Our world shrugs in the face of suffering – here’s what we must do

Hundreds of people seeking refuge, asylum, or even just food, are left languishing for days on a boat deck under the weary watch of public officials. This just happened in Sicily, at the southern tip of Europe.

Philosophers like me may ask themselves how it is that our societies have come to nurture so much anger, so much resentment, as to accept, as if it were normal, that thousands of human beings are dying at our borders in an attempt to escape war and violence. Or we may ask how it is possible that some people still question the right of an invaded country to defend itself and the lives of its people. Above all, how scared must our societies be to let so much indifference and disinterest take root?

Questions like these have direct bearing on the future of our societies, and the issues they relate to affect the fundamental values of civilisation, in the west, but potentially elsewhere too. They transcend the daily political or electoral dynamics of our societies.

When some liken such human hardships to an imaginary “invasion” of our “home”, concepts that are the foundations of European culture and civilisation – solidarity, fraternity, hospitality and, above all, respect for the universal dignity of the human person – are being casually and almost inadvertently dismissed.

Western societies, especially in Europe, still seem partly unaware of the inherent social and political implications of this attitude. Too often we hear – in the public space as well as in academic circles – claims that western culture must focus on its own identity. We tend to forget that identity is not like a piece of land – which is most likely there to stay. Identity is rather like an industry; something that we have inherited and now have to find ways to develop, expand, and permanently reshape to ensure its survival.

Today, scholars, academics, and public intellectuals are increasingly trying to imagine the conditions for strengthening, or simply for bringing into being, a global sense of community. The world is too complex to be guided by “us first” policies.

Thinking in terms of a single culture is no longer effective or fruitful in a world where ideas, languages, habits, and styles circulate across the continents and constantly merge into each other. Many scholars still find it difficult to admit that western heritage as we know it no longer suffices to make sense of a world as complex and diverse as ours.

The very concept of nation is being eroded in a global order increasingly dominated by the so-called “civilisation states”, or empires. The challenge for the west is to help make this looming global order compatible with democratic citizenship as it was conceived during western modernity. This task includes informing political contexts dominated by “civilization states” of key principles such as individual freedoms, social and racial justice, human dignity and rights, solidarity, gender equality, and environmental concerns.

In this context, the call for a “new humanism” might acquire a meaningful sense. Not as an attempt to mimic the historical inheritance of the Renaissance, which would be nonsensical, but in the culturally inclusive sense of pursuing the cultural, educational, and social conditions for meaningfully grappling with common concerns across traditions.

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This is the perspective that I will bring with me when I attend the second international Riyadh Philosophy Conference on 1 December. I will be joined by philosophers, scientists, writers, historians, artists, astronauts, and educators from Saudi Arabia and around the world who are coming together in a spirit of interdisciplinary, intercultural and intergenerational exchange to debate Knowledge and Exploration: Space, Time, and Humanity. This theme speaks to some of the biggest challenges we face in shaping the future of humanity.

Many readers may be surprised that a public conference like this, which is open to all ages, including children, is happening in Saudi Arabia. Yet, grappling with the biggest issues facing our world, including extra-planetary ones, is the task of philosophers and thinkers everywhere. Our future is only enhanced when we reach out across borders, across traditions and search for it together.

Luca M Scarantino is the president of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies