The 2014-2015 Ignatian Lecture on Ecology and Justice
For the sake of the earth, let’s deal with our collective malaise Averting the environmental disasters that threaten human beings and the biosphere will require a new kind of collective energy. Great contemporary thinkers like Thomas Berry envision religions and social activism expanding to include concern for the earth. But most of us feel enchained by the dead weight of current thinking, even when we know how destructive it is. Dr. Alexander argues that a close examination of the addictive malaise that burdens modernity — which goes far deeper than sensational stories about addictive drugs and the brain scans of neuroscientists — could help to burst these chains.
Bruce K. Alexander
Bruce Alexander is a psychologist and professor emeritus from the department of psychology at Simon Fraser University, B.C. He has taught and conducted research on the psychology of addiction since 1970. His 2008 book, The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit (Oxford University Press) radically rethinks the nature of addiction, arguing that the most effective response to our culture’s addiction problem is social and political, rather than simply individual.
This lecture is endowed by a special fund created by the Jesuits of English Canada.