Ethics in the Global World: Reflections on Civic Virtues

ETHICS IN THE GLOBAL WORLD:

REFLECTIONS

ON CIVIC VIRTUES

Edward J. Alam

Alois Joh. Buch

JosÉ Casanova

Bishop Borys (Gudziak)

Viktor Malakhov

Peter McCormick

Czesław Porębski

Volodymyr Turchynovskyy

Ukrainian Catholic University Press

Lviv 2013

International Institute

for Ethics and Contemporary Issues

© International Institute for Ethics

and Contemporary Issues, UCU, 2013

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-966-2778-07-6

Ethics in the Global World: Reflections on Civic Virtues: Th e collection of essays delivered on March 1, 2013, at the inauguration of the International Institute for Ethics and Contemporary Issues, UCU / ed. Volodymyr Turchynovskyy. Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic Uni-versity Press, 2013. – 124 p. + il.

ISBN 978-966-2778-07-6

With contributions from leading scholars in the fi eld of ethics and sociology of religion, Ethics in the Global World: Refl ections on Civic Virtues off ers an overview and assessment of key perspectives in global ethics and their implications for substantive moral issues in global politics, culture, and religion. Th e collection of the papers delivered at the inauguration of the International Institute for Ethics and Contemporary Issues that took place on March 1, 2013, at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine, will help the readers to gain their own insights into the world of moral values and principles as well as to refl ect about the ways of approaching moral challenges in a shared world which is marked by strong cultural diff erences and inequalities of power.

In association with the Eastern European Ethics Network (EEEN) and the International Institute for Ethics and Contemporary Issues (IIECI)

3

Contents


Th e Modality and Virtue of Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5


IIECI: Basing Our Work on Humility, Gratitude and Gift . . . 13

Peter McCormick

An Instance of Ethics as Civic Virtue?

Ethical Refl ection after Chornobyl and Fukushima . . . . . . . . . 22

Viktor Malakhov

Practicing Humaneness and Civic Virtues:

On Ethical Orientation in Today’s World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

José Casanova

Civic Virtue, Human Dignity

and the Emerging Pluralist Global Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Edward J. Alam

Refl ections on the Moral Foundations

in the Dialogue of Civilizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Alois Joh. Buch

Moral Particularism and Individualism –

Challenging Refl ection on Virtue Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Czesław Porębski

Minimal Unity in Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

5


Th e Modality and Virtue of Trust

O n behalf of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU)

community, I extend warm greetings to all participants

and guests of our conference and inauguration of the International

Institute for Ethics and Contemporary Issues. Th is is a great day

for the Ukrainian Catholic University. Let me explain why.

Both in theory and in practice, here in Lviv, UCU has been

conceiving, forming, and reforming itself over the last twenty-one

years. Th e process of establishing UCU in Ukraine entailed moving

to this city an idea and prototype generated by Patriarch Josyf

Slipyj in Rome in the 1960s and 1970s. How that reality was to be

incarnated in a post-communist, multi-ethnic, multi-confessional,

postmodern country profoundly scarred by the toxic trauma of

totalitarianism was indeed a complex question. After substantial

spiritual discernment and broad international consultation, it

became clear that in a country where there already exist many –

today some 180 – universities, there is no need for one more that

merely mimics others.

With a sense of mission transcending Ukrainian political, cul-

tural, and ecclesiastical borders, UCU charted a course to con-

tribute to “the university” as a phenomenon in the global context.

6


Th e explicit goal was to develop or even in some aspects rethink

“the university” – one of the most successful and enduring institu-

tions of Western civilization generated nearly a millennium ago by

the Catholic Church. Th is ambitious, some might say audacious,

vision led to a search for alternatives in curricula, pedagogical ap-

proaches, research methodologies, management style, corporate

culture, and most importantly spiritual identity.

One quality that constitutes a compelling alternative in Ukraine

is a strong commitment to integrity and transparency in the face of

Soviet and post-Soviet deceit, corruption, and secretive decision-

making. Another has been the emphasis on general institutional

openness, and internationalism, while explicitly fostering Eastern

Christian tradition and strong roots in local and national culture.

Ukraine had been isolated behind the Iron Curtain for most of the

twentieth century. Youth, society, the Church, and political life all

need a critical and creative experience of the universal dimension

of human life and catholicity of authentic spiritual solidarity. It is

in this solidarity that the dignity of Ukrainians, so often violated,

can be reestablished.

Th e planning of academic faculties and programs of study,

research projects, pastoral and social outreach, the school’s

architecture, fi scal policies and administrative practices was

guided by a series of questions: Can this be done in a manner

that best serves the UCU mission to address the spiritual and

ethical concerns of the contemporary world? Can the university

be open to approaches that provide post-secular, humanly more

holistic alternatives to the Enlightenment engendered academy,

both East and West, while maintaining its indisputable qualities?

How can this university contribute to healing the wounds

infl icted by history and help bring Ukrainian society into a more

life-giving future?

7

The Modality and Virtue of Trust

Th e search for alternatives was neither an exercise in corporate

individualism nor a quest for novelty or uniqueness for their own

sake. Rather, compelled by an analysis of certain evident inadequa-

cies and failures of contemporary higher education in and outside

Ukraine, the nascent academic community sought with both con-

fi dence and humility to engender creativity and cooperation in an

atomized society characterized by fear and a defi cit of trust.

Trust is a basic quality of all social interaction: personal, fa-

milial, local, national and international, private and public, civic,

economic, and political. Th e fostering and practice of the mo-

dality and virtue of trust is necessary everywhere. It is especially

necessary for a society deeply scarred by wonton and systematic

violence whereby in one century some 15 million people perished.

Th e consequences of Ukraine’s historic trauma can be experienced

in a routine manner in the city of Lviv where a widespread venal

worldview and mundane corruption in education, health and social

services, and political and economic life cloud and corrode people’s

everyday experience.

Th e recent history of the city and the telling statistical toll

help explain the systemic skepticism, corruption, and much more.

In 1939, Lviv had some 300,000 inhabitants, of which only 50,000-

60,000 were left at the end of the war. Some 100,000 Jews were

exterminated by the Nazis; an analogous number of Poles were

deported beyond the new Polish border by the Soviet liber ators;

Armenians left with the Poles and the Ukrainian population was

decimated by purges and the fl ight of many of the educated to the

West. If that were not enough, some 10% of all western Ukrainians,

over 400,000, were deported to Siberia in the immediate post-war

years. In the following decades, Soviet programs of industrial and

military development led to a repopulation of Lviv with almost

100,000 Russians, many eastern Ukrainians, representatives

8


of other nationalities of the USSR, and most importantly, by a

rapid urbanization of western Ukrainian villagers. By the mid-

1980s, Lviv, which by 1945 had lost 80% of its pre-war inhabitants,

became a city with a daytime population of one million. In the

span of two generations, Lviv was violently emptied of its human

population and refi lled, tripling the number of its residents.

Th e continuity of Lviv’s charming architectural legacy belies

the fact that the human fabric of city was furiously shredded.

Th e human community of Lviv – shaped over 700 years – was

abruptly destroyed by force, and through force it was refabricated.

Th is engendered a city that in many ways is an artifact of modern

ideologies: an urban population characterized by an intangible

but nevertheless prevalent anxiety and undermined interpersonal

trust. To make matters worse, in the post-war decades, of all Soviet

cities, Lviv probably had the highest concentration of KGB agents

and informers.

Th e aftereff ects continue to endure. Like the radiation of Chor-

nobyl, they are invisible, inaudible, with no evident odor or taste.

Yet, they deeply mark the moral and psychological DNA of Lviv’s

residents. People have learned the hard way to be wary of systems

and remain so even though commitment to such “systems” as the

law, the family, and the community are prerequisites for rebuilding

civic society. Th e latent apprehension and subcutaneous distrust

continues to impair social intercourse. It is no surprise that the

city of Lviv and the country as a whole have many problems of a

spiritual and ethical nature.

In light of this history, the UCU project seeks to respond to

what is a broad range of local and global societal and academic

challenges. UCU’s paradoxical, at fi rst glance, emphasis on the

martyrs and marginalized, especially the mentally handicapped,

speaks to the contemporary person in search of principles and re-

9


lationship in a postmodern world characterized by relativism, vir-

tuality, and alienation. Confessors and martyrs overcame arguably

the greatest challenge of the twentieth century: totalitarian ideol-

ogy. Th ey did so by witnessing in diffi cult, sometimes impossible,

circumstances to truth and ethical precepts. Th eir witness serves as

a school of life for those bewildered by the challenges of the twen-

ty-fi rst century, infusing confi dence: “If they could, maybe we can.”

Th ere were reservations about the inclusion of people with spe-

cial needs into the academic environment, especially since UCU

embraces its friends with special gifts not as objects of charity

or social responsibility, but as real partners in university life. Our

friends with special needs and gifts, who do not put up facades

and walls to mask their vulnerability, summon those whom they

meet to more authentic interpersonal interaction – to trust. To put

it simply, with their presence and charism, with their very person

they ask the most important pedagogical question: “Can you love

me? Do you want to learn how?” By becoming tutors in human

relations, the marginalized are radically present in the very heart of

the university addressing one of society’s core dilemmas.

Th e exploration of alternative approaches addressed the nuts

and bolts of scholarly life. Rethinking various aspects of aca demic

activity led, for example, to a reconsideration of the dynamics of

academic conferences, their communicative capacity, and their

link and relevance to the “real world.” In 1994-96, the Institute

of Church History conducted the “Brest Readings” – a two-year

series of 18 encounters of Greek Catholic, Orthodox, Roman

Catholic, and secular scholars. Th e subject at hand, one of the most

controversial in Slavic history and one provoking furious debate

in the 1990s in Ukraine, was the Union of Brest (1596) through

which the Kyivan Metropolitanate reestablished communion with

Rome… or did not.

10


Th e series took on a lively interactive form engaging not

only specialists but also the public at large. Th e conferences

traveled from city to city, and the discussions on contentious

topics animated by the world’s best specialists were open to

people of diff erent walks of life. Th e continuity of the program,

its geographical and thematic trajectory, and the rather unique

encounter of gown and town brought the work of the ivory

tower down to the public square in a way that not only changed

historical perspectives but also mollifi ed discourse on a socially

divisive topic. Although some at fi rst saw the conference program

as a “wandering circus” rather than a properly academic venue,

in the end the scholarly results were indisputable and were

internationally received.

Th e search for a more fruitful academic lifestyle eventually

led to architectural articulations. Th us upon critical refl ection

UCU abandoned the Soviet model of the “dormitory.” Student

living was transformed from a phenomenon peripheral (and often

deleterious) to university education to one that is at the center of

the formational endeavor. Th e concept of a collegium, wherein

university faculty and staff , visiting professors, and distinguished

fellows representing the arts, politics, diplomacy, and sports,

members of religious orders, and the mentally handicapped live

with students, was incarnated in an innovative building that

pulsates with rich spiritual and intellectual life. Other buildings

with imaginative programs are following suit.

Today is a signifi cant day for the university because rather

quietly, in a traditional academic manner, the inauguration of a

new UCU institute is taking place. Th e International Institute for

Ethics and Contemporary Issues (IIECI) will be an important

locus for refl ection upon the above-outlined challenges – and

many others – that Ukraine and the world face in the twenty-fi rst

11


century. As our conference program illustrates, the IIECI brings

alternative perspectives to our city and country. Th e modality and

quality of its discourse will undoubtedly set standards, something

that will become evident only with time. In a culture in which

philosophical thought was marginalized or even discredited as

“ideology,” the invigoration of intelligent discussion on ethical

topics will be of broad import. Ideas matter. Th inking responsibly

needs special cultivation.

Of all UCU departments, the IIECI has had the most me-

thodical and solid trajectory of preparation before inauguration,

something that refl ects the talents and character of its founder

and fi rst director, Volodymyr Turchynovskyy. It has been taking

shape over the last fi ve years, holding wonderful conferences,

seminars, and summer schools, bringing to the university a wide

range of students and, most importantly, leading global expo-

nents of contemporary sociological, philosophical, and ecclesial

thought. Th e Institute has also been able to discover new sources

of fi nancing, previously not tapped by the university, creating new

possibilities for many students and promising scholars. Th us it

is opening doors for many, something that can be heartily com-

mended to all UCU institutes and projects and to the communi-

ty-at-large. Opening doors in a country and culture of enclosures

and cul-de-sacs is much more than eff ective administration – it

gives hope and life.

Th e Ukrainian Catholic University and its new International

Institute for Ethics and Contemporary Issues is particularly well

situated to foster refl ection on the fundamental issues of our day.

A corporate culture of mutual respect and love, a prime generator

of our scholarly endeavors, creates an atmosphere that helps people

see problems from a new perspective and, hopefully, provide in-

sight and even solutions.

12


I thank all those who have contributed to the development

of the IIECI and greet all participants, the Director of the

Institute, members of the Advisory Council, wishing you all a

wonderful day and fruitful deliberations. I kindly ask you to sup-

port this Institute with blessings, constructive criticism, but most

importantly, through your generous intellectual and spiritual par-

ticipation.

+ Borys (Gudziak)

Eparch of Paris for Ukrainian Catholics

in France, Benelux and Switzerland,

President of the

Ukrainian Catholic University

122

Contributors

Edward J. AlamProfessor at Notre Dame University, Louaize, Lebanon

Alois Joh. BuchDean, St. Lambert Interdiocesan, Major Seminary, Lantershofen,

Germany

José CasanovaProfessor of the Department of Sociology and Senior Fellow of

the Center for Religion, Peace, and World Aff airs at Georgetown

University, Washington, DC, USA

+ Borys (Gudziak)Eparch of Paris for Ukrainian Catholics in France, Benelux and

Switzerland; President of the Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv,

Ukraine

Victor MalakhovProfessor of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv, Ukraine

Peter McCormickPermanent Member of L’Institut International de Philosophie, Paris,

France; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

Czesław PorębskiProfessor at Jagellonian University, Krakow, Poland

Volodymyr TurchynovskyyChair of the Philosophy Department and Director of the Inter-

national Institute for Ethics and Contemporary Issues at the

Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, Ukraine

Н а у к о в е в и д а н н я

ЕТИКА У ГЛОБАЛІЗОВАНОМУ СВІТІ ТА ГРОМАДЯНСЬКІ ЧЕСНОТИ

З б і р н и к с т а т е й

ETHICS IN THE GLOBAL WORLD: REFLECTIONS ON CIVIC VIRTUES

Editor:


Design:

Iryna Derezhenets

Photos:

Petro Didula, Pavlo Didula

Special acknowledgements to Wawa Baczynska, Jeffrey Wills, Taras Dobko,

Roman Skakun, Oksana Kushnir, and Renata Kyvelyuk

for their contributions by way of translating, editing, and proofreading the texts, and for their overall assistance

with the publishing process.

Ukrainian Catholic University Press 17 Ilariona Sventsitskoho St. Lviv 79011

tel./fax: (+38032) 240-94-96e-mail: [email protected] web: http://press.ucu.edu.ua

ВИДАВНИЦТВО УКРАЇНСЬКОГО КАТОЛИЦЬКОГО УНІВЕРСИТЕТУ

вул. І. Свєнціцького, 17, 79011 Львівфакс: (0322) 409496; e-mail: [email protected]відоцтво про реєстрацію ДК 1657 від 20.01.2004

УДК 172.13“20”

Ethics in the Global World: Refl ections on Civic Virtues: Збірник доповідей на інавгурації Міжнародного інституту етики та проблем сучасності (Львів, Український католицький університет, 1 березня 2013 р.) / ред. В. Турчиновський. Львів: Видавництво Українського католицького університету, 2013. – 124 с. + іл.

ISBN 978-966-2778-07-6

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Ethics in the Global World: Reflections on Civic Virtues