This paper analyzes Daisaku Ikeda’s concept of global citizenship from the perspective of ecological citizenship required in today’s climate crisis. Western ethical traditions, as well as the cosmopolitan ideas of Kant, Habermas, and Marx, remain largely anthropocentric and fail to adequately account for the relationships between humans, nature, and other living beings. In contrast, Ikeda understands human beings as “life itself,” intrinsically interconnected with all forms of life. By expanding Aristotelian virtue ethics to a global and holistic level, Ikeda proposes an alternative ecological model of global citizenship that transcends anthropocentrism and is more suited to the contemporary ecological era.
Dong-Uhn Suh (Fri,) studied this question.