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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 self-
awareness, 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 capital-intensive, 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 ego-centeredness
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.