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Technology is one of the crucial topics for the understanding of the content and meaning of creativity in management. More than ever knowledge and science determine technology and in turn technology determines the economy and management. The range of necessary creativity therefore risks to be highly determined by the evolution of technology. This will bring us to the crucial question whether in the future the diffusion of creativity is still possible when human-made environments are more and more determined by technology. Opdebeeck argues that the question about transhumanism and posthumanism on the relationship between technology and the enhancement of the human person is crucial for humanity and nature as well. With Jurgen Habermas he states that the problem is not modern science and technology per se, but the fact that the reified models of the science and technology migrate into the management life-world and gain power over our self-understanding. The solution must, therefore, rather be sought in keeping the distinction between the sphere of science and technology and the sphere of the human person.

Searching for a foundation of Business and Peace, Galtung’s (2000) negative and positive peace framework is widely used and appears to be very helpful (Galtung’s and Jacobsen, 2000). Negative peace for Galtung refers to the absence of direct violence. Positive peace refers to the absence of indirect violence. In the first part of this chapter, we develop a foundation of business and peace, starting from Galtung’s negative peace concept. Eliminating violence and war leads to rediscovering the importance of Hobbes’ analysis of fear. Applied to business, Hobbes’ quote ‘Fear and I are twins’ becomes ‘Fear and business are twins’. In the second part, we use Galtung’s positive concept of harmony and cooperation to develop wisdom as the foundation of business and peace. The final part explores the specific wisdom of mercy. Not only mercy and peace are twins but also mercy and business. The conclusion will be that business and peace become twins when the mimetic desire is no longer the underlying drive of business but rather the desire for sustainability.

The notion of compassion is a cornerstone in Chinese as well as western orientations for business practice. Spiritual and religious traditions, philosophical approaches and historical and present business practices outline this notion in a comparative perspective. This paper seeks to address this issue.

Interdisciplinary paper, summarizing social science, philosophical and business literature.

With its focus on compassion, business ethics in the Chinese tradition highlights a notion, which variously resonates within western traditions. Based on this, multiple lines or thought consequences for management development are derived.

In terms of management development the call for compassionate management can be held as a common denominator of different traditions. Therefore, it will be important to include this aspect in our management development, cultural management as well as international strategy courses.

In a broad interreligious and intercultural overview some basic characteristics of compassionate management can be identified.

After nearly 12,000 years living in the Holocene geological age we have now arrived in the Anthropocene. Now, instead of an integral ecology that considers the world as having its ecology, economy, and justice systematically linked, we are confronted by an ecology dominated by a profit-driven economy.

Since its very first beginnings, Western philosophy has reflected on humanity’s relationship with nature. Is the history of Western philosophy, then, merely a reflection of the evolution of humanity from the Holocene to the Anthropocene? Or did Western philosophical thought, along with industrialization and economic development, play a far bigger part and was it, indeed, the regulator of this evolution?

Our spontaneous care for nature – not at any price or exclusively – has led to an elegy. However rereading Western philosophy can help us to discover that the evolution toward the Anthropocene could challenge man to descry meaning behind nature. The way man regulates nature can be oriented toward rediscovering meaning behind nature. And the question of transcendence cannot be avoided.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how one can prevent the flaws or dark sides of the globalisation process from leading to ever‐greater decay of responsibility. By decay of responsibility, is meant the threat that globalisation poses to what is referred to by philosophers such as David Harvey, John McMurtry and Paul Ricoeur, as the longing for being and solidarity with the other(s).

To put a stop to the decay of responsibility, the urgency of a broader ethical dimension in globalisation is more apparent than ever before. The threat the globalisation process poses to the longing for being and solidarity with the other(s), increasingly necessitates an appropriate responsible global institution.

Of central importance are the principles of merit and need as possible basis of a responsible institution. The intrinsic logic of the merit principle incorporated in the growth process of globalisation, induces a series of impermissible side effects. Therefore, the traditional correction of democracy giving priority to the principle of need instead of merit, no longer appears to counteract the market economy to be able to provide guarantees for a responsible globalisation process.

Politics needs to assure the survival of the social community, all the more so if its future is under considerable threat. The acceptance of responsibility implies also the care for the most fragile.

The paper explains the need of an ethics of responsibility that transcends the excessive ego‐centric globalised society. Therefore, participatory or responsible justice is considered to be of the utmost importance. Participation should be broadly interpreted and include policy makers, environmentalists, scientists, economists, lawyers, ethicists, consumers, farmers and other representatives of civil society.

The present worldwide economic, social and ecological crises have created fertile ground for claiming the need for an internationally recognized charter setting out human responsibilities. The concept of a Charter of Human Responsibilities can be an original elaboration of the concern with institutionalising responsibility.

Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’ (Praised Be: On the Care of Our Common Home) is an excellent opportunity for building a conversation between spirituality, ecology, and sustainable business.

Integral ecology integrates concerns for people and the planet. It sees the world as systemically linked ecology, economy, equity, and justice accessible through natural and social sciences, arts, and humanities. Integral ecology shows a path to sustainable business functioning through frugal consumption, acknowledging the intrinsic value of nature, and seeking holistic management knowledge.

The book collects chapters from economists, business scholars, philosophers, layers, theologians, human scientists, and practitioners from Europe, North America, and Asia and highlights the meaning of sustainability in relation to human and non-human life and introduces new approaches to sustainable business practices and sustainability leadership.

This paper aims to provide an overview of this special issue.

The guest editorial introduces the papers in this special issue, focusing on practical wisdom for management from the Chinese classical traditions.

Chinese culture increasingly will permeate international culture and move from peripheral to mainstream status. To ignore this in management education would be a grave oversight.

The issue offers insights into the value of practical wisdom from Confucianism, the origins of Chinese classical trditions and Daoism, and the various streams of thought within the classical Chinese traditions and their contemporary relevance.