Start by watching a short video introducing the content of the course. 

1. The goal of good life

How could the well-being of all people be achieved without endangering planetary well-being? What kinds of conceptions of good life can aid the goal of planetary well-being? How do values and lifestyles affect planetary well-being? What kinds of knowledge or education are needed in the current era of environmental crises? Or how do emotions affect acquiring knowledge?

In this course on planetary well-being, we will examine how the concept of good life relates to the concept of planetary well-being, developed in the University of Jyväskylä. We will address cultural and societal phenomena, developments and challenges relative to good life. This course follows our previous courses on planetary well-being. In the first course, we examined how humankind has arrived in the present situation in which different ecological crises threaten the life of both humans and other species. We also emphasised tipping points (i.e., thresholds after which the bearing capacity of ecosystems is weakened) that can be influenced to answer the sustainability crisis. In the second course, we focused on system-level thinking.

The concepts of planetary well-being and good life evoke somewhat different thoughts. Objectively defined preconditions for the well-being of species and habitats form the basis for planetary well-being. Humans are one of these species but hold no special position. In contrast, the concept of good life is primarily anthropocentric: in philosophy, social studies and in discussions on sustainable development as well, good life specifically refers to the well-being of humans and its prerequisites. During the course, we will build different bridges between these concepts.

The course offers a review to the multidisciplinary approaches to planetary well-being and the preconditions of good life, with a focus on views from the humanities and social sciences. We will focus particularly on western culture and the value discussions going on within it, but we will also touch on other cultures. This delimitation stems from the idea that rich western countries in particular must take responsibility to promote cultural change as well as system change. In the first chapter of the course, we will examine good life in relation to philosophical discussions, societal sustainability studies and naturally, planetary well-being. We will also examine how differences between individuals and between ways of thinking affect how good life is perceived and experienced.

The section is divided into five chapters which can each be found in its own separate tab.

At the end of the section, there is a mandatory discussion exercise which covers the contents of the entire section. Study chapters 1.1–1.5 and join the discussion afterwards.

Welcome to the course! We hope the third course on planetary well-being will offer you some food for thought.

Discussion task (COMPULSORY)