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Abstract

Proceeding from the dialogue between the tradition of Catholic social teaching (CST) and socio-economic development, this paper addresses the perceived irreconcilability of the neoclassical microeconomic model of rational self-interested individuals with that of the altruistic and sacrificing behavior called for by the Christian church. To confront this research problem, we present the challenging task of teaching economics in a Jesuit and Catholic university that consciously promotes Ignatian values and pedagogy. Highlighting the internal dialogue within the economics discipline on the differing views of self-interest versus community interest, we tackle how economic theory and application have arduously grappled with these two conflicting but assiduously overlapping pursuits of human interests. The paper concludes with the need to develop separate teaching materials in understanding rationality, self-interest, altruism, and reciprocity—concepts that need to be discussed in tertiary-level classes via the illustration of market transactions, state intervention, and building trust and cooperation in communities. Inevitably, this discussion expands to ethics and morality, which will then be the natural bridge to the social values taught in the theology of Catholic social vision. This tradition must be pursued through continuing immersion and study, and the constant dialogue between economics and the theology departments and other disciplines.

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