An-Institut der Stiftung Weltethos
an der Universität Tübingen

First slide

Living ‘the good life’: Sustainable, responsible and ethical lifestyles in theory and practice

Dozent/in

Dr. Thomas Schröder / Dr. Christopher Gohl

 

Veranstaltungsart

Blockseminar, Bachelorveranstaltung

SWS

2

Sprache

Englisch

Wochentag/Uhrzeit

Freitag, 14.12.18: 10-17.30 Uhr c.t.

Samstag, 15.12.18: 10-17.30 Uhr c.t.

Sonntag, 16.12.18: 10-17.30 Uhr c.t.

Ort

Weltethos-Institut, Hintere Grabenstraße 26, 72070 Tübingen

Voraussetzungen/ Zielgruppe

Bachelor students

Leistungsnachweis /Prüfungsform

ECTS-Credits

Vortrag, Hausarbeit

3 – 6 ECTS

 

Anmeldung

Per E-Mail – mit Angabe von Name, Matrikelnummer, Studienfach und Semesterzahl, Adresse, Geburtsort und -datum bei lehre@weltethos-institut.org

Anmeldefrist

10. Oktober 2018

Max. Teilnehmerzahl

25

Literaturangaben

·        Backhaus, J., Sylvia Breukers, S., Oksana, M., Paukovic, M., Mourik, R. (2013). Sustainable lifestyles: Today’s facts & tomorrow’s trends. Wuppertal Institute: Wuppertal. (Freely available online)

·        Laasch, O., & Conaway, R. N. (2016). Responsible business: The textbook for management learning, competence and innovation. Greenleaf: Sheffield. (particularly relevant is Chapter 17, ‘Individual Change’ available in the library of the Global Ethic Institute)

·        Schröder, T. (2013). Sustainability in practice: A study of how reflexive agents negotiate multiple domains of consumption, enact change, and articulate visions of the ‘good life’. Thesis University of Manchester. (Chapter 7, ‘Theories of the good life and happiness’, freely available online when searching it through Google Scholar)

Beschreibung

Nowadays, living the good life is often understood as living a life of wealth and riches, of consumption and hedonism. While not necessarily excluding these aspects, we will explore another type of ‘good life’ an interpretation based on Aristotle’s notion of the term. The good life here is understood as one that is oriented towards a person’s values related to environmental sustainability, social responsibility and ethics. Such lifestyles may include, but are not limited to Lifestyles of Voluntary Simplicity (LOVOS); Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS); vegetarian, vegan and other nutrition-focussed lifestyles; cause-related consumption such as using organic and fair trade products; zero-waste, or zero single-use plastic lifestyles; lifestyles oriented towards activism, voluntarism, good citizenship, or service to others; sustainable mobility; jobs with a social, normative purpose; and lifestyles oriented towards religious or spiritual values (e.g. Buddhism, animistic/naturalistic lifestyles, Daoism,…).

In coordination with the instructor, each learner will pick one particular lifestyle (of the list above or others) after signing up for the course. Each learner will then live this lifestyle for 21 days with the help of mobile apps and document the learning in an online diary. For preparation of the seminar, a one-page summary of each learner’s lifestyle project will be shared with the whole group approximately one month before the seminar date. A major part of this summary should reflect on how to transfer aspects of this lifestyle to professional life on the job. In the seminar each lifestyle will then be discussed in depth with the entire group.

After the seminar learners may decide to do a voluntary seminar paper (Hausarbeit). For this Hausarbeit learners will reflect on how to transfer aspects of their lifestyles to their professional lives on the job.