Paper to present at the International Conference on GNH October 4-6, 2015, Paro (Bhutan)

1. Buddhism as a Source of Revitalization of Sustainability in the WestE.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)

2. 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 Economyand Technology in Service toMan’sHappiness

3. 1.Biography of a Buddhist economist Schumacher (1911–1977) was born in Germany From 1940 through 1942, he turned his attention totheproblem of aninternationalmonetary system: deeplyconvincedthatguaranteesforworldpeaceoughttobe built intothis system. He was one of the collaborators of Lord Beveridgefor his Full Employmentin a Free Society (1944).

4. 1.Biography of a Buddhist economist In 1955 Schumacher was United Nations advisor in the East. Duringthisyears, he wrotehis Buddhistinspiredtheoriesthatwe 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.

5. 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.

6. 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).

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 2. The search for Meaning and Happiness A distinction between converging and diverging problems: Convergingproblems 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 3. The Economyand Technology in Service toMan’sHappiness 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.

15. 3. The Economyand Technology in Service toMan’sHappiness 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.

16. 3. The Economyand Technology in Service toMan’sHappiness 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,

17. 3. The Economyand Technology in Service toMan’sHappiness 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.

18. 3. The Economyand Technology in Service toMan’sHappiness 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.

19. 3. The Economyand Technology in Service toMan’sHappiness 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.