Jesús Arellano (1921-2009), a serene philosopher and meditative poet, dedicated one of his writings to business (Business and Freedom, Cuadernos Empresa y Humanismo, 1989). He has a unique approach to business. His time is the 1980s: a period of triumphant liberalism and the resounding failure of Marxist collectivism (1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall). He does not consider this latter event to be the end of history. Several Eastern European countries adopted capitalism as their economic system. The result was not auspicious: one does not move overnight to a new business mentality, nor was triumphant capitalism in a position to deliver the expected well-being. In the midst of this turbulent economic and political landscape, Arellano sees an option for the future, that is, an opportunity to create a business tailored to the human condition.

Therefore, neither collectivist capitalism, nor liberal capitalism (the savage kind referred to by Saint John Paul II in Centesimus Annus, 1991), nor socialist capitalism, but rather a humanist-social economy capable of generating enterprises born from civil society and not from the State; autonomous in their operation; oriented toward solidarity and the common good. An entrepreneurial spirit with a triple solidarity goal: creation of goods, participation in the making of the enterprise, and attention to the real needs of citizens.

And where does freedom fit in? Here, it seems to me, is the most illuminating aspect of his proposal. He considers freedom to be composed of two mutually interconnected dimensions: the realization of intimacy (being-oneself) and the expansion of the person (transcending-oneself). Against this backdrop, Arellano distances himself from materialist theories (communist and socialist), for whom freedom is a mere superstructure. Full freedom would come with the advent of a classless society. On the other hand, idealist ideologies (liberalism-individualism) view freedom as an intimate event: the production of goods would be guided by the economic-materialist determinism of market laws (internal emotivism and external functionalism).

Arellano proposes another vision, which he calls realism or realistic humanism, understanding human freedom in its material-spiritual unity, an expression of the spiritual-corporeal unity of the human being. A person is subject to economic conditions, but the protagonist of his or her own personal decision. Thus, we have a human-personal-social freedom. Within this anthropological framework, free enterprise is inserted as an option for the future. A company faithful to its essence, born from personal-social initiative, creating goods and values ​​and anchored in the common good of society.

Free person, free enterprise, ideals that cannot be renounced, even if their achievement is difficult. And to avoid getting lost in the mists of these models, we need only look around us to find the two spheres in which personal and social freedom can be developed: the family (being-oneself), generator par excellence of spiritual goods, and the social and free enterprise (transcending-oneself), creator of goods and values. Intimacy and expansion go hand in hand in these spheres, which are called to personalize the human being. If the family is the cell of society, the business is not far behind, as it is also called to be a community of practices that fosters human flourishing.