The American Journal of Islamic Social Science Vol. 8, No. 3, 1991 567 

Seminars, Conferences, Addresses 

Second International Conference on Ethico-Economics: 

Ethical Foundations of the Economic and Social Order 

Centre of Humanomics, University College 

of Cape Breton, Sydney, NS, Canada 

Rabi' al Awwal J-4, /4/1/0ctober ll-12, 1991 

The Second International Conference on Ethico-Economics was organized 
by the Centre of Humanomics at the Univer ity College of Cape Breton, 
Sydney, NS, Canada, on October ll-12, 1991. It turned out to be a great success, 
as the fourteen university professor and research scholar' from America, 
Canada, and over eas were active participants in the sessions. There were 
five sessions and three invited luncheon and dinner sessions. The conference 
proved to be of a rigorously analytical nature, as its purpose was to inquire 
into the ethical foundations of the theory and policy of economic reasoning 
and socioeconomic development. 

The objective of the conference was to intensify the Scientific Research 
Program (SRP) launched by a group of university professors and research 
scholars, an undertaking which seeks to discover the analytical and applied 
roots and possibilities of treating ethics endogenously in socioeconomic 
sy tems. The latitude is extended to comprehend the socioscientific system 
as well. The First International Conference on Ethico-Econornics, held at 



568 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 8, No. 3, 1991 

Sydney, NS, Canada, in 1989, inquired into the subject of “The Epistemological 
Foundations of Social Theory.” 

Among the papers presented and extensively discussed in critical length - 
an expressed style of this SRP group to evolve a scientific theory and application 
of ethics as endogenous elements of the socioeconomic and socioscientific 
orders-were two papers on Islamic economics. Mohammad Ansari, of 
Athabasca University, Athabasca, AL, Canada, dealt with the question of 
the Islamic concept of rationality being different from the neoclassical concept 
of rationality. Salah el-Sheikh of St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, 
NS, Canada, discussed the process of knowledge formation in the Islamic 
approach to the study of economics. 

The paper by Masudul A. Choudhury of the University College of Cape 
Breton, Sydney, NS, Canada, was in the area of endogenous conceptLlitlization 
of ethics in contrast to the exogenous treatment to be found in the entire 
history of Western social contractarian theory. Mark Lutz of the University 
of Maine at Orono, Orono, ME, focused on the area of developing standard 
approaches in development studies. He also criticized the existing concept 
of relativism in ethical philosophy. Jon Wisman of the American University, 
Washington, DC, and Kenneth Stikkers of Seattle University, Seattle, WA, 
dealt in their jointly-authored paper with the ethical formulation of the concepts 
of the good life, the common good, and the vision of material progress in 
an ethical framework. 

The papers of Len Pluta of St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, 
NS, Canada, and Li-teh Sun of Morehead State University, Morehead, KY, 
concentrated on conceptualizing the attributes of individual behavior and 
societal interactions as perceived in comparative social and economic doctrines 
to form a balanced individual and society. Santo Dodaro of St. Francis Xavier 
University, Antigonish, NS, Canada, and Rod Nichols of the University College 
of Cape Breton, Sydney, NS, Canada, discussed institutionalist thinking in 
Keynes and Wendell Berry, as they have shaped socioethical views. The papers 
of Abdur Rehman Zeinelabdin of the Statistical, Economic, and Social Research 
and Training Centre for Islamic Countries, Ankara, lbrkey, Lewis Solomon 
of the National Law Centre, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 
and Barry Myers of the Algonquin College, Algonquin Park, OT, Canada, 
were in the applied areas of sustainable development, aid granting, and 
commodity pricing that leave the impress of the existing unethical values 
ingrained in these processes on the global scene. 

The papers presented will be collected in several issues of the Hwnanomics 
journal which will appear over the course of the year 1992. 

The “Third International Conference on Ethico-Economics: Relations 
between Ethical Values and Social Institutions” has been announced by the 
Ethico-Economic SRP group for October 1993. Papers are invited now in 



The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 8, No. 3, 1991 569 

various areas on the theme of the conference, but particularly those dealing 
with the following areas: Ethico-Economics and the Concept of Human 
Fulfillment, and Theoretical and Case Studies on the Regenerative Relationship 
between Ethical Values and Socio-Economic Institutions. Limited travel funds 
and accommodation are available. 

Write to or contact: Professor M. A. Choudhury, Department of Social 
Sciences, University College of Cape Breton, Sydney, NS, BlP 6L2, Canada. 
Phones: Office: (902) 539-5300; Home: (902) 567-2173. 

Masudul A. Choudhury· 
University College of 
Cape Breton 
Sydney, Nova Scotia