Dénia closes the first edition of its Festival de les Humanitats with a resounding success

Saturday, 29 de October 2022

• Antón Costas: “Capitalism's days are numbered.”
• Ben Wilson: “We want cities that grow taking into account the spirit of the people as part of that urbanism.”
• Vicent Grimalt: “Dénia has been the agora where the essence of humanism and the urgency for it to be very present again have been debated”.

Science, ecology, economy, globalization, urban planning, politics, health and many other things have been reflected on in the city of Dénia, during the celebration of the last two days of its Festival de les Humanitats.

The business world has had its voice in the Lluís Vives Space, where the current meaning of the company and its social function has been analyzed. The vice president of the “la Caixa” Foundation, Juan José López-Burniol, has reflected on the concept of “reglobalizing the world on new sustainable ecopolitical bases based on the general interest.”

Where the business world is evolving and whether companies should play a more active role in the common space of society have been some of the issues discussed by the president of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, and Antón Costas, president of the Economic Council. And social. The latter has stated that “capitalism's days are numbered”, due to its inability to distribute wealth equally; For this reason, he is committed to “recivilizing capitalism, or moralizing it from a philosophical point of view.” In this sense, Adolfo Utor wanted to highlight that “humanism is intrinsic to the company.” The president of Baleària has also pointed out that “new technologies are going to facilitate enormous economic growth, which companies will then have to know how to manage.”

The British historian Ben Wilson, the geographer and urban planner, Francesc Muñoz, and the professor of Human Geography, Joan Romero, have debated the challenges that cities must face today, having become great political and social actors, but at the same time, vulnerable and segregating. Wilson has stated that “we want cities that grow taking into account the spirit of the people as part of that urbanism.”

The American expert Keshia Pollack and the journalist and director of Global Analysis and Development at ISGlobal, Rafael Vilasanjuan, have talked about the impact of the Covid pandemic, insisting on the importance of public administrations investing in prevention against future pandemics that are coming.

Another of the most anticipated presentations has been that of the well-known English writer Sophy Roberts, who has used her work The Last Pianos of Siberia to talk about geopolitical power movements in a world in constant change (technological, economic, social), that makes us think about the appearance of dynamics that propose looking at a past that is perceived as real and desirable, of refuge in a world of its own.

The Italian theologian Carmelo Dotolo, the Spanish philosophers Ana Carrasco-Conde and Santiago Zabala, and the scientist Javier Sampedro have confirmed that science, ideologies and beliefs are not enough to give human beings the answers they need to situate themselves in an environment that changes too quickly.

For their part, the professor of Ethics, Domingo García-Marzá, the professor of Political Science, Eva Anduiza, the philosopher Jaume Casals and the anthropologist Águeda Quiroga, have put on the debate table the limits of power and the defects of democracy in all over the world, looking for their economic, technological and cultural accents.

The relationship between humans and other species has been the subject of reflection in the presentation given by the researcher Marta Segarra and the professor of Moral Philosophy and member of the Animal Ethics Foundation, Óscar Horta. Both experts have encouraged us to rethink the consideration we give to animals of species other than our own and to see the long-term impact of our actions in this regard.

For his part, the philosopher, sociologist and essayist, César Rendueles; The environmental historian Troy Vetesse and the architect and disseminator Gemma Barricarte have asked themselves about the strategies that we must collectively develop to promote a just environmental transition in the face of the challenges posed by the global ecological crisis.

Institutional closing ceremony

The Dénia Festival de les Humanitats has come to an end with an institutional closing ceremony in which Josep Ramoneda, academic director of the Festival, and the mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt, have shown their satisfaction and gratitude for the success of this first edition, both at the level of the call and the quality of the events held. For Ramoneda, “the response from the city of Dénia has been fantastic. We are looking forward to returning next year to continue thinking and discovering things about human beings.”

Vicent Grimalt has been equally satisfied that “Dénia has been the agora in which this debate on the essence of humanism and the urgency for it to once again be very present in our societies has developed.” The mayor has announced "the continuity of this event, which will go beyond the official programming of the festival days."