Happenings Archive

One More Thing Before I Go: 

Re-examine the reduction of organisms to machines that costs the earth

 — Meet with John Cobb Jr.

The preeminent scholar in the field of processphilosophy and processtheology, author of more than fifty books, John Cobb Jr. was elected the to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014.

A unifying theme of Cobb’s work is his emphasis on ecological interdependence—the idea that every part of the ecosystem is reliant on all the other parts. Cobb has argued that humanity’s most urgent task is to preserve the world on which it lives and depends,  an idea which his primary influence—philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead—describes as “world-loyalty.”

Cobb is well known for his transdisciplinary approach, integrating insights from many different areas of study and bringing different specialized disciplines into fruitful communication. Because of his broad-minded interest and approach, Cobb has been influential in a wide range of disciplines, including theology, ecology, economics, biology and social ethics.

最后一件事：

再论毁掉地球的思想之“把有机的看成机械的”

—-与美国艺术与科学学院院士小约翰·柯布对话

小约翰·柯布是一位神学家、哲学家和环境保护主义者，过程哲学领域的最为杰出学者，美国20世界最重要的思想家之一，美国艺术与科学学院院士。

柯布写过50多本书，统一主题是强调生态依赖性，即生态系统的每个部分都依赖于其他部分。柯布认为，人类最紧迫的任务是保护我们赖以生存和依赖的世界；而这个观点是数学家、哲学家怀特海的主要主张。

科布以促进、带领跨学科合作著称，他整合了许多不同领域的研究成果，并将不同的专业领域带入了卓有成效的交流中。由于他的兴趣和态度，科布在广泛的学科领域都有影响力，包括神学、生态学、经济学、生物学和社会伦理学。

“One More Thing Before I Go”

 “I have two of the most beautiful, intelligent, and lovable great-grandchildren in the world. At 89 years of age, I know I won’t have the chance to see them much longer.

What saddens me is that I’m not leaving them a world nearly as hospitable as the oneI was born into, or with such promising prospects.

I realize that we have already passed the point where changes in our behavior will prevent extensive decay. Now it is just a matter of how bad it will be. But “how bad” is still a very important matter. It is too late to prevent extensive suffering. But it is not too late to make some difference.

I am convinced that we won’t change direction until we change the way we think. We can’t solve the problems of environmental and social decay while employing the very ideas that have caused it.

The ideas that still underlie much of our thinking stem from the view of nature developed in the seventeenth century. The great thinkers of that time took the Strasbourg clock as their model for understanding the natural world. Everything, it was thought, could be explained in terms of machine parts.

Toward this end, I’m organizing with others the largest transdisciplinary conference ever held on behalf of the planet. We’re bringing together more than 700 presenters to discuss some 80 different topics, all focused on the foundations needed for a civilization radically different than what we’re living in – an ecological one”.

“最后一件事”

“我有两个小曾孙，他们漂亮、聪明、可爱。在89岁的年纪，我意识到我跟他们在一起的时间不多了。让我伤心的是，我留给他们的世界，已经远不像我当初出生时那样美好宜居，甚至它很可能不再有美好宜居的可能。

我知道冰冻三尺非一日之寒；但行动仍有意义。现在阻止大面积的受害为时已晚，但我们仍可以尽力做出改变。我深信如果不改变思考的方式，我们无法改变行动的方向。如果无法停止施用那些造成生态和社会问题的思想，我们无法解决由它们造成的问题。

我们现在对“自然”的看法，还是17世纪的陈货：自然中的一切都被看成机械的组成部分。当时的思想家以为高明的自然观，现在变得过时、危险。

为了改变这种状况，我跟同道们一起组织了世界上最大的跨学科论坛。首届论坛就有700位来演讲者讨论80多个题目，他们共有一个目标：为一个与目前的文明形态截然不同的文明奠基：生态文明。

Meet and talk with John Cobb at the Bookworm!

Let come together and make a change!

与小约翰·柯布对话！

让我们一起实现创变

Wednesday, October 11th at 7:30 pm 

50 RMB (includes a drink)

Book a seat at: https://yoopay.cn/event/19574029