Value Dimensions of the Transaction—A Proposal of Business Metaphysics for Relational Economics

Transactions are the basic events of the economy. In the second section, this article explores the “event” as the ultimate unit in different micro-analytical approaches and concludes metaphysically that the world—both in the physical realm and in the realm of business—works as a dynamic network of events. The third section argues that events can be explained “reductively”, i.e., micro-analytically, but that this explanation is not “reductionist” in character; rather, all events are poly-dimensional in nature. Finally, the fourth section analyses the multiple value dimensions of economic transactions. In this context, values of a social-ontological nature (economic values and moral–cultural values) can be distinguished from values of the natural-ontological type which, referring to Whitehead’s metaphysics, are termed as “actuality values”. In these values, which are objectively (intrinsically or extrinsically) inherent in all things, the concept of “ethical interest realism” recognizes the ontologically objective cosmological foundation of any ethics. All these value dimensions of the universe gather in every economic transaction.