CIPSH International Academy

on Chinese Culture and Global Humanities 2026

Assisi (Italy), 16-18 November 2026 

​​​​​​

International Seminar:

Geoethics and Global Ethics in a Time of Polycrisis:

Comparative Perspectives on Human–Earth Relations
 

​

Rationale 

Contemporary global challenges, such as climate change, environmental degradation, natural hazards, resource exploitation, and increasingly pervasive technological interventions in the Earth system, are no longer isolated phenomena but interconnected and mutually reinforcing processes. Together, they form what is increasingly described as a polycrisis: a condition in which multiple crises interact across scales and domains, amplifying their impacts and generating complex ethical, social, and governance dilemmas. These dynamics raise profound ethical questions that transcend disciplinary, cultural, and geopolitical boundaries. Addressing them requires ethical frameworks capable of integrating scientific knowledge with social responsibility, respect for cultural diversity, and a long-term vision of planetary stewardship.

Geoethics offers a conceptual and practical foundation for responding to these needs and for articulating a form of global ethics suited to a globalized world. It promotes critical reflection on the principles and values that should guide human behaviours and decision-making wherever human activities interact with the Earth system. Geoethics emphasizes responsibility and care for both present and future generations, while acknowledging the complexity of human–Earth relationships.

Within this perspective, a crucial role is played by comparative geoethics, which examines and contrasts human ethical values, behaviours, and responsibilities toward the Earth system across diverse cultural, social, and geographical contexts. It fosters structured dialogue among scholars from different backgrounds and supports the critical evaluation of the various approaches to human–Earth relationships. In particular, Chinese cultural traditions, including Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist ethical and cosmological thought, offer profound insights into the interconnectedness of humans and nature, the importance of harmony between human activity and the natural world, and the cultivation of virtue, responsibility, and care across generations. By engaging with these traditions alongside Western and other global ethical systems, comparative geoethics fosters mutual understanding, ethical pluralism, and the identification of shared principles that can support collective action at the global level.

Against this background, the proposed international seminar aims to explore global ethics grounded in geoethics, with particular emphasis on comparative geoethics as a means of bridging cultural traditions, knowledge systems, and ethical visions from the West and East, with special attention to Chinese philosophical and cultural contributions, as well as from the Global North and Global South. The seminar seeks to provide an interdisciplinary and intercultural space for reflection, dialogue, and cooperation on ethical responses to the polycrisis and to the evolving challenges of the Earth system in an interconnected and rapidly changing world.​​