Bøger af Lene Rachel Andersen

The world is changing. Our old knowledge and general understanding of the world do not provide sufficient answers anymore. As our old understandings and the answers we get from them are insufficient, the ways we are used to react and behave do not work well anymore either. Social norms that used to make us come across as polite and friendly are suddenly offensive to some; a good education that used to lead to a good job is outdated when you receive your diploma. Our cultural compass cannot contain and judge the world properly because the challenges we are facing were not a part of our world when we came of age and learned what the world was like.Metamodernity provides us with a framework for understanding ourselves and our societies in a more complex way. Metamodernity is a way of strengthening local, national, continental, and global cultural heritage among all. It thus has the potential to dismantle the fear of losing one’s culture as the global economy as well as the internet and exponential technologies are disrupting our current modes of societal organization and governance.

The Trump presidency is the symptom of something much bigger and it is not the first time it has happened. Our meaning-making has not been able to keep up with technology and globalization. We navigate an increasingly complex world using models that were developed for industrialization—at a time when traditional industry is disappearing. This kind of mismatch between our real world and our understanding of it has happened before. The Reformation, the French Revolution and World War II were all results of old epistemologies reaching their limit and new ones not being able to emerge without a bloodbath. Given that we have the knowledge we have, can we avoid the bloodbath and go straight to the peace negotiations? Can we develop the culture, education, aesthetics, and institutions that we need in order to handle the complexities of the 21st century? Based on recurring historical patterns, moral and developmental psychology and complex-systems theory, Lene Rachel Andersen analyzes the current state of Western politics and makes a strong case for hope and a better future.

Kunstig Intelligens, klimaforandringer og masseuddøen af arter er ved at ændre fundamentet for vores civilisation. Ikke blot er der nye vindere og tabere i den globale konkurrence, det er selve menneskets status, vores eksistens og forhold til naturen, der er under omkalfatring.Hvordan kan vi begribe det og håndtere det?Libertisme: Begrib det 21. århundrede præsenterer naturens og kulturens rammer og systemer, som vi er nødt til at forstå for at kunne overleve og trives. Den sætter friheden som det centrale omdrejningspunkt, og den giver os en begrebsramme og et sprog for at kunne forholde os til de problemer, vi står i. Bogen foregiver ikke at have alle løsningerne, men den gør det muligt at tænke og planlægge ud over den begrebsverden og samfunds­model, vi kender.

Dannelse er på alles læber, men begrebet er vanskeligt at definere. Lene Andersen har med bogen Dannelse – at blive et større menneske både gjort dannelsesbegrebet konkret og udviklet begrebet til at matche det 21. århundredes behov.Bogen udgives som en Report to the Club of Rome, hvor Lene Andersen p.t. er eneste danske medlem. Romklubbens to co-præsidenter, Sandrine Dixson-Declève og Mamphela Ramphele, skriver bl.a. i deres forord: ”Bogen er en eftertænksom og tankevækkende guide, der kan sætte menneskeheden i stand til atter at fokusere på det, som er vigtigt, og at forstå livslang læring, uddannelse og tænkning som en forenende kraft.”I første halvdel af bogen undersøger Lene Andersen dannelsesbegrebets tyske oprindelse, dets lighed med moderne udviklingspsykologi, samt hvordan Grundtvig og Kold demokratiserede dannelsen og gjorde den til folkedannelse gennem højskolerne. Dannelse blev fundamentet for Danmarks velstand og beskyttede os mod 1930’ernes autoritære og totalitære ideologier. I anden halvdel af bogen præsenterer Lene Andersen en ny analyse af, hvad det var, højskolerne og folkeoplysningen gjorde for Danmarks ungdom, vores land og vores selvforståelse. Endelig giver Lene Andersen konkrete bud på, hvordan vores dannelse er nødt til at blive opdateret i forhold til det 21. århundredes udfordringer som f.eks. klimaforandringer og overvågningskapitalisme. Dannelse og det tyske ord Bildung har ikke nogen præcis oversættelse på engelsk, men siden Lene Andersens og Tomas Björkmans bog The Nordic Secret udkom i 2017, har der været en stigende interesse internationalt for Bildung og for den danske folkeoplysning. Bl.a. i New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/opinion/scandinavia-education.html Dannelse – At blive et større menneske udgives af tænketanken Nordic Bildung, der står bag European Bildung Network og European Bildung Day.

Bildung is moral and emotional maturity. Bildung is also to have the education and knowledge necessary to thrive in your society; bildung is to be deeply embedded in culture and community while having the autonomy to carve your own path in life. Bildung is always personal and unique. Bildung is a German word that has no word in English. Beginning in the 1770s, German philosophers explored bildung as a secular form of inner development and it became popular among the bourgeoisie. In Denmark, a pastor realized in the 1830s that the peasants needed bildung too, and he envisioned a new kind of school: the folk-high-school. In 1851, a Danish teacher, Christen Kold, figured out how to teach in such a way that young farmhands learned to think for themselves: he told them moving stories and let them ask questions. Once he had their attention, he could teach them new farming techniques, science, philosophy, history, religion, literature, art, economic theory, and political science. Norway, Sweden and Finland copied the folk-high-school concept in the 1860s and by 1900, a critical mass of youngsters in the Nordic countries had upgraded their skills and their thinking, and the Nordics had gone from being among the poorest countries in Europe to being among the richest. This development and the bildung that carried it also meant that the Nordics made the transition from agricultural feudal societies to modern, democratic, industrialized nation-states peacefully. As we are facing new challenges from digitization, globalization, a pandemic and environmental changes we need bildung for the 21st century and the book concludes by exploring what that might look like.