“The world is going mad, or at least humanity is.” Many of us have had thoughts of this kind. They give us a sense of despair and dread about the world we leave behind for our children and grandchildren. The Sustainable Development Goals aim to show another route forward, seeking to avert natural and social catastrophe. But if we consider how late they came and the extent to which they have found roots in dominant culture, the despair returns. In fact, “cascading and interlinked crises are putting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in grave danger, along with humanity’s very own survival” (UN, 2022). Apparently, human beings need to undergo a fundamental change for the SDGs to function as reachable goals; something is required that can guide our actions and behavior. But what can do so? While pious declarations may get us funding and make us feel good about ourselves, they rarely guide our actions; neither do moral norms, which state what we ‘ought’ to do while teaching us very little as to how to act in specific situations. In contrast, Dharma traditions have for centuries reflected on the nature of human beings and on actions and their consequences; they have focused on teaching ways of acting thoughtfully and avoiding harm to ourselves and others. This lecture will raise a question: how can their learning help to cure our modern folly and move towards a sustainable future?
2023-02-16 18:15:00
2023-02-16 18:15:00 - 2023-02-16 19:30:00 CET (Geneva)
Room R150 (Rez de chaussée), Uni Mail, University of Geneva, Bd. du Pont-d'Arve 40, 1205 Geneva
Jakob De Roover is Associate Professor at Ghent University, Belgium. His work aims to contribute to the research programme Comparative Science of Cultures, which studies Western culture against the background of Asian culture to gain insights into human beings and the cultural differences between them.