Rodrigue Tremblay is a prominent Canadian-born economist with a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is a former Woodrow Wilson fellow and a Ford International Fellow. He is now professor emeritus at the University of Montreal, after having occupied the positions of full professor of economics at the University of Montreal, president of the North American Economics and Finance Association, president of the Canadian Economics Society, and advisor to numerous organizations. From 1976 to 1979, he was minister of Industry and Commerce in the Quebec government. Professor Tremblay has written 25 books dealing with economics and finance, some also tackling moral and political issues. His most recent work is The Code for Global Ethics: Ten Humanist Principles, published this year.
Rodrigue Tremblay at the podium, 2010-10-02
Photograph : F. Ward
We live in troubled times. It seems that the moral environment is deteriorating at a moment when problems are becoming increasingly serious and global in nature and when religious sentiment seems to be on the rise in some countries, especially in the United States, which happens to be the most heavily armed country in the world.
Political corruption, abuse of power and disregard for the rule of law, unchecked greed, fraud and deception in the economic sphere, severe economic crises, social inequalities, intolerance toward individual choices, sex scandals in religious organizations, the disregard for environmental problems by many, the rise of religious absolutism, the return of wars of aggression (or of pre-emptive wars) and of blind terrorism are all indicators that human civilization is suffering badly.
What can humanism contribute in terms of ideas, words and principles to avoid going back to an age of obscurantism? In particular, what should the scope of human empathy be in an age of globalisation? —What are the universal humanist principles of ethics and why are they not more widely accepted and applied? Why can they be shown to be superior to any religon-based ethical principles? —Finally, what can we do to bring about a more humanist civilization?