关于理事会成员的思考

(English version follows after the Chinese, titled: Thoughts on the Invitation List of EPD China Board Members)

EPD中国计划年底召开首届理事大会，秘书处要我提交理事会成员名单，逐一进行邀请——于是我开始打开我的通讯录，准备着手联络企业、行业以及社会机构的领袖，共同推动可持续产品和经济发展。 

可是，慢着，EPD中国需要什么样的理事会成员呢？除了满足民非机构理事会设置要求之外，理事会的设立到底对于机构的使命和建设具备什么样的意义？理事会除了每年开几次会议，履行EPD中国战略指导和支持发展的角色，是否还有别的呢？

（图1: 一米一远程“出席”的全球LCA合作伙伴大会，2022年9月于巴塞罗那）

断断续续想了几天，没有下文，我想可能是碰到认知的瓶颈了，于是开始看社会学方面的书，毕竟理事会属于社会管理科学的范畴，一番折腾，我找到了一个线索——近代哲学家马克思韦伯，他提出了现代人——也就是各位——的“理性”这个概念，他说进入现代社会，人类需要平衡工具理性和价值理性这两个部分，顾名思义，我们需要用价值理性来确定共同的发展目标，然后用工具理性来实现这个目标。但是这两个理性都带来了现代社会的矛盾：价值多元造成的现代人的众说纷纭和结论的不唯一性和不确定性（即无所谓绝对的对错），以及工具效率至上造成的人的物化和工具化，人变成了效率机器上的零件和流水线上KPI考核的数字，而不再是一个个鲜活的个体——他说过一句话：“专家没有灵魂”，意思是说，身处社会效率至上这个铁笼之中，即使有丰富的知识，成了“专家”，也只不过是一种高级零件罢了。我们人类作为“万物的灵长”，自己和周遭各类生命和灵性发展的需求被忽视和淹没了。

（图2: 哲学家马克斯韦伯）

韦伯关于现代社会的理性问题的思考，让我在考虑理事会成员名单的时候，逐渐形成了一个准则——既要考虑价值理性的判断，也要遵循工具理性的科学，二者必须兼顾，不可偏颇。

换句话说，理事会的成员应该是价值理性和工具理性的合集，这个合集能从最大程度上确保EPD中国战略决策过程中多元价值的不缺席（而成为弱势群体被忽视），又能保证多元环境、社会及经济价值得以按照高效有序的方式落地和执行。而现代社会，同时具备多元价值理性和全部工具理性的生物是稀有的，为了不掉进多元价值观的争论不休、无所适从，以及唯效率至上论的‘人格工具化’的陷阱，我们就需要建立一个“和而不同”的君子道场——如此看来，孔子所说的“道不同，不相为谋”是有问题的，至少在现代社会我们也要对这个‘道’字做出新的解释：每一个人都有不同的价值诉求和专业领域，需要接受和不同价值诉求和专业认知的人一起讨论和共同解决问题，是为守道。那种因为怕麻烦而拒绝多元价值观的做法放在几千年前没人质疑，现在还坚持一元论就有点价值观洁癖的倾向了——至少把多元价值或“别人的”工具简单地放在对立面，或者坚持单一价值或工具至上的做法，都不可取。

扯远了，回来说我们的理事会，有了这样的准则，我心里EPD中国的理事会成员选择标准便逐步清晰起来：

在价值理性方面，既要结合EPD中国的价值标准，即促进绿色产品和服务的建设，实现生态经济文明，又要兼顾社会和经济价值的可持续发展方向；在工具理性方面，在建设和应用标准、体系、知识以及工具方面，不遗余力地实现上述综合价值理性的最大化。

所以，啰嗦了半天，我们到底要邀请谁？这个问题，暂时保密，还是等11月EPD中国首届理事及成员大会，我们见分晓吧——如果您觉得身边有符合上述标准的大咖，愿意代表不同价值体系和专业领域参加EPD中国的发展建设，也欢迎推荐（邮箱：secretary@epdchina.cn），谢谢您的支持。

2022年9月6日星期二

Thoughts on the Invitation List of EPD China Board Members

EPD China plans to hold its first board meeting at the end of the year. The secretariat asked me to submit a candidate list of board members and invite. So, I opened my address book and prepared to start contacting leaders of enterprises, industries, and social organizations to jointly promote sustainable products. and economic development.

But wait, what kind of board members does EPD China need? In addition to meeting the requirements for setting up the board of non-profit institutions, what significance does the establishment of the board have for the mission and development of the institution? In addition to meeting several times a year, is there anything else the board can do to guide and support the development of EPD China's strategy?

After thinking about it off and on for a few days, I didn’t get a clear answer. Recognizing is as a bottleneck of cognition, I started to read some books on sociology. Luckily, after a lot of tossing, I found a name——Marx Weber, a modern philosopher, who put forward the concept of "rationality" of modern people, that is, you and me. He said that in entering modern society, human beings need to balance the two parts of instrumental rationality and value rationality. As the name suggests, we need to use Value rationality to determine common development goals, and then use instrumental rationality to achieve this goal. But these two rationales both bring about contradictions in modern society: the divergent opinions of modern people and the non-uniqueness and uncertainty of conclusions (that is, there is no absolute right or wrong) caused by the pluralism of values, and the materialization of people caused by the supremacy of instrumental efficiency and instrumentalization, people have become parts of efficient machines and the numbers of KPI assessments on the assembly line, rather than living individuals - he once said: "Experts have no soul", which means that one's body in the iron cage where social efficiency is paramount , even if you have a wealth of knowledge and become an "expert", you are only a highly sophisticated component. As the "primate of all things", human being and other life’s needs are ignored and overwhelmed.

Weber's thinking about rationality in modern society gradually formed a guideline when I was considering the list of board members - both the judgment of value rationality and the science of instrumental rationality must be considered.

In other words, the members of the board should be a combination of value rationality and instrumental rationality. This combination can to the greatest extent ensure that multiple values are not absent in the process of EPD China's strategic decision-making (and become vulnerable groups and are ignored), and can ensure that the diversified environmental, social and economic values are implemented and executed in an efficient and orderly manner. In modern society, it is rare to find people with both multiple value rationality and all instrumental rationality. In order not to fall into the trap of endless debate over multiple values, and the 'instrumentalization of personality' of efficiency-only theory, we need to establish a A gentleman's dojo of "harmony but different" - from this point of view, what Confucius said, "People with different direction (Dao) don’t walk together" is problematic. At least in modern society, we have to make a new interpretation of the word 'Dao' : People has different value and professional fields. It is necessary to discuss and solve problems together with people with different background. The practice of rejecting multiple values for fear of trouble was unquestioned thousands of years ago, and now insisting on monism is a bit of a cleanliness of values - at least putting multiple values or other knowledge or tools on the opposite side, is not desirable.

Maybe I have gone too far, let’s come back to the topic of selecting board of directors. With such a guideline, the selection criteria for EPD China’s board members have gradually become clear in my mind:

In terms of value rationality, it is necessary to combine EPD China’s value and mission, that is, to promote green products and economy. In terms of instrumental rationality, board members would facilitate the development and application of standards, systems, knowledge and tools, to achieve the above-mentioned sustainability value of EPD China and beyond.

So, who are we going to invite? I can’t say for the time being. Let’s wait until the first EPD China Board Member Meeting in November 2022. Your recommendations of splendid candidates are also welcome (email: secretary@epdchina.cn ) , thank you for your support.

Bill Kung

EPD China Secretariat & Founding team

Tuesday, September 6, 2022