Politics and economics are central disciplines for understanding social life. They aim at the use and distribution of authority for the sake of security (politics) as well as the creation of wealth and commerce necessary for the flourishing of personal and social life. In this respect, each of these disciplines is crucial for Enhancing Life Studies. Indeed, these disciplines and their domains of inquiry touch basic issues in the Project: How are we understand people’s needs, aspirations, longings, hopes, and their sense of commitment and their willingness to take over responsibility for their shared ‘polis’ in relation to enhancing life? How should we conceive of and measure “value” in relation to living realities and their enhancement? How are we to understand and assess people’s selfdetermiation in relation to enhancing social life?
What is submerged, what is implicit, and what is not sufficiently examined? Where can “Enhancing Life Studies” make a difference? Where do we want to shift scholarly attention?
The Enhancing Life Project seeks to learn from and also contribute to politics and economics not simply in terms of political and economic systems and the theoretical debates and empirical judgments that surround them. That is, the Project is not an attempt to show that, say, democracy or free market capitalism are the best means to enhance social life, although those are important questions for assessing and measuring the enhancement of life. Additionally, we want to see if and how one is able to articulate and relate spiritual power and spiritual value as crucial to enhancing life in its many forms. Consistent with our methodological procedure of attention to the multiple dimensions of life, political conceptions of self-determination and economic theories of value can and must be enriched by exploring the enhancement of social autonomy and value from other perspectives, including religious ones, say, how these issues dovetail with Christian conceptions of “use” and “enjoyment.” (See Theology Section above). In and through this examination, Enhancing Life Studies will also seek to articulate the spiritual laws for the enhancement of life through actions necessary to preserve the social values and at the same time to transform social life meeting the challenges of the future.
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