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Conceptualizing Personhood for Sustainability: a Buddhist Virtue Ethics Perspective

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Conceptualizing Personhood for Sustainability: a Buddhist Virtue Ethics Perspective sustainability Article Conceptualizing Personhood for Sustainability: A Buddhist Virtue Ethics Perspective Christian U. Becker 1,* and Jack Hamblin 2 1 College of Business, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA 2 Department of Religious Studies, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80210, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: This conceptual paper addresses the role the individual plays in sustainability against the backdrop of the ethical dimensions of sustainability. We discuss the relevance of moral personhood as a basis for sustainability and develop a model of personhood for sustainability. The paper outlines the ethical dimensions of sustainability and discusses the role of individual morality for sustainability from a virtue ethics perspective. We employ a Buddhist virtue ethical approach for conceptualizing a model of the sustainable person that is characterized by sustainability virtues, interdependent personhood, and an inherent concern for the wellbeing of others, nature, and future beings. In contrast to many Western-based conceptions of the individual actor, our model of sustainable person- hood conceptualizes and explains a coherent and inherent individual motivation for sustainability. The paper contributes to the methodological question of how to best consider the individual in sustainability research and sustainability approaches and suggests a conceptual basis for integrating individual, institutional, and systemic aspects of sustainability. Keywords: Buddhism; individual actor; methodology; moral personhood; sustainability ethics; sustainability research; virtue ethics Citation: Becker, C.U.; Hamblin, J. Conceptualizing Personhood for 1. Introduction Sustainability: A Buddhist Virtue Ethics Perspective. Sustainability 2021, Sustainability has become a prominent concept since the 1980s and marks a major 13, 9166. https://doi.org/10.3390/ challenge of the 21st century [1–3]. A large body of research has shown that current human su13169166 activities significantly impact and overuse the earth and jeopardize the living conditions of future generations, people around the world, and non-human beings [4–7]. The concept of Received: 30 May 2021 sustainability refers to this issue and potential solutions. Sustainability means the ability to Accepted: 13 August 2021 sustain systems, processes, and entities that are crucial for the wellbeing of contemporaries, Published: 16 August 2021 future generations, and nature [1–3,8]. The sustainability perspective is a broad, long-term perspective on human activities on earth and prompts questions of how to transform Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral human activities, as well as technological, societal, and economic systems in order to with regard to jurisdictional claims in achieve a sustainable future. published maps and institutional affil- The sustainability discourse refers to a variety of conditions and drivers for achieving a iations. sustainable future. Conceptions for sustainable development address different interrelated levels of implementation and change: the sustainable design of societal and technological systems, sustainable institutions and organizations, the role of political and societal power structures, and the role of individual awareness and action. Moving toward a more Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. sustainable future is a complex challenge that requires fundamental changes on all these Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. levels [8,9]. This article is an open access article Whereas there is a substantial body of literature focusing on systemic, institutional, distributed under the terms and and political aspects of sustainability, the individual’s role within sustainability has been conditions of the Creative Commons studied less [10]. The individual level is crucial for sustainability, though, as it defines Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// the basis for all activities, including political actions and the design and management creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ of societal and environmental systems. In particular, the role of modern, Western-based 4.0/). Sustainability 2021, 13, 9166. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169166 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2021, 13, 9166 2 of 13 conceptions of personhood, such as the one formalized in the model of the human actor in economic theory [11–14], should be critically examined with regard to their implications for sustainability. Conceptions of personhood that center around self-interest may not be a sufficient basis for sustainability but rather a root cause for today’s unsustainable systems and processes [8,15]. This paper contributes to the discussion of the individual’s role within sustainability and to the literature that has directly addressed the crucial role that personhood plays in sustainability [8,10,15–17]. Our contribution distinguishes itself from the existing literature on the topic by focusing on the normative dimension of sustainability and integrating (i) a model of sustainable personhood based on ethical theory, (ii) a non-Western perspective, and (iii) conceptual and practical elements of developing sustainable personhood. The the- oretical backgrounds of the paper’s approach are sustainability ethics [8,18] and Buddhist virtue ethics [19–22]. The paper develops a conception of personhood for sustainability—that is, a person- hood that cultivates awareness for sustainability and an inherent motivation for sustainable actions. We refer to insights from sustainability ethics regarding the normative character of sustainability and discuss the question of how to systematically develop a normative motivation toward sustainability at the level of the individual person from a virtue ethics perspective. We consider sustainability as a normative concept, which implies that sustain- ability is something both good and desirable as a goal [3,8], and we conceptualize a type of personhood that systematically supports the inherent normative claims of sustainability. Our conception of personhood for sustainability is based on Buddhist virtue ethics— that is, on a philosophical interpretation of Buddhism from a virtue ethics perspective. We argue that Buddhism offers crucial insights for conceptualizing and realizing sustainable personhood. Based on Buddhist virtue ethics, we develop a conception of sustainable personhood characterized by interdependency and an inherent care for humans, nature, and future beings. Against the backdrop of our conception of sustainable personhood, we reconsider the role of the individual in the context of global economic and technological systems, as well as how the individual person can reclaim attentiveness and care for others within the sustainability framework. Current technological and economic systems are characterized by a high degree of indirect and abstract interrelations. People around the world are interconnected in complex, abstract, and implicit ways. Economic and technological systems result in many harmful side effects to the environment, people around the world, and future generations and are largely perceived as unsustainable [4–7]. Much sustainability research focuses directly on a more sustainable design and management of economic and technological systems [8,10]. However, we argue that a lack of awareness regarding interdependence with others is central to the problem. Our model of sustainable personhood based on Buddhist virtue ethics has the potential to support and drive more sustainable systems and sustainable policies. The paper is organized as follows: Section2 outlines the perspective of sustainabil- ity ethics regarding the normative dimension of sustainability and introduces a virtue ethics-based conception of the sustainable person as a general framework for sustainable personhood. Section3 outlines the approach of Buddhist virtue ethics and develops its potential for further defining and conceptualizing the sustainable person. Section4 dis- cusses the implications of our model of the sustainable person based on Buddhist virtue ethics with respect to interdependent personhood, care for other humans and nature, and sustainable action in the context of complex economic and technological systems. Section5 provides a conclusion. 2. The Ethical Dimension of Sustainability 2.1. Ethical Aspects of Sustainability and the Role of Individual Morality Sustainability is not merely a technical question of properly designing and managing economic, technological, and ecological systems. Sustainability also has a crucial normative Sustainability 2021, 13, 9166 3 of 13 dimension. Most sustainability approaches operate on the (implicit) normative assumption that we ought to be sustainable and ought to sustain crucial economic, technological, and ecological systems into the future. To some extent, sustaining such systems is in the self- interest of current actors. However, sustainability perspectives usually refer to timescales beyond the mere self-interests of current actors, and consider global and long-term de- velopments over many decades, for instance, with regard to climate change, biodiversity loss, oceans, food, and energy supply. Concerns beyond mere self-interests are based on some kind of concern for the wellbeing of future people, people around the world, or nature itself. These concerns are grounded in certain ethical claims, e.g., that future people have the right to live well, or that the current generation has certain moral responsibilities and obligations toward
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