Responsive and Responsible Mutuality between the Human Self and Her Ecosystem: A Perspective of Spiritual Humanism

Abstract

This paper investigates possibilities for ‘responsive and responsible mutuality’ between the human self and her ecosystem from the perspective of ‘Spiritual Humanism’. Spiritual Humanism is a global discourse emerging out of third-epoch Confucianism (so-called ‘Contemporary Neo-Confucianism’). As a theoretical framework, Spiritual Humanism places Humanity (ren) in the center; all four dimensions - self, community, Earth and Heaven - are transfused with the active vital power (qi) of Humanity (ren). The implications of this discourse for ethical practice, particularly in the context of the global ecological movement, are significant: corresponding human reverence for the natural world, rooted in ‘spiritual’ or anthropocosmic rather than merely ‘secular’ or anthropocentric humanism, is a precondition for both environmental and intergenerational justice.

Keywords

• spiritual humanism
• contemporary neo-confucianism
• ecology
• anthropocosmism