It will also be broadcast live on Zoom. To watch online, please register here:
Friday, December 5
Saturday, December 6

Conception: Amber Carpenter, Potsdam
With Laura Candiotto, Pardubice/Cagliari; Michael Griffin, Vancouver; Kilian Jörg, Vienna; Olga Klimecki, Hamburg; Carola Roloff, Hamburg; Alexis Shotwell, Ottawa; Christian Suhr, Aarhus; Curie Virag, Warwick

We are continually reminded of how saturated contemporary life is in negative affect, which intensifies and spreads so rapidly. But what constructive alternative emotional orientations might be set against this, and how might they be propagated? Since Buddhists have long devoted considerable attention to these questions, we take as our point of departure the suggestion that kindness (maitrī) is one such constructive alternative. We explore what insights into kindness classical Greek and Confucian equivalents might yield; ask what other constructive emotions might be useful or even necessary supports for kindness, both psychologically and conceptually; and we consider how such kindness might be extended to others in practice, and how far such extension might be practicable and desirable.

 

Program
 

Friday, December 5

5:00 pm
Amber Carpenter (Potsdam)
Welcome

5:15 pm
Carola Roloff (Hamburg)
Cultivating Kindness and Perspective: Maitrī and the Four Immeasurables in a Pluralistic World

6:30 pm
Film preview: In every heart, every love (work in progress)

 
Saturday, December 6

10:00 am
Michael Griffin (Vancouver)
Harmonious Difference: Greek Platonist Practices of Kindness and Goodwill

11:30 am
Curie Virag (Warwick)
Kindness as a Virtue in Early Confucian Ethics

2:00 pm
Alexis Shotwell (Ottawa), Kilian Jörg (Vienna)
The Political Potential of Spontaneous Delight in Other People’s Good Fortune

3:15 pm
Christian Suhr (Aarhus)
Anthropology of and from the Heart

4:45 pm
Olga Klimecki (Hamburg)
Cultivating Kindness Through Meditation: A Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective

6:00 pm
Laura Candiotto (Cagliari/Pardubice)
Kindness and Conviviality