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s2smodern

The HEST Anthropology Cluster meets at Centre Sèvres to reflect on big questions of our societies.

“What human being for the XXI Century?” A big question without an obvious answer! A group of anthropologist experts from several Jesuit European Institutions have decided to work together to do just that, namely, find an answer to this big question.

This collaboration is part of the Higher Education for Social Transformation Programme (HEST). Anthropology experts from 4 Jesuit higher education institutions gathered at Centre Sèvres on the 31st of March to find suitable topics that would allow them together and with a focus on what can really make a change in our societies and unite us better as Jesuit institutions.

Anthropologists have a difficult task nowadays. We are undergoing so many changes individually and as a society that it is hard to keep track of what it really means to be a human being. Just some weeks ago we were hearing about how Elon Musk wants to connect the human brain to Artificial Intelligence, what are the consequences of that? We have also seen how populist movements have grown around the world by inserting fear in our societies that together with ignorance brings out the hate in us. How can we revert this to move from hate to the solidarity in which the European Union was originally founded? The problem of evil came out again as a question that continues to worry experts and individuals, is evil inherent in the human person? What response can we give as a religious institution that aims to liberate people?

Some might argue that we need anthropologists more than ever nowadays but even if there have been times when they were more needed, everyone can agree that in our current world, they are needed to give perspective and depth to these questions we aforementioned and many more that have yet not been answered as a society.

That is why this group of experts is knocking on our doors with big questions that are relevant for not only the Society of Jesus but to every human person in this planet. “We need to reach the young population”, said Laura Rizzerio from l’Université de Namur “They are out there, with our same questions, we just need to find the right dissemination strategy to get to them”.

The question “What Human Being for the XXI Century” is, as we were saying quite big. The grout of experts decided to start approaching the topic from different perspectives, concretely:

  • Transhumanism and Naturalism
  • Vulnerability
  • Solidarity (from the European perspective)
  • Spirituality

The French Province and Centre Sèvres received the group amazingly well. The current Rector, Father François Boëdec SJ made an introductory speech that set the right tone for the rest of the meeting and reminded us the goal of HEST, to bring about change. Centre Sèvres is also undergoing interesting changes these days with the succession of Father Boëdec by Father Etienne Grieu SJ (see article).

We will be sharing the development of this cluster during the next months. There is a lot to do but there is passion around this transversal topic that touches more than we might imagine!

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