脆弱世界下的“诺”与“守”

Ethics of Commitment: Vows and Endurance in a Precarious World

2024年5月20日  20:00—22:15

2024年5月21日  20:00—22:00

线上会议

邀请制&仅对系内师生开放

沈阳 / 浙江大学

吴迪 / 牛津大学

Anna-Riikka Kauppinen / 日内瓦国际关系及发展高等学院

Eugene Yu Ji 纪语 / 芝加哥大学

Fred Lai / 伦敦政治经济学院

Lea Taragin-Zeller / 耶路撒冷希伯来大学

Jay Ke-Schutte / 浙江大学

柯晓宇 / 浙江大学

杨颖而 / 密歇根大学

朱昉晟 / 昆山杜克大学

黄剑波 / 华东师范大学

范笔德Peter van der Veer / 马克斯普朗克宗教与族群多样性研究所

We live in a time of precarity, shaped by late-capitalist conditions and intensifying geopolitical instabilities. As individuals and communities navigate through fluctuating uncertainties in both private and public lives, traditional notions of making long-term commitments are at a crossroads. In previous times, a failure to commit or follow through one’s obligation was likely met with moral skepticism. But nowadays in both Euro-American and East Asian societies, the reluctance to commit does not necessarily invoke the same judgment. This shift in social attitudes underscores a profound transformation in the temporality of ethical projects. Moreover, with the new transformations in social media usage, alongside its profound impact on short attention spans, the need to re-evaluate the mechanisms of lasting commitment is more urgent than ever.

The panel is part of a broader initiative to build a cross-continental network of anthropologists exploring the global dynamics of commitment projects and their antitheses over the third decade of the 21st century. We see commitment—defined by OED as the action of devoting oneself to something or someone, and the state or quality of being dedicated—as central to understand the diverse relationships people have with long-term temporality. Outside anthropology, philosophers and religious studies scholars have productively discussed “commitment” as a value. However, without taking a value of commitments for granted, we advocate studying commitment projects as lived and experimented within various dimensions of our contemporary life. By leveraging ethnography, we aim to unveil new perspectives on how the fabric of our lives and societies is both shaping and shaped by various frameworks of “commitment.”

Over two sessions in May 2024, we present a series of initial discussions that examine the many ways in which long-term commitment is conceived, fostered, solidified, challenged, abandoned, precluded, or reimagined as an integral aspect of an art of living. Our exploration broadens to encompass not just relationships with other humans or ourselves but also with beings and things that assert their unique life rhythms.