Elämää vaalivan itsekasvatuksen luonnos

The article examines self-cultivation, i.e., voluntary education of oneself, as an active effort to respond to the ecological crises through an inner transfor-mation. Self-cultivation is understood here as it was defined in a theory by educational philosopher Juho August (J. A.) Hollo (1885–1967) and in Finnish tradition in general: educating oneself with an aim of finding the art of living, i.e., meaningful life. Ac-cording to Hollo, cherishing life in all its forms is im-portant for a human as anything that grows – plants, animals, microorganisms, and all of nature – carries the same life force as humans do. Hollo was ahead of his time with this holistic thinking that emphasized the connection between humans and non-humans. The article is developing the idea of life-cherishing self-cultivation further, thus combining Hollo’s the-ory and Martha C. Nussbaum’s (1947–) thoughts of self-cultivation. Hollo’s theory is the basis for life-cherishing self-cultivation while Nussbaum’s theory offers a practical method for it. Nussbaum’s theory expands Hollo’s idea especially on what comes to handling emotions and to philosophy of emotions, thereby giving a practical example of self-cultivation. The primary purpose of the article’s synthesis of life-cherishing self-cultivation is to offer a model for developing thinking and actions towards improved sustainability.