Sustainable civilization /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Egmond, Klaas van, 1946- author.
Imprint:	Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Description:	x, 246 pages ; 23 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	Civilization, Western. Values. Human ecology. Sustainable development. Civilization, Western. Human ecology. Sustainable development. Values.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10085034

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9781137382696 (hardback) 1137382694 (hardback)
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:	"Western civilization has entered a new fundamental crisis that can be explained by a very one-sided orientation of social values based on materialism and egocentrism, which is disrupting the delicate balance between the opposing forces of 'mind' and 'matter', and of 'I' and 'the others'. Many sources - from the great works of philosophy, religion, art and culture to social surveys and the course of history - qualify sustainability as the dynamic equilibrium between fundamental opposing forces. This insight and the ethical ability to better discriminate between stabilizing and destabilizing forces would allow further justification of human rights and new institutional arrangements in society at large and, in particular, in politics, economy and finance. It would enable a sustainable civilization to flourish within the boundaries of freedom and human dignity"--

Table of Contents:

List of Figures
To the Reader
1. Western Civilization in Crisis
1.1. Economic growth and social progress
1.2. The ecological crisis
1.3. Economy versus ecology
1.4. Limits to growth
1.5. The financial crisis - 'no one saw this coming'
1.6. The sociocultural issue
1.7. Sustainability and quality of life
1.8. Summary
2. Human Value Orientations: Worldviews
2.1. Social surveys
2.2. Philosophical and religious notes
2.3. The resulting worldview
2.4. Summary
3. The Laboratory of History
3.1. History repeats itself
3.2. Overshoot and collapse of value orientations
3.3. Centrifugal forces
3.4. The power of identity
3.5. Reversal of ends and means
3.6. What will happen next?
3.7. Summary
4. The West and the East
5. The Message of Culture and Religion
5.1. Culture
5.2. Spirituality and consciousness
5.3. Summary
6. Sustainable Civilization
6.1. Ethics
6.2. Human dignity
6.3. Good, truth and beauty
6.4. Freedom and free will
6.5. Human rights
6.6. Democracy and social responsibility
6.7. Summary
7. Agenda for a Sustainable Civilization
7.1. The political task: the radical centre
7.2. People, the social issue
7.3. Planet: the environmental issue
7.4. Profit: economy and finance
7.5. Summary
8. Sustainable Economy
8.1. Economic means to social ends
8.2. Ownership, economic scale and dematerialization
8.3. Summary
9. Sustainable Finance
9.1. The caricature of our times
9.2. Financial means to economic ends
9.3. Summary
10. There Is an Alternative
10.1. Crisis
10.2. A new form of governance
10.3. Agenda
10.4. An end to the caricature
10.5. Sustainable civilization
Notes
Index

Sustainable civilization /

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