| “The Value of Diversity: Buddhist Reflections on More Equitably Orienting Global Interdependence”
Peter Hershock, East-West Center
Buddhist teachings of interdependence call to critical account the assumption that the individual—whether a person, a community, or a nation—is the basic and proper unit of either ethical or economic analysis. Working out through the insight that relational dynamics are ontologically basic, I want to rethink the meanings-of and means-to greater equity, responding to the dramatically widening wealth, income and opportunity gaps that have been opening in correlation with the confluence of contemporary globalization processes, reflexive modernization and information capitalism. As a result of this confluence, a shift is occurring from the dominance of problem-solution to that of predicament-resolution—a shift from the technical to the ethical that compels confrontation with a deepening aporia: the presence of apparently contradictory needs, first, to more fully recognize and respect difference, going beyond merely tolerating differences from and among others to enabling differences to matter more, not less, than ever before; and, secondly, to engage in more robust and globally coherent collective action, incorporating differences within shared and deepening commitments. Working out through Buddhist teachings on karma and non-duality, I want to open both ethical and economic prospects for passing through this aporia by moving oblique to the tensions between modern valorizations of global unification and postmodern valorizations of free variation: a “middle path” of enhancing diversity through the relational activation of differences as the basis of mutual contribution to sustainably shared flourishing. Re-conceptualizing Values and Justice: A Buddhist-Postmodern Perspective
Jin Y. Park (American University)
In his book The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, Jeffrey Reiman summarizes his discovery from his research on criminal justice as follows: “the acts labeled crimes, instead of being all dangerous acts, were predominantly acts of the poor in society. And the dangerous acts not labeled crime were predominantly acts of the well-off.” This claim might raise opposing reactions—not from two groups with opposing views, but in the mind of an individual torn between two different common-sense values. Conventional wisdom holds that the accumulation of wealth does not promote the cultivation of moral virtues, but, instead, could be a source of injustice and unfairness. And yet, our moral vision, be it programmed by nature or planted through nurture, demands in us a belief that there exists justice in our society and that human beings are capable of balancing material affluence with a moral obligation to their fellow men and women. It is in this balance that values and justice collide in an individual’s mind. Ours is an age in which such a conflict between values and ambiguous justice becomes part of daily life, but at the same time we more readily suppress this conflict than allow it to evoke debate. A global market economy, accompanied by the globalization of culture, further facilitates the routine nature of this invisibility and expands Reiman’s claim globally. What are the responsibilities of individuals in facing this reality? This paper claims that a proper consideration of this question requires a re-conceptualization of our vision of justice and values and attempts to outline one such vision through a comparative investigation of the Eastern philosophical tradition of Buddhism and Western postmodern thought. "Ethics, Economics, and the Pursuit of Happiness" David Loy
The modern attempt to understand both economics and ethics as logical, self-consistent systems (economics as a "social science," ethics as an autonomous branch of philosophy) obscures their original function: in different ways both are concerned with reducing dukkha "suffering" and promoting well-being. This implies a relationship with spiritual traditions such as Buddhism, which are concerned about the same thing. Is this same thing "the pursuit of happiness"? Although new indices of well-being such as "Gross National Happiness" are welcome, seeing happiness as our ultimate goal can be problematical. |