During the last decade the scientific community has acquired new insights into the organization of the subatomic microworld and of the cosmic macroworld; into organizing principles of order in evolutionary processes; into the relationship between physics and metaphysics, between order and chaos and finally into the intricate coherence between these organizations, processes, principles and relationships. This has led to numerous publications on what these new findings mean with respect to our worldview, to our search for some ultimate foundation for existence.
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Sustainability and business management
Sustainability aims to ensure the survival of humanity and the planet's ecosystem. The simple fact is that overpopulation, overconsumption, overpollution and overdepletion of natural resources, if they have not already, will reach unsustainable proportions within a very short time, say 10 to 20 years. This is surely reason enough to prompt a reformulation of business strategies with respect to the natural resources on which economic transactions ultimately depend.
Europe in 1996
Between now and 1996 the world population will have grown by 450 million people, mostly in developing countries. About one and a half time the size of the population of Western Europe will have been added to the planet. This shocking fact is not new, we are growing at about 85 million per year for some time, but by 1996 the impact has manifested itself through some major calamities in developing areas such as India and Asia, in cities and crowded areas. Newly industrialized countries (NIC's) such as Taiwan, Hongkong, Thailand and South Korea have vastly surpassed the limits of environmental tolerance and face a sharp decline in living standards. The number of court cases, condemning all participants involved in natural resource damage through irresponsible environmental conduct, has risen sharply, both in the U.S. and Europe. Banks are directly and indirectly involved in liabilities for costs to restore environmental damage.
Evolution and ecology
It is clear that people everywhere are becoming aware of the environmental issue. In the last year particularly we have seen manifestations of this awareness indicating that world leaders too are beginning to address the issue in a way quite different from before.
Epilogue Taiwan 2000
I feel very grateful and honoured to have been invited to write this epilogue on the history of TAIWAN 2000.
Hazardous Waste
In the West, especially in the United States and Europe, hazardous waste has become increasingly a major pollutant of air, water, and soil. Three major obstacles exist when addressing this problem.
The Taiwan 2000 study
In September 1988 the final report on the Taiwan 2000 study is due to be published.1 This article describes the background and reasoning behind the initiative to the study, and some aspects of the results and recommendations arising from the draft report.2 Extracts from the report are not presented, as this can only be done after publication, and preferably by experts. Instead, the article is a personal account of experiences and impressions gained through the author's involvement in the setting up of the study.
Teilhard, Taoism, and Western Thought
Gepubliceerd in Teilhard Studies, 1986
A Comparison of Some Major Aspects of Western Thought, Taoist Philosophy and Teilhard de Chardin (abstract)
This thesis presents the results of research into the parallels and complementary aspects of Taoist philosophy and Teilhard de Chardin's worldview and their relationship to some important aspects of traditional and contemporary western thought.
Teilhard and Tao
In this paper a tentative approach is presented to discuss the relation between the concepts of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the vision of early Taoist philosophy on man and the universe. Some indications are offered, showing where the two lines of thought run parallel, where they differ and how they complement and enrich each other.
Interdisciplinary Integration and Dualism in Society
In this article it is contended that before interdisciplinary integration can be successfully evolving in many different sections of society, it is necessary to solve a fundamental dualism, which lies at the root of the present society. This dualism lies in the misconception, which has been in existence for hundreds of years, that religion and science are two different worlds. It is the synthesis between these two ‘disciplines’, which forms a starting point for further integration and progress in the world. A short account is given as to how, in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the worlds of Luther, Rousseau and Marx remained separated from the world of Galilei, Newton and Darwin and that - besides Einstein - there is really no visionary ‘society’-reformer in the 20th century. The synthesis between these worlds launched in the 20th century by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin offers points of contiguity for a solution of this dualism, with perspectives for the future. Further elaboration and adaptation of these thoughts can make a substantial contribution to progress in interdisciplinary integration and the future of society.
Comments to mr. Blum’s paper
This paper contains some general observations with regard to the excellent and interesting description of Mr. Blum on the subject of the director and workers’ management with ‘Energoinvest’, as well as some aspects of the present developments in the philosophy and practice of participative management of a chemical company in The Netherlands, KNZ, part of AKZO. However, it also tries to detect some general trend in the (mostly Western) world and the relation of these trends to both the workers’ management in ‘Energoinvest’ and the participative management in the above- mentioned company. Instead of only concentrating on differences in philosophy and practice between the two systems, it is also tried to find common denominators and the factors that appear to work towards an evolution into the same direction, although coming from a different starting point, both historical and ideological.
Leap of faith
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Allerd Stikker, head of a Dutch ship building company, was busy exporting armaments abroad. By 2013, he turned into a man selling arms of a different kind for a more pressing war: ecological conservation. His journey, from businessman to advocate of ancient Taoism as green weaponry, forms the heart of this extraordinary book.