Transcript 2. The search for Meaning and Happiness

Buddhism as a Source
of Revitalization of
Sustainability in the
West
E.F.Schumacher’s Buddhist
Economics as if Happiness
Mattered
Paper to present at the International Conference on
GNH October 4-6, 2015, Paro (Bhutan)
Hendrik Opdebeeck (University of Antwerp)
and Gerrit De Vylder (KULeuven)
E.F.Schumacher’s Buddhist Economics
as if Happiness Mattered
1.Biography of a Buddhist
economist
2. The search for Meaning and
Happiness
3.The Economy and Technology in
Service to Man’s Happiness
1.Biography of a Buddhist
economist
Schumacher (1911–1977) was born in Germany
From 1940 through 1942, he turned his
attention to the problem of an international
monetary system:
deeply convinced that guarantees for world
peace ought to be built into this system.
He was one of the collaborators of Lord
Beveridge for his Full Employment in a Free
Society (1944).
1.Biography of a Buddhist
economist
In 1955 Schumacher was United Nations advisor in
the East.
During this years, he wrote his Buddhist inspired
theories that we find in
Small is Beautiful (1973).
He distanced himself from his areligious attitude and
involved himself in the study of Buddhism.
By way of Buddhism, Schumacher rediscovered
Christianity, following Gandhi’s famous statement
that, one will in most cases find the same depth in
one’s own culture and in the religion of one’s own
environment.
1.Biography of a Buddhist
economist
In 1965, Schumacher founded the
Intermediate Technology Development
Group (ITDG):
the necessity of an “intermediate technology”
that would be
on a smaller scale,
less complicated,
less capital intensive,
and less violent.
1.Biography of a Buddhist
economist
In Good Work (1979) he developed the
importance of the construction of enterprises
with similar characteristics.
His philosophical ideas he developed in his
Guide for the Perplexed (1977).
E.F.Schumacher’s Buddhist Economics
as if Happiness Mattered
1.Biography of a Buddhist economist
2. The search for Meaning and
Happiness
3.The Economy and Technology in Service to Man’s
Happiness
2. The search for Meaning and
Happiness
Not clear enough to people what they really
want as human being.
Economics as if people mattered:
What could really liberate man from
suffering
or what could give happiness
2. The search for Meaning and
Happiness
A world with four levels of being:
the minerals, the plants, the animals, and
the human beings.
With characteristics that do not aim at
mutual contradiction, but reflect the
synthetic transition from one level of being
to the other.
Not all levels of being can be reduced to
matter.
2. The search for Meaning and
Happiness
A distinction between converging and
diverging problems:
Converging problems are problems that
have as little as possible to do with selfawareness, consciousness, and life.
In other words, we are talking here about
problems that have to be solved within the
framework of lifeless nature.
2. The search for Meaning and
Happiness
Divergent problems lead to contradictory
conclusions by opting for either freedom or
order (norms and necessity).
We cannot avoid here the fourth level of
being: man, in whom self-awareness
occurs.
Only when, like in Buddhist meditation, we
appeal to this self-awareness are we enabled
to weigh the tension between freedom
and order, and make wise decisions.
2. The search for Meaning and
Happiness
We must either take on more freedom, or posit
more norms and planning, or arrive at a reasonable
compromise.
The government can let the enterprises get away with
disregarding such things as the impacts of
environmental pollution, or it can impose strict
rules.
In a private enterprise, the owner can use his workers
in function of the maximization of profit, but he can
just as well commit himself to human development.
A similar line to the choice for or against
ethical banking.
E.F.Schumacher’s Buddhist Economics
as if Happiness Mattered
1.Biography of a Buddhist economist
2. The search for Meaning and Happiness
3.The Economy and
Technology in Service to
Man’s Happiness
3. The Economy and Technology
in Service to Man’s Happiness
An economic practice that starts from the
micro level and proceeds from there to the
macro-economic level.
Thanks to self-awareness, e.g. through
meditation, human beings can muster
understanding, will power, and empathy.
The starting point of these typical capacities of
self-awareness is located within the individual,
who, in practice, can consciously choose to show
understanding and compassion.
3. The Economy and Technology
in Service to Man’s Happiness
Schumacher’s emphasis on
intermediate technology
an essential micro perspective
instead of modern technology.
The existing economic system
a product of modern technology
that can only improve through
a reorientation of this technology.
3. The Economy and Technology
in Service to Man’s Happiness
Necessary to develop concrete economic
experiments that inspire others to embark on
subsequent experiments practice.
This trend can then spread throughout the
intermediate (meso) level, and from there, arrive
at the macro level.
The importance of experiments in intermediary
technology, as well as the construction of
enterprises with similar typical
characteristics:
small-scale, less complicated, less capitalintensive, and less violent,
3. The Economy and Technology
in Service to Man’s Happiness
GNH showed the light of day in a small country
like Bhutan,
was followed by other countries like Norway,
Switzerland and the Netherlands
and now in the UN indexes like the Human
Development Index:
a concrete example of this
micro-meso-macro vision
Schumacher worked out.
3. The Economy and Technology
in Service to Man’s Happiness
Summarizing, what is needed is:
“Economics as if Happiness
mattered”
While Schumacher found his inspiration
in “Eastern” traditions (Gandhi and
Buddhism), his message was directly
addressed to the so-called “Western”
world.
3. The Economy and Technology
in Service to Man’s Happiness
Schumacher was a Western economist
taking the Buddhist point of view
to develop ones faculties,
to enable man to overcome his egocenteredness
by joining with other people in a common task,
and to bring forth in a sustainable way,
the goods and services needed
for a happy existence.