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A
Conference on
Globalization,
National and Cultural Identities and the Quality of Life
June
5-7,
2005
Vilnius, Lithuania
In the immediate aftermath of the liberation of Lithuania
the book written by its philosophers for The Council for
Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) series “Cultural
Heritage and Contemporary Change” was entitled Personal
Freedom and National Resurgence. This reflected the concern
that the attention given to national identity in the struggle to
regain independence might begin to interfere with the exercise
of the newly emergent personal freedom.
We now face an
analogous situation, namely, that of assuring that the universal
horizon of globalization not undermine national identity or the
quality of life of the citizens.
Hence this conference
will explore three related notions: (a) the quality of life as
the human realization of the conditions of justice and peace.
Together they hold the key cooperation in our time, (b) national
and cultural identity as creative expressions of a people,
and (c) globalization as the search for cooperation between
civilizations.
This is at root the
issue of who we are or of identity. Is this best understood principally
through a negative contrast to the other, or through distinctive
abilities to relate. In the latter case, the quality of life
must depend upon an ability not merely to observe and to measure
objectively, but new capacities to engage creatively, and to
construct patterns of harmony possessed of social justice and
aesthetic beauty.
At a second level this
requires that the sense of national identity of the people
reflect the long development of the pattern of values and
virtues which constitute its cultural tradition and explore the
modes of its effective application to life in present
circumstances.
Finally, in the new
global context this calls for the development of ways for
diverse civilizations to cooperate in resolving ecological,
economic and political issues and more deeply to harmonize the
diversity of cultures.
Contact:
Prof.
Jurate Morkuniene
UNESCO
Chair in Culture of Peace and Democracy
Mykolas
Romeris University
Ateities
St. 20, LT-08303 Vilnius
LITHUANIA
Phone/fax:
(370 5) 2 714 695
E-mail:
utkdk@ltu.lt
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