A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

ena (the life of nature, including human beings) and social phenomena
(the collective construction of societies, their physical, biological and sociological
aspects). The holistic focus and the symbolic way of thinking
are not necessarily linked and one of them can be separated from one
another.
Such a position does not mean that all reference to symbolic way of
thinking is irrational, or that it should be prohibited it in a pluri-cultural
society. However, the symbolic way of thinking cannot be imposed as
the only way of transmitting the holistic character of the relationship between
human beings and the earth. In practical terms, buen vivir means
rescuing the harmony between nature and man, between the material
and the spiritual – but in the present world. Constructing the future is
the aim, not returning to the past. This does not mean a blind faith in
scientific and technological progress, or contempt of ancestral societies.
On the contrary, such an effort demands criticism of ‘progress’, as
modernity has conceived it, and greater use of traditional knowledge.
Nor is it a question of ethical value, as if one is better than the other, but
of a historical perspective that is capable of condemning what we call
‘progress’, describing it as ‘mal-development’, and appreciating the
knowledge and the material and symbolic practices of past societies.
Today, the main task is to recognize plurality, in which everyone, with
their own way of thinking, can contribute both to the criticism of capitalism
as well as to the construction of post-capitalism.
Most of the indigenous peoples of the continent do not reject the dynamic
(historical) character of their cultures and accept contribution from
other ways of thinking, including those that stem from modernity, on
the condition that they are not dominated and humiliated in the process.
They defend the richness of life, ‘well-being and the good heart’ (Pablo
Mamani Ramírez, cited by E. Gudynas, 2011, 7), which can be interpreted
today as unity, equality, liberty, solidarity, social justice, responsibility,
common well-being and the quality of life. These principles are
applicable in the fields of education, health, social security, housing,
transport, the social economy, conservation of biodiversity, food sover-
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