In his remarks to the annual meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association on June 8, President Neil L. Rudenstine spoke about the moral concerns—and example—of the Commencement afternoon guest speakers, Seamus Heaney and Amartya Sen. Though they are Nobel laureates in the very different realms of literature and economics, Rudenstine found in their work a common core of humanitarian inquiry and deep belief in freedom. Although the president’s comments came between the two other speakers’, his words serve as an apt introduction to both men and so an excerpt from his text here precedes Heaney’s and Sen’s addresses. Both men touch on the fears and needs of those left outside the successful workings of society. By implication, they challenge the people privileged to study and work within the confines of university communities to extend the boundaries of free inquiry enjoyed there. ~ The Editors
Seamus Heaney and Amartya Sen were each born in countries—Ireland and India—that have, during the last century, been torn by colonial strife, as well as by religious and political conflict. Both have lived international lives, remaining strongly attached to their homelands while also cultivating the kind of considered disinterestedness that comes from caring—but not caring so totally as to allow themselves to become imprisoned by the local circumstances into which they were born.
As a result, both Seamus and Amartya have continuously sought to expand their vision, to seek more inclusive as well as firmly grounded ideas concerning the essential elements of a healthy and just society. Both have clearly chosen not to be exiles—and certainly not expatriates. Instead, they have become purposeful wanderers and explorers, with deep roots at home, yet roots that have allowed them to flourish abroad….
Seamus Heaney’s poetry has, inevitably, had to come to terms with the religious and political conflict in Northern Ireland….He has had to decide—under great pressure—how far to become engaged politically, or whether to leave his native city, Belfast. He has had to judge the moral weight that such choices might exert on the character of his life and the spirit-level of his verse. As a result, the complexity of the act of choosing, the importance of having the freedom to choose, and the need to understand the implications of one’s choices have all had their bearing on the substance and the texture of his poetry.
Meanwhile, Amartya Sen’s view of economics has…been grounded in moral philosophy and political theory; in problems of justice, of human and societal development, and of moral choice. He has worked to show how certain fundamental freedoms and rights…are essential for individual fulfillment, and for the functioning of a healthy society.
So, I think of both Seamus Heaney and Amartya Sen primarily as humanists,…always preoccupied with those questions with which the humanities, arts, and social sciences have traditionally been engaged: how…to live; how to define one’s obligations and responsibilities, not only to society but to oneself; how to exercise one’s freedoms and rights wisely; how to enable societies to be productive and also just; and finally, how to use words…precisely, faithfully, and lyrically, so that we do not sow even more confusion than already exists in the world….
If Heaney and Sen often pose similar questions, they also resemble one another in cherishing many of the same values—above all, the value of freedom. Neither of them views freedom as a promise of something without boundaries, something purely liberating.
Instead, they would characterize it as the opportunity to define one’s own commitments among possible glimpsed alternatives. Freedom allows us to choose…the ways in which we ourselves wish to be bounded, pursuing whatever we believe might nurture greater hope and more communal trust.
~ Neil L. Rudenstine
