Degrowth and Human Flourishing: Direct Democracy, Village Economies, and Self-Realization

This project evaluates the relationship between human well-being and collective institutions. Specifically, using the combined and essentialist wisdom of Aristotle, Marx, and Nussbaum, I argue in favor of human well-being understood as ‘human flourishing,’ which can be roughly characterized as the complete fulfilment of uniquely human potential. Because material conditions are determinants of one’s ability to flourish, I further argue that current societal institutions preclude real and equal opportunities for individual flourishing. Namely, I argue that large-scale, representative democracy and its complementarity of global capitalism are detrimental to the project of human flourishing, as they prohibit the adequate provision of the material preconditions for such flourishing. The project is written in the context of worsening environmental crisis. In order to salvage our planet and make real the equal opportunity for individual flourishing—which corresponds to greater societal flourishing—there must occur a radical reimagining of democracy and market economies. In the spirit of Rousseau, Pateman, and others, I argue in favor of small-scale, direct democracy. Using the innovative research of international degrowth scholars, I argue for a transformation in the relationships between humans and the natural world, humans and the supply and consumption of resources, as well as current generations and future generations, ultimately arguing in favor of Gandhian ‘village economies’ as a way for individuals to maintain autonomy, and in turn, the material preconditions for enduring human flourishing