Abstract

Good Living (GL) is an intriguing theme when apart from the consumer society. It is purposeless to discuss GL subjectively in the face of climate change, without associating it with the meaning of common good. The aim is to discuss GL, taking the interest of future generations into account, from the dialectic relationship between subjectivity and common good and the complementarity between human beings and nature. This is an essay. The discussion refers to the ecocentric perspective, which suggests that the social system is interconnected with the ecological system, especially when one considers the creation of GL for future generations. GL, more than just material, health and socio-educational conditions, is a particular state of happiness, in which different cultural patterns prevail. One does not deny abstracting economic logic - in which the subject calculates individual consequences, but territorially ignores the common good - and it does not prevail over or even determine production processes and human reproduction, from which arises the emptied subject. Finally, GL cannot be relegated to achievements of other generations, or else to a “cool” way of life, without responsibilities and decontextualized from future generations. Subjectivity and common good can be reconciled in a societal dimension that is not reduced to mere calculation and where human beings do not put aside, nor to others (politics) nor to themselves (psyche), in the production of the eco-socio-economical path, what makes an associated human life that does not systemically relegate its own process of socialization.

Keywords:
Good Living; Social And Environmental Dynamics; Subjectivity; Common Good

Introduction

The consumer society reminds what might be mistakenly taken by Good Living (GL), as if it were the direct result of the purchasing power (goods or services) which, until then, was considered essential to meet individual needs.

Complexifying the issue, in the face of climate change - didactically understood as global climate warming, which puts at risk, in a relatively short period of time (until the 22nd century), what is conventionally called sustainable development, implying not only achieving individual GL, but also the common good - it is necessary to foresee the consequences of how individual satisfaction is associated with common good, as states the theory of utilitarianism (Bentham, 2007BENTHAM, J. An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. North Chelmsford: Courier, 2007.; Mill, 2010MILL, J. S. Utilitarianism. Tonawanda: Broadview, 2010.).

Efforts called here urban eco-socio-economy are believed to help understanding the cause of the global environmental crisis, and its premise is based on the same asymmetries between human beings and nature derived from anthropocentrism, governing the relationship human being x human being that leads to social inequality (Laville, 2003LAVILLE, J. L. A new European socioeconomic perspective. Review of Social Economy, Oxfordshire, v. 61, n. 3, p. 389-405, 2003.). It is believed that the solution to this problem relies on the comprehension that the prevailing economic, individual and collective rationality must be criticized in the face of the effects of climate change.

We emphasize, so as not to run the risk of eco-socio-economy experiences be idealized as a way out to the crisis, that they are still incipient and bear contradictions, limits to the advancement in understanding the difficulty of conciliating economic interests of development of individuals and of the community that are socially aggravated, since social systems are imbricated with the ecological dynamics, inseparable aspects in the socio-environmental approach to data.

Eco-socio-economy, however, is a fertile field of research to make contact and deepen experiences that may create knowledge regarding the relationship between individual interests and the common good - such as the contribution of (Parks, Joireman and Lange, 2013PARKS, C. D.; JOIREMAN, J.; LANGE, P. A. M. V. Cooperation, trust, and antagonism: how public goods are promoted. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Washington, DC, v. 14, n. 3, p. 119-116, 2013.) in building the state of art on such a dilemma - and still add to the discussion the conciliation of ecological, social and economic factors when one thinks about sustainable development. It is worth mentioning (Ostrom, 2012OSTROM, E. The future of the commons: beyond market failure and government regulations. London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 2012.), 2009 Nobel Prize in economics winner, when she suggests that the future of the common good consolidates itself as a stage that pervades the incompleteness of the market economy and State regulations.

This study aims to discuss GL, taking the interest of future generations into account, from the dialectic relationship between subjectivity and common good and the complementarity between human beings and nature, understood here as a false pair of concepts.

Method

Methodology comprised exploratory bibliographical research through narrative review, describing the state of the art of the themes “good living,” “subjectivity” and “common good” in the face of the dynamic between human beings and nature. Under the contextual and theoretical point of view, it analyzed the literature, with interpretation and critical analysis, which characterizes an essay, from the inter-university and international scientific cooperation established when the Fulbright Visiting Scholar scholarship was granted, held mostly at Washington State University, Pullman (WA) campus, and at DePaul University (IL), Chicago. We should also mention the participation of the Centers for Eco-socio-economy and Public Policies, especially by courses offered and research projects in postgraduate programs that bring together Brazilian researchers and students on Regional Development (Furb), Environment and Development (UFPR), Environmental Management (UP) and Urban Management (PUCPR), and the partnership with Chilean universities, Magíster en Desarrollo a Escala Humana y Economía Ecológica and Centro de Estudios Ambientales (Universidad Austral de Chile) and North Americans, Personality and Decision Making Studies Laboratory, Department of Phychology (Washington State University, Pullman campus) and Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development (DePaul University, Chicago).

Socio-environmental dynamics: a condition for Good Living

Global climate change derives directly from the asymmetry in ecological dynamics, called socio-environmental dynamics (IPCC, 2013IPCC - INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE. Climate change 2013: the physical science basis (GT I). New York: Cambridge University, 2013.), which are basically originated from two statements: do not remove from ecosystems more than their regeneration capacity; do not throw in the ecosystems more than their absorption capacity, which means that nature does not have problems, and if it has, they are inherent to its dynamics, and resolved by it (Fernandes; Sampaio, 2008FERNANDES, V.; SAMPAIO C. A. C. Problemática ambiental ou problemática socioambiental? A natureza da relação sociedade/meio ambiente. Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente, Curitiba, n. 18, p. 87-94, 2008., p. 89. Our translation).

In other words, social systems prevail or pass over ecological systems - as if anthropocentrism would justify itself, as if it were an axiom. Such dissymmetry also reproduces itself in social and ethnic groups and in social classes, as if some, according to the design of the consumer society, should deserve achieve GL rather than others.

Under this argument, there is a doubt whether the democratic society is an indispensable condition for sustainability; as suggested by welfare policy, no. We propose to ponder on what makes a democracy today: a democracy that overlook the imbalance of political spheres - between urban and traditional ways of life - or else that take into consideration the mechanisms that prioritize the interests of future generations (Sampaio, 2010SAMPAIO, C. A. C. (Org.). Gestão que privilegia uma outra economia: ecossocioeconomia das organizações. Blumenau: Edifurb, 2010.).

Guided by its rejection of central elements of bourgeois-liberal utopia and of the capitalist system (individualism, rationalism, liberalism, anthropocentrism, consumerism, etc.), the Andean concept of GL emerges as a “utopian function” of criticism and a confrontation with this reality (Santamaría, 2015SANTAMARÍA, R. Á. La utopia andina. In: BALDI, C. A. (Coord.) Aprender desde o Sul: novas constitucionalidades, pluralismo jurídico e plurinacionalidade: aprendendo desde o Sul. Belo Horizonte: Fórum, 2015. p. 141-178.). In this context, regarding the subjection of indigenous people to the colonialism of national governments’ plans in the past few decades, many (non)colonial⁹9Decoloniality is not necessarily different from decolonization; it represents a strategy that goes beyond transformation – implies to be not colonized anymore –, pointing out construction and creation (Walsh, 2009, p. 55). expressions gained visibility (Mignolo, 2008MIGNOLO, W. La opción de-colonial: desprendimiento y apertura: un manifiesto y un caso. Tabula Rasa, Bogotá, n. 8, p. 243-281, 2008.; Quijano, 2014QUIJANO, A. Cuestiones y horizontes: de la dependencia histórico estructural a la colonialidad/descolonialidad del poder. Buenos Aires: Clacso, 2014. p. 847-859.; Walsh, 2009WALSH, C. Interculturalidad, estado, sociedad: luchas (de)coloniales de nuestra época. Quito: Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar: Abya-Yala, 2009.).

The main concept comes from indigenous peoples living in the Andes, who seek through the concept and principles of GL the possibility of living outside the parameters of welfare¹⁰10Welfare: it results from a modernity construction and thus is based on an essentially individualistic perspective (Nogueira, 2002). proclaimed by Western Eurocentric modernity, capitalist and colonial. In the past few years, GL has been mentioned in several texts and publications as a synonym for healthy life, associated with Ecuador and Bolivia economic development projects and, despite its polysemic nature, it is susceptible to different interpretations, maintained as its basis the guarantee of quality of life for the poorest (Lacerda; Feitosa, 2015LACERDA, R. F.; FEITOSA, S. F. Bem viver: projeto u-tópico e de-colonial. Interritórios, Caruaru, v. 1, n. 1, p. 5-23, 2015.). These peoples have their own way of living and preserving nature ensured by constitutional laws.

Worldwide, the Programa Interdisciplinario de Población y Desarrollo Local Sustentable de la Universidad de Cuenca (Pydlos), from Ecuador, brings together professors and researchers activities, led by the economist Alejandro Guillén, since it was created in 1983, in shaping the thought on GL, in partnership with the Universidad de Alicante da España, Centro Andino de Acción Popular, Fundación Rosa Luxemburgo, Universidad de Santa María, Universidad del País Vasco, Centro Latinoamericano de Ecología Social, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Universidad de Huelva e outros (Hidalgo Capitán, 2012HIDALGO CAPITÁN, A. L. El buen vivir: la (re)creación del pensamiento del Pydlos. Cuenca: Universidad de Cuenca, 2012.).

The concept of GL, although it may refer at first to fine gastronomy (Mason; O’Mahony, 2007MASON, R.; O’MAHONY, B. On the trail of food and wine: the tourist search for meaningful experience. Annals of Leisure Research, Oxfordshire, v. 10, n. 3-4, p. 498-517, 2007.) or to good working conditions (Chalofsky; Cavallaro, 2013CHALOFSKY, N.; CAVALLARO, L. A good living versus a good life: meaning, purpose and HRD. Advances in Developing Human Resources, Thousand Oaks, v. 15, n. 4, p. 331-340, 2013.), it is not restricted to the egocentric perspective or to the current generation, as if nature could be reduced to a mere resource serving a supreme being, the human being.

On the one hand, if GL is represented by policies associated with the use of biodiversity and the ethno-knowledge¹¹11Ethno-knowledge: traditional knowledge that regulates understanding, practices and the use regarding an object or an event (Dansac, 2012). for medicinal purposes, on the other hand, actions were strengthened on indigenous peoples land rights, integration, preservation of culture, traditions and integrity.

Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (OIT, 2003OIT - ORGANIZAÇÃO INTERNACIONAL DO TRABALHO. Convenio 169 de la OIT sobre pueblos indígenas y tribales em países independientes. México: Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, 2003.) on indigenous and tribal peoples, adopted at the 76th International Labor Conference in 1989, was the first international instrument that specifically addressed the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples (Palazuelos; Ballivián, 2013PALAZUELOS, A. C. P. de; BALLIVIÁN, J. M. P. P. Tecendo relações além da aldeia: o artesanato indígena em cidades da Região Sul. In: MARKUS, C.; GIERUS, R. (Org.). O Bem Viver na criação. São Leopoldo: Oikos, 2013. p. 130-152.). In September, 2007 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including property and protection of their lands and territories, access to natural resources and preservation of their traditional knowledge (ONU, 2008ONU - ORGANIZAÇÃO DAS NAÇÕES UNIDAS. Declaração das nações unidas sobre os direitos dos povos indígenas. Rio de Janeiro: Centro de Informação das Nações Unidas, 2008.).

In Brazil, the National Policy for the Health of Indigenous Peoples is part of the National Health Policy, aligning the determinations of the Health Organic Laws with the Federal Constitution, which acknowledges indigenous peoples ethnic and cultural specificities and their territorial rights. Among these policies there are those related to the use of biodiversity and ethno-knowledge for medicinal purposes, granting

GL relates to ethical constraints and human emancipation, i.e., to social dynamics, but at the same time it is associated with its environment, with the environmental dynamics. It is pointless, then, to sacrifice ecological systems to promote GL exclusively to one generation, inasmuch as they, for being connected, when one does not have a qualified state, ends up punishing the other, and this characterizes ecocentrism (Merchant, 1999MERCHANT, C. Partnership ethics and cultural discourse: women and the earth summit. In: FISHER, F.; HAJER, M. A. Living with nature: environmental politics as cultural discourse. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. p. 204-223.). In this regard, human impacts on biodiversity have inspired specific research themes on ethnobiology¹²12Ethnobiology is the science that focuses on understanding how traditional communities (indigenous, quilombolas, fishing, agriculture and others) perceive, classify and construct the environment (Begossi, 1993). of agricultural diversity, cultural ecology of plant genetic resources, participatory conservation, genetic resources policies and resource management, among others (Nazarea, 2006NAZAREA, V. D. Local knowledge and memory in biodiversity conservation. Annual Review of Anthropology, Palo Alto, v. 35, p. 317-335, 2006.).

Under such point of view, it is pointless to tackle human emancipation without, however, associate it with the intrinsic value of nature as an ethical constraint to ponder about future generations, which means withdrawal from classical utilitarianism and excelling at common good whenever possible, but, above all, approximating the unconditionality of human GL to the non-human (Merchant, 1999MERCHANT, C. Partnership ethics and cultural discourse: women and the earth summit. In: FISHER, F.; HAJER, M. A. Living with nature: environmental politics as cultural discourse. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. p. 204-223.). It is also pointless to sacrifice emancipation of some (current generation) at the expense of others (future generation), as if there could be different classes of citizens - or, worse, as in ancient Greece, where women, children and foreigners were not even considered citizens (Aristotle, 1946ARISTOTLE. Politics. Oxford: Clarendon, 1946.). As suggested by ethnoecology derived from indigenous wisdom and traditional knowledge, what happens to a human being successively brings consequences for his descendant, for others and consequently for the planet (Lyons, 2008LYONS, C. O. Listening to natural law. In: NELSON, M. K. (Ed.). Original instructions: indigenous teachings for a sustainable future. Rochester: Bear & Company, 2008. p. 22-26.).

Good Living and Quality of Life

GL is an expression full of subjective meaning, however, it is not free from objective connotations of quality of life (QoL). QoL can be quantified by average income indicators, even if it is not certain that someone who has a higher standard of living than others, recognize in himself what is considered GL. In the same way that years of schooling can provide and analytically determine QoL, such a designation does not necessarily suggest that an individual can be fully-realized just by the knowledge he acquired through formal education, guaranteeing GL. Although the access to free public health may denote QoL, it does not guarantee that a person has GL, because one can have unhealthy living habits or can put one’s life at risk by taking medication or consuming narcotics, chemical additives in his food, etc. (Antonioni; Gemini; Mazzoli, 2010ANTONIONI, S.; GEMINI, L.; MAZZOLI, L. Gazes on Levanto: a case study on how local identity could become part of the touristic supply. In: BURNS, P.; PALMER, C.; LESTER, J-A. (Org.). Tourism and visual culture: theories and concepts. Oxfordshire: Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International, 2010. p. 107-123.; Sirgy; Phillips; Rahtz, 2009SIRGY, J.; PHILLIPS, R.; RAHTZ, D. Community quality-of-life indicators: best cases III. New York: Springer, 2009.).

A classic example of symbolic indicators that distorts the information it contains is Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which suggests the measurement of a given territory wealth. According to (Smith and Max-Neef, 2011SMITH, P. B.; MAX-NEEF, M. Economics unmasked: from power and greed to compassion and the common good. Cambridge: UIT Cambridge, 2011.), GDP takes into consideration both negative impacts such as costs of traffic accidents, and positive such as investments in education. It does not include, however, unpaid work, domestic work, which reproduces life itself, neither the potential of ecosystem services to produce wealth.

There are, however, qualified initiatives for measuring aggregate indicators, such as the OECD Better Life Index (OECD, 2014OECD - THE ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT. OECD Better Life Index. Paris: OECD, 2014.), based on the Bellagio principles¹³13The Bellagio principles refer to four parameters that sustainable development indicators should have: definition and goals; priority and practicality; assessment; and feedback (Pintér et al., 2012). (Pintér et al., 2012PINTÉR, L. et al. Bellagio STAMP: principles for sustainability assessment and measurement. Ecological Indicators, New York, v. 17, p. 20-28, 2012.), which brings together information about housing, income, employment, community, education, environment, civic engagement, health, personal satisfaction, security and life/work, and the Human Development Index from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2014UNDP - UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME. Human development index (HDI) 2014. New York: UNDP, 2014.), which brings together information about longevity, education and income.

GL, more than a material, socio-educational and health condition, as previously mentioned, is a particular state of happiness, in which different cultural patterns prevail, in which enjoying a glass of wine can be morally acceptable or not. It is fallacious to suppose, regarding public policies, that not having formal education implies necessarily in an obstacle to the pursuit of happiness, if learning opportunities from non-formal and informal education are not appreciated, or from traditional knowledge or site-specific technologies (Tuan, 1974TUAN, Y. Topophilia: a study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Englewwood Clifts: Prentice-Hall, 1974.). Family farmers, artisanal fisherfolk, traditional forest product extractor communities, originating communities, quilombo communities and others not associated with the consumer society can and sometimes historically lead a lifestyle to one’s heart’s content (Berkes, 1999BERKES, F. Sacred ecology: traditional ecological knowledge and resource management. Abingdon: Routledge, 1999.).

What approximates GL and QoL, even with subjective and objective differences of concept, is the fact that both require a collective parameter (understood as common good), in order to associate them with studies and comparative analyses, which the sustainability indicators do not need. If indicators do not help decision making, they run the risk of being discontinued (Gabrielsen; Bosch, 2003GABRIELSEN, P.; BOSCH, P. Environmental indicators: tipology and use in reporting. EEA internal working paper, Aug. 2003.; Quiroga, 2001QUIROGA, R. Indicadores de sostenibilidad ambiental y de desarrollo sostenible: Estado del Arte y perspectivas. Santiago: Cepal, 2001.; Wackernagel; Rees, 1996WACKERNAGEL, M.; REES, W. Our ecological footprint. Gabriola Island: New Society, 1996.).

Europe, known for promoting social welfare policies - as in the case of cities that implement good practices of urban mobility, such as Copenhagen, Denmark (Silva et al., 2015SILVA, J. M. M. et al. Cyklistforbundet: ecossocioeconomia e sua prática urbana. Blumenau: Furb, 2015.), Maastricht, the Netherlands (Zacharias; Castro, 2014ZACHARIAS, A. C.; CASTRO, M. C. S. Mobilidade urbana bicicleta como uma alternativa para promoção do turismo comunitário: o caso de Maastricht (Netherlands). Curitiba: UFPR, 2014.), and Hersbruck, Germany (Ceccato; Strapasson, 2014CECCATO, M. W.; STRAPASSON, E. V. L. Slow city: qualidade de vida, cultura e turismo local. Curitiba: UFPR, 2014.) - when it gives priority to bikeways, it uses inclusive development strategies (providing more equitable conditions of mobility and encouraging healthy habits), economically justified (since bicycles have affordable prices) and ecologically sustainable (bicycles are considered to have low environmental impact), which favors GL for both current and future generations (Gudmundsson; Höjer, 1996GUDMUNDSSON, H.; HÖJER, M. Sustainable development principles and their implications for transport. Ecological Economics, Amsterdam, v. 19, p. 269-282, 1996.).

Noteworthy is, in this sense, the ecovillage. From the experience in Findhorn (Scotland), comprising settlements or sustainable communities that maintain ecosystem dynamics on a human scale (transdisciplinary¹⁴14The transdisciplinary vision suggests that the most significant contemporary problems will not be solved through a disciplinary way, mainly by the fact that they have become issues exactly by the lack of a complex view of reality. The challenge proposed by the transdisciplinary method is to break the “enchantment” regarding specialization. It is a method of knowledge building that pass through the known sciences, starting from a problematic/complexity that one wants to understand and solve – and for this it is even possible to create new knowledge fields that were not necessary or that emerged from connections among disciplines or unfoldings that did not exist until now (Nicolescu, 2002).), towards a GL. Ecovillages such as Findhorn incubate a sustainable lifestyle that conciliates housing projects, organic food, treatment for drinking water, renewable energy (wind power) and businesses (bakery, publishing houses, various shops) in a community regime, benefiting the residents of the settlements (Dawson, 2006DAWSON, J. Ecovillages: new frontiers for sustainability. Totnes: Green Books, 2006.; Mollison; Holmgren, 1978MOLLISON, B.; HOLMGREN, D. Permaculture one: a perennial agriculture for human settlements. London: Transworld, 1978.).

Subjectivity and common good

“Common good” or “community” refers to the concept of place, a real space where people meet, talk, live (Bauman, 2013BAUMAN, Z. Community: seeking safety in an insecure world. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2013.). In the face of social networks and their devices of information and communications technology, real space does not refer only to physical geographic space, but also to the network of virtual social relationships built upon a common good: climate and its transformations, i.e., when there is identity in the established dialogue, which can be called cooperative subjectivity or intersubjectivity (Azkarraga, 2010AZKARRAGA, E. J. Educación, sociedad y transformación cooperativa. Eskoriatza: Instituto de Estudios Cooperativos Lanki, 2010.). This is called by (Polanyi, 2000POLANYI, K. A grande transformação: as origens de nossa época. Rio de Janeiro: Campus, 2000.) the “tacit dimension of knowledge”, a knowledge hardly visualized by those who do not recognize the meanings of a given territory, but not by those living in the territory. Intersubjectivity exists in its fullness in the territorial sphere.

Under this perspective it is pointless to dichotomize subjectivity and common good, as if they were different realities, because the human being exists while a social and political being. Intersubjectivity in the consumer society, under such perspective, is emptied and deterritorialized (Pecqueur, 2014PECQUEUR, B. Esquisse d’une géographie économique territoriale. L’Espace Geographique, Paris, v. 3, n. 43, p. 198-214, 2014.; Smith; Max-Neef, 2011SMITH, P. B.; MAX-NEEF, M. Economics unmasked: from power and greed to compassion and the common good. Cambridge: UIT Cambridge, 2011.); it evokes the concept of non-place (Augé, 2002AUGÉ, M. Nonluoghi. Milano: Eleuthera, 2002.), referring to places not occupied, empty or of social transience, with too little vitality to be called a place. It is the case of the guy who bought a Ferrari, but who throughout his life could not create a place with identity, up to the point of not having a friend who he could invite or, worse, to tell what he has achieved.

The place, in a way, represents to the cognizing subject his own world (Santos, 1997SANTOS, M. La nature de l’espace: technique et temp. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1997.). There people are born, crawl, walk, grow up, love, live and die. The place with identity is the community. Although “community” may have different meanings and possibilities of understanding, (Bauman, 2013BAUMAN, Z. Community: seeking safety in an insecure world. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2013.) admits the challenges of life in the community today, in what is called modern society or what is called here the consumer society. Community becomes the paradise lost, hard to find in big urban areas. As if condominiums, schools and neighborhood associations could not be reterritorialized or express conviviality and interest for each other. Identity is established between visitor and host when in search for the meaning of life, called GL (Illich, 1973ILLICH, I. Tools for conviviality. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.).

That subjectivity is no longer synonym for individualism. Individualism is a self-centered attitude, personalist, different from individuality, which despite suggesting the existence of an essence, it is complemented and changed in the community and in the territory (Maturana; Varela, 1987MATURANA, H. R.; VARELA, F. J. The tree of knowledge: the biological roots of human understanding. Boston: New Science: Shambhala, 1987.). Human individuality cannot be nullified, nor must be denied in community. Community experiences strive against individualism. Community members understand that GL of the individual depends on GL of the others. Individuality itself is conceived collectively, it is the principle of conviviality (Illich, 1973ILLICH, I. Tools for conviviality. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.).

The understanding of use of time itself can be used as an example of proximity between subjectivity and common good, or even as a counterexample of how far apart they are. (Sachs, 1974SACHS, I. Environment and styles of development. Economic and Political Weekly, Mumbai, v. 9, n. 21, p. 828, 1974.) suggests that the way a society establishes its use of time also determines its lifestyle. The slow cities Levanto (Mendonça; Macoppi, 2014MENDONÇA, C. V.; MACOPPI, G. U. Slow city: uma abordagem do turismo comunitário, solidário e sustentável: modelo aplicado em Levanto, Itália. In: SEMINÁRIO NACIONAL DE PLANEJAMENTO E LOCAL E REGIONAL, 2014, Florianópolis. Anais… Florianópolis: Udesc, 2014.) and Bolzano, both in Italy, have adopted GL as a government policy, which evokes a lifestyle associated with a substantive use of time, associated with the common good, referring to the recovery of the use of time of previous generations. These slow cities, however, do it without abstracting the economic logic so needed and greedy, in which the subject calculates the individual consequences, which suggests subjectivity, as long as it is not hegemonic nor even decisive in the production processes and human reproduction, which creates the emptied subject (Sampaio et al., 2014SAMPAIO, C. A. C. et al. Slow city: como proposta de desenvolvimento territorial sustentável. In: SEMINÁRIO INTERNACIONAL CULTURAS E DESENVOLVIMENTO, 2., 2014, Chapecó. Anais… Chapecó: Argos, 2014. p. 1721-1735.).

Slow living means to live in a balanced pace of body and mind, as in the saying Mens sana in corpore sano, “mind” is understood as the sphere of intrasubjective human relations, in which more doubts are raised than there are rational certainties, which often is restricted to the esoteric field of existence, in the counter-science pejorative sense. Balance is required to GL, suggesting slowness not as stagnation, but as a slowdown in life’s pace, disassociating the economic productive time, not the only one deserving happiness (Sampaio et al., 2014SAMPAIO, C. A. C. et al. Slow city: como proposta de desenvolvimento territorial sustentável. In: SEMINÁRIO INTERNACIONAL CULTURAS E DESENVOLVIMENTO, 2., 2014, Chapecó. Anais… Chapecó: Argos, 2014. p. 1721-1735.).

Final remarks

It is evident that one can experience more slowly the same process that urges us to believe that the path treaded is another one, which makes the debate proposed here almost as an ode to challenge, first, of resistance and, secondly, of overcoming through mechanisms able to suspend - and a more phenomenological approach is assumed here - the loose wires of the social tissue that repeatedly claims its loom with the same and already worn-out needles. It is impossible to talk about GL and QoL without considering the fundamental tension between ethics of conviction and responsibility within contemporary society as a fundamental contradiction. The individual is a fundamental issue therein and must be resolved in the context of the debate on eco-socio-economy.

In other words, the big dilemma experienced in the work of many great authors, e.g., (Polanyi, 2000POLANYI, K. A grande transformação: as origens de nossa época. Rio de Janeiro: Campus, 2000.), (Ramos, 1981RAMOS, A. G. The new science of organizations: a reconceptualization of the wealth of nations. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1981.) and, more recently, (Bauman, 2013BAUMAN, Z. Community: seeking safety in an insecure world. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2013.) is the consequences of unrestricted market, from which derives the market society, and with it the prevalence of a way to make the individual see and position himself in the world, alienated from himself. Commodity and technique fetishism pervaded thus the associated human life to such an extent that the contemporary human being deals schizophrenically with the real and the other, struggling to rebuild his condition as a subject in the world and with the world.

This implies a subjection never experienced before of the human psyche to social imperatives, determined by instrumental rationality (Weber, 1978WEBER, M. Economy and society: an outline of interpretive sociology. Oakland: University of California, 1978.), governed by the ethics of responsibility. Authors who claim a new humanism, such as (Paula, 2015PAULA, A. P. P. de. Repensando os estudos organizacionais: para uma nova teoria do conhecimento. São Paulo: FGV, 2015.), and the recovery of subjectivity to overcome contemporary absolutes agree with (Ramos, 1981RAMOS, A. G. The new science of organizations: a reconceptualization of the wealth of nations. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1981.) when he says that the voice of the owner differs from the owner of the voice, as in Chico Buarque verses. Considering the limits of the artistic metaphor, Ramos created his work theorizing a life that could recover, in classical humanism, the sense of inseparability between thought and action, as a result of the struggle for reason centered on the subject.

This would imply recreating human capacity of being an individual and not, as today, being someone whose personality dissolves in the processes of social determination guided by the individualist and mercantile ethos. This is probably why (Ramos, 1981RAMOS, A. G. The new science of organizations: a reconceptualization of the wealth of nations. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1981.) did not tackle the social dimension of substantive rationality, understanding it as an open flank to alienation and to this issue, implying that any debate in the field such as eco-socio-economy must take heed to the distinction between individuality and individualism.

Appreciation of the environment is inextricably linked to the allocative dynamics of “another economy”; it is necessary a social ordainment able to discuss and offer a way of overcoming its structure, in which the human personality would not be absent. In this context, the ethno-knowledge, based on participatory approaches and on revisiting diverse knowledge, promotes the dialogue and interaction between the actors of traditional knowledge, protecting socio-cultural and biological diversity.

It is believed that talking about GL, QoL and measurement indices of these categories otherwise would just lead to naive findings on how much the state of subjection goes towards the process of alienation, implying a life without action, without discussing its actual quality and without an ethical judgment to inquire whether such path in fact implies an intelligence capable of distinguishing the meaning of good (living) and bad (living). In other words, in this connection there would be the classic revisiting of ethics of conviction next to the ethics of responsibility as an important element to the idea of human emancipation and to the capacity of human beings have it as a purpose in their lives. Emancipation and intention would be thus premises to GL. In this sphere, QoL implies overcoming ideological contingencies that subvert the human psyche and serve as alienating substrate in the absolutes of the market society.

GL can never be mistaken for the lowered and accommodated way of life of those who, now conservative, make use of the benefits achieved by other generations - this is what (Bauman, 2013BAUMAN, Z. Community: seeking safety in an insecure world. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2013., p. 51) calls the “cool” way of life. The subjectivity and the common good can only be reconciled in a society that is not just calculating and where human beings do not deprive nor the other (political), nor themselves (psyche) in the creation of an eco-socio-economical path engaged in the problematic character of an associated human life that cannot dismiss, as a structuring element, its own process of socialization.

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