Resonance and Education for Sustainable Development: normative reflections on inner development for sustainable transformation

This paper explores how the theory of resonance can illuminate and inform the normative preconditions of Education for Sustainable Development. Building on Hartmut Rosa’s theory of world relations, resonance is interpreted as a relational mode of being that stands in dialectical opposition to alienation and offers a criterion for the good life: living responsively with oneself, others, and the natural world. Sustainability, in this view, represents a socio-moral challenge that requires not only institutional and socio-ecological reform but a transformation of the ways in which human beings relate to themselves and the world. The paper argues that Education for Sustainable Development must therefore cultivate the subjective capacities that enable resonant world relations. Analyzing the Inner Development Goals as a case study for a recent attempt to operationalize such development, the paper highlights both its promise and its limitations, situating resonance as a guiding principle for sustainable education.