We are pleased to host Visiting Scholar Paolo Livieri through the SDGs@UofT and Institute for Environment, Conservation, and Sustainability (IECS) joint Visiting Scholars Program at the University of Toronto.
In his lecture, “Vacating the Self: Reflections on Human Vocation in the Face of a Crisis,” Paolo will explore human beings as a vocation‑bearing agent whose creativity reflects deeper metaphysical paradigms
Speaker: Paolo Livieri
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 PM
Event Type: Public Lecture
Location:
Leslie Dan Pharmacy Building
144 College Street
Toronto, Ontario
Room 255 (Floor 2)
Event Description
This lecture explores the human being as a vocation‑bearing agent whose creativity reflects deeper metaphysical paradigms. Drawing on German philosophical traditions—particularly the concept of Bestimmung—the talk argues that human vocation is not self‑generated, but grounded in a transcendent order that orients human action toward ideals of harmony and proportion.
When creativity becomes severed from this orientation, it risks becoming purely instrumental, contributing to the metaphysical disorientation that underlies the ecological crisis. From this perspective, responses focused solely on practical or policy‑driven solutions may unintentionally replicate the same framework that produced the problem.
Engaging with Aristotelian thought, the lecture proposes that true human fulfillment lies not in happiness derived from society, but in the full execution of human faculties. This requires interrupting cycles of habitual repetition and recovering a theoretical orientation—one that recognizes the limits of the practical and treats those limits as its necessary grounding condition.