is required to function ethically in a socially interdependent universe.