Bruni, an economics professor at Rome’s LUMSA University and a leading scholar of civil economy, challenges the limits of mainstream economics often symbolized by the “invisible hand.” Drawing on history, philosophy, biblical studies and anthropology, he argues that modern economics elevated efficiency while pushing relationships and emotions out of the marketplace, and that this helped spread unhappiness even as material abundance grew.
Tracing roughly 1,000 years from the Middle Ages to the present, Bruni revisits ideas such as the Franciscan movement’s emphasis on fraternity. He says ties that mainstream economics has tended to overlook — trust, bonds, friendship and mercy — are core elements that sustain markets.
Bruni describes market exchange as evolving over time from relationship-centered giving and receiving, rather than simple barter, to contract-based transactions among strangers. Because economic life began with fraternity, trust and sharing, he argues, trust, friendship and cooperation are decisive for sustainability. He calls for restoring humanity to the center of the economy through “philia,” friendship among peers, and “agape,” love given without expecting anything in return, as a way to answer the basic question of how to live well together.
"When the parties’ income or bargaining power objectively places them in a situation of economic inequality, can we create market relationships with fraternity? Some may think not. To find an answer, let’s return to Smith’s example of the customer and the baker. For instance, if the baker works at a small shop in the suburbs and the customer is a wealthy city banker, can their relationship be called ‘fraternal’? (Omitted) If civil society wants to develop feelings of friendship and mutual aid, it should encourage its members to be friendly even toward people who differ from them in many ways, including economic characteristics. Even if we make very critical judgments about the given social and economic system, no one can tell us not to experience certain economic encounters here and now as brothers." (pp. 334-335)
From Hermann Hesse’s “Demian” to Yu Seong-ryong’s “Jingbirok,” Seo offers a list of 100 books meant to guide readers when they lose their sense of direction. As the title suggests, the selections are aimed at young people facing major crossroads and hard questions, spanning philosophy, history and literature.
Seo says the “map of the mind” drawn through reading can become both a way of seeing the world and a marker along life’s journey. Rather than urging young readers to hurry, the book seeks to steady them and help them find a direction.
The book is organized into seven “paths,” including a resilient heart, light that reflects one another, the power to see beyond, reading the direction of the wind, how the world’s forces move, big ripples from small wingbeats, and skills for enduring life. Readers can choose by taste or by interest, and Seo’s summaries are intended to help before reading and to prompt review and reflection afterward.
"Kafka’s existential literature reaches its peak in ‘The Metamorphosis.’ The anxiety that, once a person loses a place in society, the meaning of existence can be erased as well reflects the existential conditions of modern people. Gregor, turned into an insect, is not merely a literary figure; he can be another self-portrait of those easily labeled in the real world as incompetent, left behind, nonregular workers or unemployed. It is also a passage that overlaps with the image of an unemployed head of household in today’s Korean family. The work sends a gaze of compassion and understanding toward such people, while also making readers reflect on their own gaze." (pp. 55-56)
* This article has been translated by AI.
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