Human dignity

From 25 to 27 October a conference on human dignity took place at Milan University, offering experts in the field the possibility to share their insights in lectures and round-table discussions.

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There were three outer occasions for this conference on human dignity: Waldorf 100, the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death and 100 years of Social Threefolding. Stefano Gasperi, general secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Italy, saw a special quality in the approach of this gathering. «How and to what extent the dignity of the human being has been violated in the twentieth century has already been much discussed. Here, I experienced that we spoke of how human dignity can be lived, concretely.» The event was made possible by the Anthroposophical Society in Italy, Milan’s three Waldorf Schools, the Fondazione Antroposofica Milanese and other partners, including the Adriano Olivetti Foundation.

Encouragement to form alliances

The conference aimed at developing perspectives for a more humane education and medicine and a more humane social life. The lecturers included Constanza Kaliks from the Goetheanum (CH), Manfred Spitzer, a neuroscientist from Ulm (DE) who spoke on the topic of media, Marc Desaules, entrepreneur and general secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Switzerland, who spoke about threefolding, and Giovanni Maio, professor of bioethics and medical ethics in Freiburg (DE). The musician Franco Mussida, who is very popular in Italy, contributed his experiences with music in prisons. Stefano Gasperi was impressed that the guest speakers stayed on to listen to the other lectures. «They were grateful for having learned something new. One could also learn something about anthroposophists. The anthropologist Nadia Breda described her research project on the anthroposophical movement, including its weaknesses, and she encouraged the anthroposophists to form alliances in order to increase and improve their cooperation with other organizations.»

During the conference a manifesto for human dignity was composed which can be signed on the conference website. Online documentation of the event will be provided shortly.

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