Abstract

The economy and human dignity can be thought in different constellations. The following attempt shows that the significance afforded to the economy in the whole of human life has implications for the understanding of the concept of human dignity. A review of various concepts of the economy aims to illuminate the problem of human dignity from the viewpoint that an integral part of being human is the dependence on nature, on other people and on the community. Systematic loci of this investigation are the different views on the economy developed by, amongst others, Aristotle, the Jewish and Christian religion, Adam Smith and modern economic theory