Seminar
John Ruskin and the idea of a ‘sustainable economy’
Lecturers:
William Henderson
Luís Francisco Carvalho
José Castro Caldas
March 16th, 2009, 17:30, School of Economics, University of Coimbra
Within the Observatory of Risk (OSIRIS)
Presentation
The socio-economic writings of John Ruskin (1819-1900) provide a critique of Victorian economy and society and of the ‘ideology’ which, in his perspective, sustained it (‘classical political economy’). He gave a first-hand account of the inherent unsustainable character of the massive technological and socio-economic change that surrounded him, particularly focusing on the disruptive environmental consequences and on what we may call the problems of ‘social sustainability’ related to an economy and a society structured around the ‘market system’. Ruskin’s critical perspective and the discussion of alternatives to industrial capitalism, as well his direct influence on authors such as William Morris, John Hobson, or Gandhi, may prove inspiring to present day debates on the ways and means through which a ‘sustainable economy’ might be (re-) constructed.
Biographic Notes
William Henderson: Economist, Professor Emeritus at Birmingham University (United Kingdom) and Director of the Alworth Institute, University of Minnesota (United States). Author of several books in the field of History of Economic Thought, amongst which “John Ruskin’s Political Economy” (London: Routledge, 2000).
Luís Francisco Carvalho: Economist, Professor at ISCTE. Author of the doctoral thesis “Four Essays on John Ruskin’s Economic Writings”
José Castro Caldas: Economist, Researcher at Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (Observatory of Risk - OSIRIS – and Studies and Governance and Economic Institutions Research Group)
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