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.