Balancing Self-Satisfaction and Moderation: The Ideal Economic Philosophy in the Nepalese Context

Intellectuals since ages past have started searching for an ideal society that has continued to the present day. Plato in the West built his perfect society based on rational human decisions to secure economic well-being. In the East, Buddha, Mahabir, and Kautilya have enlightened ethical aspects of economic decisions. The course of history, rational thinking as the guiding force in the evolution of civilization, has played some part in the process, however, the basic worries about human emotions and security concerns today are not so different from those of the cavemen. Both Eastern and Western understandings seek to distinguish between harmful and beneficial economic activities in various approaches and try to make human beings ethically mature. A thorough comparative study integrating practical ethical values in economic activity is still lacking. Applying epistemology and metaphysics, this paper has attempted to analyze the philosophical comparison that examines the economic philosophy of the ancient Indian subcontinent influenced by Buddhism, Jainism, and Vedic perspectives on the economic concept of wisdom and moderation. Drawing on live evidence and literature, it has attempted to compare these two philosophies on economic behavior, highlighting the basic interpretations in the Nepalese context, described as the Philosophy of Himalayan Communities. It has been found that the cultural teaching inherited by traditional practices has integrated economic well-being into a broad philosophical model of balancing self-interest and moderation, with the interplay of objective and subjective concerns having relevance in the modern context.