|
From the Triglav Circle Web site - www.triglavcircle.org Notes
from the Sixth Meeting: Reconsidering the Universalist Message of the
Enlightenment - 4 April 1998 The discussion
focused on the globalized ideology of western liberalism and its application
of concepts articulated in the 17' and 18" century writings of Enlightenment
philosophers. Using insights from different philosophical and religious
traditions, the participants considered concepts that would give more
emphasis to non material dimensions of life in order to enrich the prevailing
liberal political ideology. The Circle also gave attention to public intellectuals
as critics of the spirit of the time and to institutions for a universal
society. The following
notes were derived from the rich discussions that took place and from
the background papers that were prepared for the meeting. The notes were
written by Barbara Baudot Coordinator of the Circle. Bethany Wilson, assistant
to the Assistant Director of the Institute of Politics, J.F. Kennedy School
of Public Administration, offered valuable editorial assistance in compiling
the material for the notes. Added to
the notes are the agenda for the meeting and the list of participants.
The fist of participants is necessary to identify the authors of direct
quotations cited in the text only by first and last initials. Special appreciation
is extended to Professor John Kenneth Galbraith for participating in the
meeting. His comments to the Circle are presented as a discrete section
in the context of the notes. The Triglav Circle also thanks the Harvard-Yenching
Institute and its students for their contribution to this meeting. Reconsidering
the Universalist Message of the Enlightenment Despite the
veil of ignorance that may impair their vision and the professional loyalty
that may compromise their impartiality, public intellectuals are constantly
guided by what the best of the liberal arts education can offer: a common
sense rooted in the spirit of selflessness. —
Tu Weiming I.
Introduction For its critics, this ethos of modernity is dominated by a culture of self-interest, the emergence of market societies and excessive materialism. Questions about the moral basis of these phenomena and about broadening the intellectual scope of the modernity ethos are attracting increasing attention in Cambridge, Paris, and in many other academic centers in the world. Such questions are raised: How will
society be able to understand distributive justice when it is totally
committed to the importance of liberty? How can the emphasis on rationality
leave room for other important values such as compassion and empathy,
especially for the marginalized, the poor, and for the otherwise under
privileged? How could a culture obsessed with individual rights address
correctly issues of responsibility and duty? These issues should be of
particular relevance to the affluent and to those who have easy access
to information and power. The discussion
of the Circle concerned the following topics: • The
legacy of Enlightenments II.
The Legacy of Enlightenments While there
are great variances in the writings of Enlightenment thinkers concerning
the moral quality of human nature, the existence of a super human power
or deity, the relevance of history and views on political theory, there
are certain ideas shared by virtually all the Enlightenment fathers that
formed the foundation of what is commonly called "the legacy of the
European Enlightenment." These ideas are the following: Faith in
reason defined as a logically connected structure of laws and generalizations
susceptible to demonstration or verification and capable of reaching the
truth in all domains of human inquiry. Belief that
these general laws could become the foundations of a rational, happy,
just, and self-perpetuating human society. Conviction
that human nature is fundamentally the same in all times and places and
that all human beings are capable of improvement and of possessing virtue. View that
the attainment of universal human goals, such as the search for happiness
and liberty, would bring about social harmony and progress through the
power of the logically and empirically guided intellect. Assertion
that human misery, vice, and folly are mainly due to ignorance defined
as insufficient knowledge of the laws of nature. Although
the Enlightenment is commonly understood to be a uniquely western phenomenon,
it has not been the privilege of one culture. Even before the Western
European Enlightenment, a comparable intellectual awakening or revival
had occurred in the Middle East and in China. In Japan, Enlightenment
occurred independently but simultaneously with western Europe. In a global
society it is important to recognize the different revelations of reason.
The period
of Enlightenment in the Muslim world occurred between the 9th and 13th
centuries, corresponding to the Dark Ages in western Europe. Comparison
of the western and Islamic perspectives on Enlightenment is complicated
by the different historical time periods in which these movements took
place. During the Middle Eastern Enlightenment, scientist/philosophers
and some moralists grappled with the scientific and technological discoveries
of that epoch, Because of
other historical circumstances, including invasions resulting in destruction
of urban centers where intellectual renaissances occurred, and other external
and internal political problems, the Islamic world slipped into a dark
age just as Europe was enjoying the full day of its Enlightenment. In
subsequent years, the Ottoman Empire borrowed heavily from European intellectual
thought. Today, aside from the fundamentalist movement, many segments
of society in the Middle East and the wider Islamic world are bound in
significant measure through the heritage of European colonialism to western
principles and values. The reality of today's Muslim world is that it
is emerging out of a post-colonial period with all the associated problems.
Most Muslim societies, whether they are in India or Pakistan or the Middle
East or other parts of the world, technically belong to the Third World.
They are poor societies seeking improvements in the living conditions
of people. In that respect, they are accepting unquestioningly western
ideas on the virtues of technologies and market principles. The questioning
of the premises of the western Enlightenment is to a large extent a privilege
of the affluent. On the other
side of the Eurasian continent, William McNeil, the world historian, often
situates modernity rising from Sung China in the 10th to the 12th centuries.
The synthesis that came about in that period of Chinese civilization was
based on a highly integrated political and metaphysical thought of neo-Confucianism.
It was a synthesis of metaphysical, cosmological, and political ideas,
including social equity, embedded in a new coherent framework. This new
intellectual movement occurred within the context of a highly sophisticated
economic system based on the market, the building of the Silk Road, and
a period of flourishing multiculturalism. Urbanization was commonplace.
It is later in the Ming Dynasty, after the Chinese had already developed
the compass and printing and other things which influenced the Middle
East and Renaissance in Europe, that there was a self conscious decision
in China to limit expansionism to take care of what was needed in the
Empire. During Japan's
Edo era in the 17th and 18th centuries, a form of Enlightenment was unfolding.
The thinking is notably embodied in a philological interpretation of the
classical Japanese text of Mabuchi Kamo. Philosophical thinking, however,
was divorced from material scientific progress even though such advances
were occurring independently of European influence [with the exception
of some exchanges with Dutch scientists from whom were obtained texts
in the fields of medicine and natural science]. Science or knowledge,
reason, and rationality were conceptualized as spiritual phenomena, but
not as they had been in earlier epochs when they were thought to be controlled
by supernatural and enigmatic forces. Other philosophers in the Edo era,
for example, Lanshoi Goi, however, took on a more empirical approach in
writing a book criticizing Shintoism and denying a spiritual dimension
to life. The Japanese Enlightenment generally brought relief from Shinto, Buddhist, and Confucian forms of control but did not introduce the concept of individual rights as they were conceived in the west. While social movements were occurring at that time, for example, protests against taxes and poverty, the Enlightenment writings did not give rise to social revolutionary ideas. However, some strains of this eastern Enlightenment were linked to Japanese humanism wherein equality between men and women was found to be important in the minds of at least a few prominent thinkers. Education was highly prized. In this era there were many schools for the young, literacy was very high, and Encyclopedias were even produced for common people. III. Facets of Progress and Change Since the 18th Century The global
society now stands at a junction of vast changes. The nation-state system
is fading as regionalism and globalization emerge in the wake of dramatic
waves of economic liberalization and technological advances in transportation
and in electronic communications networks. At the same time, there are
many environmental threats to human survival. The natural environment
is under siege as the world's pressure on natural resources mounts to
meet the demands of billions of people aspiring to material well-being.
In the light of these growing concerns, as well as, a growing economic
and cultural malaise there is cause, as there was in the 17th century,
to re-examine the philosophical and theoretical foundations, east and
west, of modern society, economy, and government. The process is perhaps
more complex than it was for the Enlightenment philosophers of centuries
past. Today, in
addition to government power, and some spiritual power in terms of influence
of churches, there is also a very strong third power -- that of the private
sector, above all the productive and service industries, in particular
in finance and the media for information dissemination. The nature and
strength of this third power were virtually unknown and unpredictable
at the time of the Enlightenment. Moreover, contemporary thinkers must
consider the world as a planetary whole, and they are dealing with principles
and concepts that are time-honored and remain valid in their own psyches
and that of the modern world. The Enlightenment
faith in progress, reason, and individualism may have lost some of its
persuasive power in the modern West, but it remains a standard of inspiration
for intellectual and spiritual leaders throughout the world. It is inconceivable
that any modern project, including those in ecological sciences, does
not subscribe to the theses that the human condition is improvable, that
it is desirable to find rational means to solve the world=s problems,
and that the dignity of each person as an individual ought to be respected.
Enlightenment as human awakening, as the discovery of the human potential
for global transformation, and as the realization of the human desire
to become the measure and master of all things is still the most influential
moral discourse in the political culture of the modern age; over decades
it has been the unquestioned assumption of the ruling minorities and cultural
elites of the developing countries, as well as the highly industrialized
nations. T.W. While the
values of liberty, progress, and reason remain sacrosanct, seeking to
enrich the Enlightenment legacy prompts a reexamination of the essence
of its concepts in terms of their ethical and spiritual contents. Many
contemporary applications and ideological appropriations of Enlightenment
ideas have serious flaws. The flaws make it difficult to secure an all-embracing
sense of social justice and obstruct the adaptation of necessary measures
to protect the environment and insure a sustainable future for all forms
of good life. The task of reconsidering the contemporary content and implications
of these values includes (1) reinterpretation, adaptation, or modification
of their political and economic applications for the greater good of humanity,
and (2) determining what values, principles, and ideas need to be substantively
augmented or added in order to realize a fuller potential of the philosophical
promises of Enlightenment and of the human spirit. A caveat
to this endeavor is the recognition that most of the frequently used concepts
in our discourse of the human condition are intrinsically abstract and
thus subject to a variety of interpretations B progress, individualism,
community, development, and the art of living being some examples. Enlightenment
mentality is another example. The usefulness of these concepts lies, however,
not in the discovery of a singular "right interpretation", but
in the discussions and controversies they provoke, leading to new insights
and perspectives. Gifts
of the Western Enlightenment The metaphor
of the python and the pig represents human progress and achievement thanks
to the revolution in human thinking that was fostered by circumstances
and inspired by the ideas of certain 17th and 18th century philosophers
in Western Europe. The systematizing, rationalizing, efficiency optimizing
structures of modern times are gifts of the Enlightenment. The scientific
spirit that promoted the elimination of political, moral, and legal injustices
and the absurdities of earlier ages inspired the notion of progress in
almost every sector of human life. This approach to human nature and human
affairs has been extraordinarily successful. Throughout the world, though
obviously more in some regions than in others, human beings of all races
and genders have gained in autonomy and comfort. Societies have become
more complex, more open, more prosperous, and better equipped with all
sorts of tools, techniques and machinery with which to broaden their choices
and experiences of human life. Ignorance and illiteracy have recessed.
Infant mortality has been dramatically reduced and large numbers of comparable
indicators are available to prove that progress has been achieved in terms
of material comfort, individual autonomy, and the mastering of technical
knowledge. Particularly
successful has been the instrumental rationality, symbolized by the laboratory
and the factory. The work on lens grinding enabled the Dutch to place
their ships in distant harbors; often, faster, and more efficiently than
the British, Spanish, and Portuguese ships leaving Europe. Lens grinding
was perfected by the Dutch and then moved into the hands of Descartes
who had earlier announced in a French gazette that these items
would permit humankind to look infinitely out into the universe and infinitely
into matter. Now we have reached a point of being able to look into the
human genome to find that human beings share a huge percentage of DNA.
This field of scientific progress has given each human being to the other
as brothers and sisters in a way that was scientifically negated for the
last three hundred years because of inadequate understanding and knowledge
over which humankind has now gained mastery. Beyond
material progress: other dimensions of the Western Enlightenment legacy The first
secular critic of the Enlightenment, George Haman, a contemporary and
friend of Emmanuel Kant, expressed fundamental concerns about the writings
of his enlightened peers. He saw the basic weakness of the Enlightenment
philosophy as its singular basis in science, reason, and analysis. For
Haman, this emphasis was an abstraction from a much broader reality. For
him, all abstractions are, and must be in the end, arbitrary. Abstract
reason and science thus offer only a truncated view of human possibilities.
Moreover, they reduce the rich variety of the universe to a bleak uniformity,
"which itself is a form of not facing reality, attempting to imprison
the universe in some prefabricated logical envelope - an insult to creation."
Subsequent scholars have found the Enlightenment legacy just that: "an
abstraction from a much broader reality." In addition,
notice should be taken of the social conditions under which the Enlightenment
occurred: Whether the Enlightenment legacy has a singular rational/reason dimension focused on the world as human sense perceives it or whether it also has moral and spiritual dimensions is unclear. As the legacy passed down through the centuries via interpretation and omission into various ideological embodiments, it is the instrumental rationality or pragmatic dimension that gave expression to what most people understand the Enlightenment to represent. Certainly other dimensions influenced and were evident in the writings of many of its original philosophers including Voltaire, Locke and Smith. Close readings
of the original writings provoke others to suggest that the Enlightenment
writings have indeed many dimensions that have not been developed. The
following comments are illustrative: ...the last
three hundred years of progress can be likened to a beautiful bird; think
of an eagle, with one good wing and that wing of rationalizing, systematizing,
efficiency optimizing structures of modernism which we have worked on
assiduously, trained hard, redesigned the feathers, that wing is working
but when the bird tries to fly with one good wing, it runs around in a
circle....The crippled wing is the wing of the human spirit and is not
graspable by the rationalizing, systematizing, efficiency optimizing structures.
It is the wing that is responsible for the virtue of humankind, and the
protection of other forms of life and the physical environment. It is
that wing that must be strengthened, brought out into the open to be seen
as a functioning part of what constitutes the spirit of humanity. With
both wings human progress will soar to its great potential giving meaning
and quality to human life that exceeds physical comfort and well being.
C.G. If, indeed,
the Enlightenment had two wings, it is necessary to understand what happened
to cause the second wing to atrophy. The second wing was inherent in humanism,
the overall movement to which the Enlightenment became the center piece.
The Enlightenment linked science and the concept of individualism to the
overall movement. The great father of humanism was Erasmus, who when asked
what was the purpose of life, simply responded; "to serve God."
In so doing, according to Erasmus, one is happy. For this humanist, the
need was to integrate the knowledge offered by the natural scientists,
notably Galileo, with whom he agreed spiritually, into the overall scheme
of meaning. He also stressed the importance of freedom for the individual.
It is later in the actual processes of political liberation and the Industrial
Revolution that the vertical dimension, humankind's relation to a higher
power outside of itself, i.e., the power of the second wing, seems to
have been gradually forgotten or even deliberately abandoned. Darker
sides of Western led progress Just after
the Berlin Wall came down a businessman tells of going over to East Germany
to talk about capitalism, which had been very successful and so on. He
felt a certain dilemma because he perceived that in some ways he was preaching
greed whereas communism in a sense had been about sharing. The source
of his dilemma went back to this sense of moral and spiritual values.
What I came to realize is that capitalism works well when it has a moral
basis; you have to have that involved in making agreements and in considering
what business is all about. Capitalism in its worse forms, which you often
see in Latin America and Eastern Europe, has become a rapacious thing.
The absence of this moral dimension really worries me. I think when we
say the world is really better, it is on one dimension, but worse on the
other. F.A. The full
realization of the potential of the Enlightenment ideas as either a unidimensional
or multidimensional philosophy is far from complete. There are still great
inequalities, violence, and poverty. The material benefits of progress
remain inaccessible to billions of people. Many thinkers
who have been promoting progress through the fuller realization of the
human spirit have often been marginalized and dismissed as irrationalists
and romantics. Without question, some of the most powerful work that advanced
the Enlightenment was done on behalf of capitalism, not on behalf of philosophy.
It should not be forgotten that much of what people talk about when they
praise progress over the last 300 years is largely based on evidence from
industrial countries. While things have gotten better in industrial countries,
a neo-imperialist argument could be made that it is the rest of the world
that is supporting the industrialized societies in the style to which
they have become accustomed. In the evolution
of "enlightened societies" reason and rationality alone have
been unable to eradicate racism, intolerance, and contempt for the other
from the human psyche. Entire communities and cultures have been destroyed
through various forms of colonialism, imperialism and mercantilism. The
legacy of colonialism is still fresh in the minds of many Third World
countries. It manifests itself in such expressions of hostility and frustration:
"You were exploiting us and are now exploiting us and you will always
exploit us." In talking about declarations, such as the Earth Charter,
and their intended responsibilities, people especially in the southern
part of the world have a lot of mistrust and say, "this is nice,
this work belongs to the rich man club, when I get rich you can come back."
Any number
of reactionary movements have colored the view of whatever the Enlightenment
represents. For many people in non-western societies, Enlightenment is
synonymous with the "west" and "western hegemony."
There is even danger that some anti-western reaction will lead to "the
baby being thrown out with the bath water." The good of the Enlightenment
is the baby being jettisoned as evidence of western imperialism. And,
this occurs despite the sure gains to be made out of what Enlightenment
movement brought in freeing human ingenuity and self-expression. In the
Middle East this has occurred. The Enlightenment of the West has been
thrown out in some societies because it represents ideas that powerful
Muslim factions do not claim as their own and for which many people were
made to suffer in earlier eras. Here women conforming to a certain dress
code are not only identifying themselves with their own religion but also
identifying themselves with what are their unique values. In the United
States, there are young kids who kill each other for sneakers, not because
of hunger or because they do not have money, but because they simply want
the sneakers at that second. There are people who will kill their parents,
their teachers, and their peers, and show no remorse. There is something
happening in affluent societies along with progress which gives indications
of a collapse of vestiges of moral and spiritual dimensions which confounds
modern societies. So yes, cars run better and women are healthier after
birth and so on and so forth, but what kind of life will there be if there
is no human regard for each other? There remains only a minimum of trust
in societies between the rich and the poor and even between people in
the same class. How does a government promote trust? There is really no
clear answer. It will take time, humility, patience as well as listening
to the other. In this situation, the public intellectual also has a strong
role to play. Progress
cannot be stopped but it can be controlled by the knowledge of where it
is leading and by analyzing what steps need to be taken to influence it.
The question is which is it more important to have, material power or
moral influence? While material power may be preferred by many, "influence"
is really the stronger, because it leads to a more tremendous power that
can permanently change trends. Material power is imported from without.
Progress cannot be stopped, what matters is how to assimilate it and adapt
to it without losing the moral values in existing cultures. A
summary: observations of John Kenneth Galbraith Institutional
restraints, serfdom and slavery, and the stalwart control of custom had
kept the great majority of people under some kind of restraint. And, this
is not ancient history; some of it comes to our own time. I was born closer
to the Civil War and the struggle over slavery in this country then we
are now to World War II. And, the stamp of restraint imposed by a slave
structure is something that is still visible in some parts of this republic.
But then, however it has come about, we have had this enormous improvement
in what is called well-being. We have come,
and I think to the dissatisfaction of quite a few here today, to think
of well being as the measure of civilized change. It isn't. One can hardly
deny its importance. One can hardly deny the commitment that many people
have to it. But I hope, as an economist, that we are not too captured
by the economic measure of success which is before us every day in the
newspapers, on the television and wherever. There are
aspects of this well being which cannot give us satisfaction. There is
first the enormous inequality which is increasing. Everybody here —
I urge to be aware of the very unequal conditions that exist, particularly
here in the United States. There can be no pride in the fact that we are
the worst case. There is
next the fact that, with increasing general well being, there is clearly
a strong change in public attitudes. People increasingly, as they acquire
a certain measure of income and wealth, attribute that to themselves and
to their own qualities in life and are, therefore, less inclined to be
sympathetic to the people who are not part of that well being. It is quite
wonderful, if you are well off, to attribute that to your own intelligence,
or in some cases, perhaps, to your own personal beauty, and say that those
who are less-well off and those who are poor are the righteous victims
of their own inadequacy. This is an attitude which I cannot but think
has been increasingly important in modern times and increasingly a factor
here in the United States, in our politics and elsewhere in the fortunate
countries. The possibility exists that it may be better to be poor in
a poor country than to be poor in a rich country. The other
two facts associated with this are first, the continuation of the disgraceful
poverty in our great cities: poverty that is insufficiently on our conscience,
insufficiently a concern, insufficiently an obligation of the state. Think
how much better our cities would be if everyone had a basic safety net;
if there were no struggles against starvation and, if there were help
and care for the children. Is there any reason why a rich country cannot
provide such a safety net? There is no such reason. The second
and final thing is the fact that, in national terms, this well-being is
very badly distributed. There are fortunate countries and regions: here
in North America, in Europe, and to some extent elsewhere. But, in much
of the world, there is still gross and nearly universal poverty. We are
insufficiently aware that human beings, whether in Central Africa or Fifth
Avenue, are still human beings and that our obligation to all those human
beings is not less. There are
problems that cannot be doubted as to what we can do. I came back from
years of government service of one sort or another after WWII to find
we had a large number of students here at Harvard from the poor countries
and they were studying the sophisticated models of a rich country. And,
I initiated, at that time, what was among the first courses in economic
development anywhere in the country, and I've been with that problem ever
since. It is an incredibly difficult problem. We still do not have good answers. Some of the problems I used to think lie with the governments of the less fortunate countries. The essence of economic development, as I have already indicated, is that individuals be free and protected in their pursuit of their own well being. That is something that, for example in much of Africa, just does not exist...and in some parts of Asia. So, when we take satisfaction in our well being and when we follow the example of my profession in measuring well-being by the increase in Gross Domestic Product or, God forbid, by what is happening on the stock exchange, I hope that you will all have a deep innate suspicion of economic ideas as being not the last word in human aspirations. IV.
On Enlarging the Moral and Spiritual Dimensions of Contemporary Political
and Economic Thinking. Noting the
seriousness of this observation and its implications for contemporary
social problems, Vaclav Havel has written: Obsessions
with the processes that advance increased production, personal profit
and consumerism as the only hallmarks of development that has ensued since
the industrial revolution has largely obscured an essential link between
human life and the ethereal essence of the universe, lending meaning to
human life. It is the loss of a sense of life's fuller meaning that constitutes
a major obstacle to sustainability. Though an atheist, Marx observed that
obsessive materialism would destabilize human existence. Through an ironic
interplay of ideas, he envisaged materialism and anthropocentrism operating
at cross purposes and thereby limiting the horizons of human experience.
All our invention and progress are seen to result in endowing material
forces with intellectual life, and in stultifying human life into a material
force. In short, the ultimate logic of such progress is that Pinocchio
becomes the master of Geppetto. It is problematic when people esteem themselves
capable of satisfying all their aspirations to find a credible way for
humanity to counter the increasingly monopolistic material vision of life. It is a common
view among contemporary critiques of modern politics that there is much
need for some kind of "dimension of the human spirit" to public
and private life in the dominant culture to counter excessive concern
for material wealth and temporal power. This recognition was explicitly
stated in the Declaration issuing from the UN Social Summit held in Copenhagen,
March 1995. The Declaration called on governments to respond effectively
to material and spiritual needs at all levels of society. Governments
also committed themselves to inter alia, a Aspiritual@ vision for social
development based on human dignity, rights, equality, respect, and democracy. The concept
spirituality has multiple meanings including the following contained in
the Random House Dictionary: All of these
definitions in one way or another find and echo in contemporary discourse
on enriching the concept of social development and progress. To facilitate
communication there is need to distinguish the concepts of religious and
spiritual, meaning of and pertaining to the human spirit. For Christians
and especially perhaps for Catholics spiritual is closely aligned with
a search for moral values whereas religious is often associated with faith
in a supreme being. For a scholar of Islam that distinction is very hard
to make unless reference is being made to a set of laws or ritualistic
practices. Islam means surrender to God and a true Moslem is living in
the spirit and the secular at all times. Given the vast number of dictionary
definitions of spiritual it may be ventured that the words spirit and
spiritual have become umbrella concepts connoting a multitude of aspects
of the non-material, the intangible substance of life. Religious is a
more clearly defined concept with strong institutional overtones. The spiritual
dimension of things must come to mind through muse, revelation, and intuition.
It is the spirit that generates a sense of beauty in the beholder, imparts
courage in a materially desperate situation, and feelings of affection
between individuals. The spirit is reflected in serenity and nobility.
Its opposite is the appreciating of all forms of human activity and relations
in terms of material or economic efficiency. Spirit is something that
speaks in silence only to those who take the time to listen. When focused
on efficiency and expediency there is no time to entertain things spiritual.
In this context these concepts refer only to the Good. Both concepts on
the other hand are subject to darker uses in the every day world, as for
example, a religious cult preaching human sacrifice or evil spirits at
work in the mind. B.B. The reinsertion
of "spirit" into the public political discourse has largely
been the work of the environmental movement, and in particular, its more
radical advocates. The deep ecologists and the Gaiists have brought to
the public conscience images of a living and feeling earth, which could
only be fully grasped or experienced through spirit as conscience thought
and emotion or by attributing to nature qualities of sacredness and religiousness.
Religious institutions and philosophers have subsequently been tapped
to lend support to this vision and to find justification in their holy
writings for reverence for nature. Religious thinkers and writings have
many rich ideas and resources that can be used to inspire a deeper reverence
for life and a greater sense of responsibility. They also can play a major
role in protecting the environment in non litigious societies. Religious
proscriptions and exhortations can substitute for law. Now, the
issue of the human spirit has broadened as increasing numbers of thinkers
perceive a form of moral entropy gaining ground in market societies. Those
seeking a moral or spiritual dimension are united, it would seem, in a
quest to bring back a combined sense of goodness, grace, wisdom and dignity
into what would be a humane society, interrelated in a sustainable way
with nature. The multifarious
views on the human spirit discerned in contemporary discourses can be
classified into three broad perspectives. 1. The first
is positivist and materialist and is lodged in a scientific mindset. The
earth and the universe form a composite of organic and inorganic matter.
Humankind is the most advanced product, so far known, of a continuous
and progressive process of evolution starting perhaps from the fortuitous
stringing together of protein molecules in a warm, primeval mud. The nature
of the universe and humankind will ultimately be discernable in matter
and explainable through natural science. The locus of the spirit is somewhere
in the ether of the brain. All human knowledge is acquired through the
physical senses and honed by the human environment, interpreted or not
by abstract deduction and the exercise of logic. Materialist Enlightenment
philosophy and secular humanism are most consistent with this perspective.
Ethics and morality may be transmitted socially through maternal type
love and social education processes and may be conditioned by certain
neurons in the brain. The spirit that exists in the brain may be the source
of humankind's neurologically stimulated instinct for seeking the good
and the ideal. Building the human capacity to express this part of human
corporeality is the way to wholeness in the person and in society. There
is no dualism in this perspective. 2. The antithesis
of this perspective is the wholly transcendental and incorporeal conception
of life and the universe. The apparent materiality of man and the physical
universe is but a temporal objectification of the human senses. Life is,
in and of itself, wholly spiritual, infinite, and eternal. Being is in
the bosom of the Infinite Mind cum Consciousness and Intelligence. To
find one's spiritual dimension one must have recourse to one's Higher
and Real self, of which the ego is but a channel for the reflection of
Infinite Light. According to this perception, the spiritual dimension
on the human plane is the reflection of the Infinite consciousness. Each
human has recourse to its Real being through prayer, meditation, intuition,
inspiration, and revelation and remains instinctively intuned with Life
as he/she lives unselfishly expressing humility and dignity and seeks
the beautiful and the good in their human life experience. Ethics and
morality are inherent in this mindset. Certain expressions of Stoicism,
Gnosticism, non-western religions, and natural religion are consistent
with this outlook. 3. The third
perspective divides humankind between the poles of materiality and metaphysical
transcendence and explains the abyss as the ultimate mystery of human
life. Both are real. The life experience swings back and forth between
the two poles. Through faith, fear, and/or love, the human seeks understanding
and through ritual attempts to approach the superior Consciousness which
should guide and protect the conscience of the mortal creature. Each creature
has a soul which may or may not be embodied in the body. It is the soul
that longs to find its ties to nature and the cosmos and instinctively
cares for the other. It expresses itself in human relationships. This
is the most common understanding among those concerned with the spiritual
dimension of life. Spiritual humanism and most mainstream religions share
this perspective. These three
perspectives share common ends that transcend the mental rigor of skepticism
and scientific certitude and reach to the heart. Despite their differences
proponents of each view share enough common ground to build ethical and
moral systems aimed at sustaining the human society in balance with the
natural environment. They are all holistic in their appreciation of the
world and other forms of life. B.B. [Thoughts on Enriching the Enlightenment] The following
sections offer specific ideas for enriching the contemporary discourse
on progress and development from more spirit oriented Enlightenment traditions.
In Boethius'
consolation of philosophy, having discussed with him for a while the situation
he was in, Lady philosophy clearly says to him, "You know where you
have come from, but you do not know where you are going." This is
one issue for today. It is a question that demonstrates discussion of
destiny and aspirations and where the world is headed. It was in the enlightened
period that humankind decided to take charge of its destiny in a way that
it had never done before — to define it and to set out on its path
on its own in a certain sense, without regard for previous things which
might have been considered as superstition, dangerous, or simply wrong.
This separation of where humanity had come from and where humanity was
going may be part of today's problem. J.F The notion
of stewardship means, in fact, that there is liable not to be a blade
of grass unless humans take responsibility for protecting the earth. In
counter distinction to the Benedictine notion of stewardship, again, is
the concept of deep ecology and a variety of indigenous perspectives which
must be seen in another setting. These perspectives argue more for the
integrity of creation in itself. That is not simply a matter of the human
shepherding creation in the Benedictine sense, but it is a matter of realizing
the mutuality of creation. Considering
technological progress, Benedict would point to the artisans of the monastery.
One of the characteristic features of the Benedictine monastery is its
architecture and the use of arches. The arch represents technological
advance — an advance that is an opening up, a lifting of the mind
and a bidding that all eyes be caste upward. If a criticism were to be
given of modern technological progress it is that its thrust is not related
to the notion of beauty. According to Benedictine spirituality, progress
in the use of tools and skills is meant to uplift the mind, not simply
to make things easier or more comfortable. Though the later is not wrong,
it should not be the goal in itself. With St.
Benedict, the artisan's work was part of what he did within the context
of an entire life, which was in Benedict's scheme, a balance between work
and prayer. Thus, the notion of work for Benedict was an incorporated
notion; it was part of an entire life seen in regard to the community,
and not just the individual. What the artisan did as work was to create
something that was fulfilling for himself and also for everyone else. There is
strong concern for individuals in the rule of St. Benedict. The enhancement
of individual rights according to Benedictine spirituality derives from
the recognition of the sacred in every person. It is the sacredness which
merits individual rights and it is in honoring the sacred that these rights
are to be exercised. The rule, written in the sixth century, provides
that all people, but especially monks, are responsible to recognize the
presence of Christ in the poor, in the guest, in the sick, and in the
elderly. While in
many of today's societies there is concern for a number of groups of people,
those who seem to fall most by the wayside are the children. The idea
of the child was preeminent in the mind of St. Benedict. Passages in his
Rule were written specifically for the protection of children. The rule
provided that they be cared for tenderly by appointed officials. According
to Benedictine spirituality each individual is a child of God. In Benedictine
tradition, intellectual discourse is for the discovery of ideas, but that
is only half of the work. There is need to distinguish between intellectual
conversations and moral conversations as Benedict and Augustine agreed.
While a person may know what is the right thing to do, it does not mean
the person will do the correct thing, because the moral virtues that are
required to do so are more than simply knowing, they involve courage,
fortitude and discipline. These may be stimulated by theater, art, and
music, which are potent media for projecting such ideas of values, ethics,
and spirituality. According to Shakespeare, the play is the thing. The
morality plays of the medieval period gave expression to this use of the
stage. But if theater, art, and music are to continue to uplift the human
race, as Benedict intimated, their power and influence must be recognized,
because their impact can also be very destructive. The present negative
influence of television on children's behaviors is clear, reflecting untamed
technological progress. To foster
sensitivity towards the needs and circumstances of other persons, the
development in childhood of the power of imagination is essential. In
this connection, creativity is also vital to enhance. Creativity is the
most important factor for the next generation, if technological progress
is to be guided in paths that avoid its demerits. This creativity must
be fueled with something from transcendental consciousness and nature
requiring imagination to be perceived. N.H. A group of
present day philosophers led by Professor Tomonobu Imamichi is conducting
an international search for a new philosophy appropriate for modern times.
Developed by Imamichi in 1975, Eco Ethica is a contribution of Japanese
contemporary thought to the search for new principles of morality to meet
the conditions created by modern technology. Eco means oikos in Greek
(house), its outside and inside. Translating this idea to eco ethica,
eco refers not only to the inter-sidereal cosmic environment of existence,
but also nano, the micro cosmic space in immanent-corporeality, simply
stated as the space in the cell between the cell wall and the nucleus.
Modern technology has affected human surroundings, from the global and
even inter-planetary environment, to the most minute micro biotic space.
Three areas
of focus in this philosophy are the phenomena of time, shadows, and creative
imagination. A major preoccupation of technological advance is the reduction
of time needed to perform functions by streamlining processes and increasing
efficiency. However, as Pascal earlier noted, man is a thinking animal
and thinking requires time. Time is the essence of cautiousness and caution
is critical for human survival. While machines change and operate at increasing
speeds, the human brain remains as nature made it, and thus operates at
the same speed required to think thoroughly. When time is reduced and
lost with more efficient technological advancements important thinking
time is at risk of being lost. Without adequate time devoted to thinking,
human beings gradually deteriorate into more primitive beings. A characteristic
feature of the present technological conjuncture is the uniformization
of forms through the process of mass production. For example, the camera,
the telephone, and tape player are all encased in what would appear to
be the same black box even though they have different functions and in
the past appeared in different shapes. As things are losing their individual
forms for the sake of efficiency, the same may be said of the human being.
The rich diversity of individualities is melted into uniform literary
and arithmetical information projected in films, on television shows,
and for the computer screen. Computerized human information data is the
shadow of the person and it would seem that the human shadow is more important
than the living being in the information society. Society believes they
can understand and know persons without ever meeting any of the human
beings in question. This is the demonic face of the contemporary information
society, which is encouraged by human genome projects and other research
that finds massive similarities in human DNA, as if these were the only
determinants of human personality. At the same
time, the merits of shadow phenomena are found in the domain of art. There
are many positive expressions in the computer arts on the conditions of
humanity. Such information on levels of literacy, net income per capita
and income distribution is necessary to improve the economic situation
of humankind. Islam
and the rejection of secularism The decoupling
of church and state that accompanied the European Enlightenment has generally
not occurred in the Islamic world. The Prophet Mohammed was a secular
ruler while being at the same time the Prophet of Islam. As the ruler,
he fought battles and established a state. From the beginning, the Prophet
of Islam insisted that people not only live in this world, but live in
the best way in this world. He did not allow the sacred to be apart from
the world nor the people of the world to say Awe cannot be rooted in the
sacred because we have to move on.@ Therefore, this dichotomy present
in the West between the secular and spiritual realms technically does
not exist in the Middle East. A positive
thing that has come out of the anti-western rhetoric and dialogue in the
Middle East is that the unquestioning acceptance of everything that has
come out of progressive societies is now being challenged. Such questions
are being entertained: Must progress be in western terms? Does it have
to be in particular scientific terms? Does it have to be in accordance
with the economic gauge of western consumerism? What is the measure of
progress for the Muslim world? The major
criticism of the European Enlightenment from the Islamic perspective is
the dichotomy or compartmentalization of knowledge. In the Muslim world,
all knowledge is supposed to be regarded from a holistic perspective.
Islamic ideals are humanist ideals, built on the belief that there is
no dichotomy between the secular and the sacred. For example, with the
accumulation of wealth comes the responsibility of using it for the poor,
the unfortunate, the orphans, and the widow. The people pray five times
a day, but those acts alone are insufficient if the people do not participate
in the community and somehow carry out their social responsibilities.
Thus, responsibility to God is inseparable from responsibility to other
humans and the environment. Individual self interest must be pursued with
the best of whatever God offers. Reason that makes the latest scientific
discovery must see that discovery also as one window of God's greatness.
Individual well-being may be pursued for one's own good, but not without
exercising self-control for the larger good of the community. The most
important principles that guide society are social responsibility, honesty,
and generosity. The individual
is seen to flourish only in the context of a community. The community
takes precedence over individual self interest and if these are in conflict,
resolution must come about through a personal sense of responsibility.
Thus, referring to the work of the lens grinder mentioned as an example
of the progress which European Enlightenment has brought, a Muslim would
say that the lens grinder must move beyond genetics and go to the soul
which is inherent in each human being. All truth is not revealed through
the lens of the microscope. While science can inform humankind by what
mechanisms they think, this information does not explain everyday experience
and the practical knowledge gained in human society. Moreover, the question
remains whether the brain generates the thought or the thought stimulates
and builds the capacity of the brain. If the soul and the genetic person
are not balanced, then even if the lens grinder tells us that all beings
share 100% of their DNA, individual thoughts remain unpredictable. So, if there
is something to come out in terms of a different attitude, hopefully it
won't be romanticized, hopefully it will not just be romantic, but will
be a new blend of things that might come. The great
civilizing force of China 200B.C. - 200A.D. , the Han synthesis, set in
motion a continuing civilization, the longest continuing on the globe.
In a self-conscious way the Han intellectuals went to study the text,
the tradition, and the culture that preceded them to select from earlier
Confucian texts, Taoist texts, Ying Yang texts and others what type of
political synthesis would hold as well as keep this civilization going.
And what they came to was a synthesis that was deeply embedded in concepts
of cosmology — an orientation to a universe of human, earth, and
societal, and political relations in multilayered sense rooted in a conception
of the universe from which stemmed all directionality even the seasons
of life and climate. All of these ideas and phenomena were highly integrated
and self-consciously chosen. Today society may also be in a similar type
of selection process making a new synthesis and a new reconstruction.
M.E.T. A cosmological
perspective in early Islam continuing to this day is that all of us are
Muslims and we're all doing Islam. For a plant to grow upwards is its
natural inclination and that is Islam. J.F. We the peoples
of the United Nations are all, by virtue of modernization, children of
the Western Enlightenment - benefitting from it in all empirical spheres
of education, science, transportation, communication and health. However,
it would appear impossible for every society on the planet to attain the
life style epitomized as the American Dream. Thus, there is tension between
the dream and the absence of the possibilities of attaining it. To deal
with this tension, it is necessary to explore cultural institutions that
will enable societies to develop a different and fuller understanding
of both the negative implications of the dream, and a broader vision of
Enlightenment, progress, and purpose. T.W. In this effort,
such Enlightenments must be considered: The question
is how do you bring about reduction in the power of the prevailing message
of Western Enlightenment and usher in these other forms of enlightening
vision whose impact would be to render less aggressive, less dominating,
and less exclusionary the practice of the dominant culture. V. Institutions to Govern a Global Culture Before one
considers institutions it is necessary to characterize the nature of the
future global society. Will it be a universal village or a global society?
The institutional implications of this distinction are significant. Globalism
versus universalism The concept
of universal would refer to something globally understood, aspired to
or accepted as, for example, general principles of law common to all countries.
Universal implies a notion of sharing, of knowing that there is something
in common or even of trying to have something more in common. An example
of a universal idea is the golden rule stated positively or negatively:
thou shall not do to others what you do not want other to do to you as
is often stated by Professor Tu Weiming. It has been a fundamental aspect
of all kind of philosophies, as is the concept of human rights, or of
civil and political rights. Another aspect
of universal is the notion of working together to take care of common
problems. Obviously, what the world has started to do with environment
problems is a wonderful example of responsibility and concern which is
shared by most governments. Universal implies sharing ideas on what should
be done in a variety of domains. This notion of the universal as a community
held together by reciprocal obligations and duties is something that has
to be developed progressively with great care and humility. It is based
on the ideas that power is service, that power is responsibility and that
the more power one has, the more responsibility one has or the more wealth
one has, referring back to Islam or to Christianity, the more obligations
to the 'other' one has. Globalization
is the concept also commonly used to capture the image of the "borderless
world." If one looks at the globe today, one does not see emerging
a universal culture based on norms and shared responsibilities but a borderless
world. This phenomenon is giving rise to a world history of humankind
as compared to comparative histories of peoples of the world. Whether
one likes it or not, globalization is a fact of life, brought about by
technology, the economy and ideological preferences for capitalism and
democracy. As George Bush has said, "now we are heading to a new
world order, market plus democracy, all around the globe." R.L. A condition
for the evolution of a universal culture is that a lot of thought be given
to the notion of democracy, and to political processes and institutions
starting with the very traditional state to the emerging type of political
process called the civil society. Considerable intellectual effort has
to be given to understanding what will be the meaning of a democracy at
the world level. The formula
market plus democracy means democracy in all nation states around the
globe. But everywhere nation states, democratic or otherwise, are failing
to fulfill their functions. This is not a problem of political leadership,
weak or strong, but of circumstances created by technological advances
in all fields. Globalization means permeated national borders. Today traditional
national frontiers protect but weakly all states despite their enormous
differences in stages of development, in political priorities, and in
cultural backgrounds. No state can singularly control or contain information
flows, commercial flows, migrations, international crime, or destruction
of the environment. The nature
of one of the present dilemmas for world governance is the following.
Democracies are established within the confines of states. All governments
are based on the territorial notion of states and are elected by citizens
of their territorial confines. Elected officials are accountable only
to their constituents in the nation state. But precisely in a 'borderless
world' where national frontiers are so permeated by overflowing problems,
for example, air and water pollution, global markets, free movements of
labor, and free electronic communications; territorial governments are
increasingly ineffective and consequently less credible when they make
campaign promises. As a result, they enjoy less confidence. This dilemma
is rendered more complicated and acute when governments attempt to take
joint or cooperative measures to resolve their shared problems and the
citizens of each participating state have only minimal if any impact on
the outcomes which will ultimately affect their lives. When, for example,
ministers from different nation states go around the world, meet somewhere
and then agree on a common approach to certain problems; they come home
from these international parliaments only to be accused of accomplishing
their work in a non-democratic fashion. Ministers are told they should
not make commitments in international fora, but instead should only bind
their people to commitments in their own parliaments because that is democracy.
But, to repeat, the permeation of borders creates transcendent problems
that only can be resolved in international fora. Thus, a global weakening
of political effectiveness is generated. To preserve
democracy there is an absolute need for a great diversity of institutions.
Obviously, the United Nations is an essential component of such a system
of political institutions. A grand diversity of other institutions at
the local level, at the national level, and at the global level is also
necessary; nevermind the complexity such a number of different and even
of overlapping institutions such a system would imply. Such a system alone
could fill the need not only to preserve freedom and diversity, but also
to deal in the best way possible with the great multiplicity of problems
facing the world. This multiplicity of institutions, however, can only
function properly if there is a minimum of shared values and norms among
those governing those institutions and those supposed to benefit from
them. J.B. The rise
of the civil society is partly a reaction to globalization and an expression
of democracy at the global level. Many people, especially in the West,
believing that governance in the world is deteriorating, seek institutions
outside the traditional political system to deal with global problems.
Non traditional institutions are formed at local and global levels. One
example is the non-governmental organization, Green Peace. Institutional
manifestations of civil society are in both religious and cultural movements.
These groups often articulate their opinions and communicate with each
other in the same way businesses, the markets, and other sectors of society
do through modern information and communication technology. These manifestations
of civil society express opinions about values and work in many practical
ways to bring their voice to public attention. "Manifestations of
the civil society" serve to put pressure on governments and businesses.
They are increasingly effective. With good intellectual leadership, they
can make a difference because they are concerned, they are acting jointly
through organizations and other institutional forms generated by social
movements with the intent to bring about change in the interest of the
common good. A
major stumbling block One can take the view that unless and until there is a retrenchment or a collapse of free markets, unless the Dow Jones Index comes down to something less then 3,000 or the Asian crisis is in fact a real crisis and the Japanese economy bottoms out, there will be no rectifying of the moral basis for the global village. The allure of material comforts, the fascination with the automobile, the satisfaction and smugness in the knowledge that markets work for material enrichment is simply too great. VI.
Virtues and Responsibilities of the Public Intellectual The East
Asian idea of the educated person offers the best reference for the discussion
of public intellectuals in the public domain of the globalized society.
In the Confucian tradition, concern from politics, engagement in society
and sensitivity in cultural matters as salient features of being educated.
Scholar officials in China, Samurai in Japan, and the yangban in Korea
were supposed to be responsible not only for their own self-cultivation
but also for the regulation of families, governance of states, and peace
under Heaven. In short, they were obliged by their power, status and influence
to serve as guardians of the social fabric. They shared a common faith
in the improvability of the human condition and the efficacy of a communitarian
effort to bring about peace and prosperity. Motivated by a strong moral
sense to transform the world from within, they tried through exemplary
teaching, to inspire an ever expanding network of people to involve themselves
in the educational process of human flourishing. T.W. [The Humanities
and the Public Intellectual] The first
is humility. The second is the will to seek truth. The common skepticism
and cynicism that pervade the modern world are totally incompatible with
the function of the responsible intellectual; not everything is equal
and not everything is interesting. One should be happy to be wrong when
one's prediction of some negative occurrence proves to be wrong. One should
also recognize the great responsibility one has to the world when one
has the necessary talent to offer some vision and wisdom and be willing
to devote considerable time to thinking and reflection. The third
virtue is to be able to recognize and respect continuity between private
virtues and public action. One of most questionable dichotomies in western
culture is the implicit distinction between the way one accomplishes his/her
daily task and his/her responsibility in public life. In all contemporary
struggles, for example the fight against corruption, there is no apparent
solution possible unless it is realized that there is a continuum between
private and public actions. Specific
roles to be filled by public intellectuals In related
fashion, the public intellectual should explain the need for inclusive
thinking. Increasingly since the 18th century, society has operated along
the lines suggested by Adam Smith, according to which each person or institution
seeking his/her own good would contribute to the greater good of society.
This approach led to the present organization of societies on foundations
of open markets with governments charged with minimal functions of preserving
rights and freedoms and providing security for the system. This approach
yielded considerable creativity and general well being so long as the
markets remained openly competitive and easily accessible within caring
and mutually supportive communities. But the global market is not generally
inclusive of all peoples and societies. Society cannot lose sight of the
need to ensure that the interests and perspectives of those outside the
market be considered. Thus while society needs independent and self-seeking
institutions to insure creativity, it also has need for a good amount
of inclusive thinking. "Holism" expresses the intellectual aspect
of this problem. Inclusiveness implies coordinating efforts. Another task for the public intellectual is to explain the precautionary principle laid down in Rio De Janeiro. The precautionary principle is simply this: given ignorance about the consequences of new technologies and new initiatives, one better take precautionary actions to prevent serious unknowable and unforeseeable potential consequences. This approach is fundamentally different from traditional economical thinking with its implicit confidence in the technological progress and its calculations of interest rates based on the most productive use of scarce capital and assumed increases of productivity. These rates take no account of potential negative externalities. The reasoning of the public intellectual ecologists, for example, is different. They are not prepared to take risks that there will always be new technologies to solve problems of scarcity, damage to the environment, and so on. The
precautionary principle puts a systematic check on economic thinking.
Through the
devices formulated and refined during the western Enlightenment, and earlier
in different regions of Asia [before the 13th century], the leadership
of the public intellectuals can be brought to bear creatively to get institutions
like the financial markets of the world to begin a discourse with the
public and its social institutions so that there is a junction in society
between its wealth and its culture, so as to create an enlightened and
humane global society. VII.
Valuing a Diversity of Cultures Although
the Icelandic people who have inherited these manuscripts are few, they
have nevertheless derived a great deal of strength from them over the
centuries. They have given these people a voice in the world. Inspired
by their traditions and their sagas they have become somebody in this
huge world. Of course, Icelanders as peoples of many other smaller nations
have a sense of inferiority vis a vis the peoples of larger and more powerful
nations. Stirred by their sagas however they soon forget their relative
smallness and consider themselves the world itself. The fact, is, one
never asks how many heads are behind something that is true, because for
something found to be true and something found to be of value, it is never
asked whether it is the view of thousands or of millions of people. V.F. In today's
world where the prime mover of civilization has become the economy, values
have changed in such a way that the smaller entities are pressured to
think that strength lies in the economy, in military might and pecuniary
fortunes. Identity, however, creates the culture. The benefit of diversity
is that every artist has the opportunity to create his or her culture
in his or her language. Strength actually lies in knowing oneself, and
lies in having roots, knowing where one wants to go, and having a voice.
Identity is linked to that voice; identity comes from within. If identity
is imposed from the outside, then identity is lost. Culture cannot
be measured in monetary terms. The Iceland experience is also instructive
here. One economist in Iceland, last year, analyzed how much money would
be saved in Iceland if the Icelandic language would be dropped and English
adopted as the national language. English is commonplace in Iceland as
it is too expensive to dub the vast amount of English television and electronic
transmissions into Icelandic. There has been a great deal of concern because
children watching television are bilingual but cannot read well. The economist
discovered that there would initially be a large investment to train the
first generation but there would be immediate savings from not having
to teach Icelandic. The economic returns in this investment would appear
at once. However, the economist underscored that this was purely theoretical.
He did not advocate abandoning the Icelandic language in the interest
of saving monetary resources because he esteemed culture to be worth something
more than money. The cultural
heritage of Iceland reflected in the sagas, poems and literature by artists
in the expression of their mother tongue is both valuable and rewarding.
This is a truth for every nation cherishing its integrity. A Nobel Prize
winner, a 20th century saga writer, gave expression and honor to this
idea. He noted that when a nation stops cherishing its uniqueness and
independence, and is swept into superpower nationhood, the world is impoverished.
Referring to Iceland he said, "when the last old woman who can recite
in Icelandic verse is dead, then the world has become poorer and the superpower
that swallowed us would not be left any richer for it." V.F. Measures
to protect diversity Wall Street
is that collection of capital markets that funds and finances technological
progress, land development and the industrial superstructure. The Black
church is a single creation embracing the National Baptist Convention
USA and the African Methodist Episcopal church. Its most prominent characteristics
are its focus on spirituality, its real grasp of a sense of redemptive
suffering and its continuing regard for the non-material in life. Important
contributions each of these institutions have made towards inclusion in
society are reflected in the US government's reaction to the bombing of
the World Trade Center and to the bombings of the black churches. In both
instances, effective legislation or actions were taken forthwith and resources
provided to repair the damage. Yet, the
only time that these institutions communicate with each other, if at all,
is through culturally diverse individuals who participate in both institutions.
But, even then, the communication is during very exclusive times: work
week on Wall Street or Sunday morning in the Black church. If there could
be found, at least in the American context, a vehicle through which Wall
Street and the Black church could dialogue, society would have come a
long way toward achieving the beginning of the kinds of discussions that
would change the complexion of a complicated society. On a more
positive note nurturing the civil society in Europe is considered the
way to protect diversity in Europe. In the future of Europe, the civic
society will play a strong role in which the cultural diversity of regions,
languages and cultures are to be protected. Yet, the Europeans will feel
that they belong to a unique common civilization vis a vis the rest of
the world. Beyond a monetary-fiscal union, it is not intended to transfer
more power to Brussels from the nation-states. The civil society will
take more time to develop in a Europe, economically and materially linked,
but wherein each nation-state lives according to its own identity in an
open relationship. To this end the organizations of the civil society
need nurturing and support. Life on the whole, through the advances of
service and technology, and the open market-place, has vastly improved
material living standards over the past sixty years for most all societies
and there is reason for optimism. Yet, one
can question whether a common culture on one level is a viable possibility
for the future in Europe. For many centuries in this millennium, Europe
was organized under a single religious order which deteriorated into warring
units and was gradually succeeded by a political order of units called
nation-states, and then there were wars. Now it is economics, technology,
business organizations and their countervailing groups and organizations
of civil societies that are emerging as the binding body politique not
only in Europe but also in the rest of the world. It is difficult
to predict what this new order will bring. But something is going awry
with this order as witnessed by financial market failures in Asia, Latin
America, and Russia. Moreover, there is a looming environmental crisis
which is exacerbated by the more than doubling of the world population,
the concomitant threat to food and water resources and the natural environment,
as these billions aspire to the level of living attained by the most affluent
that gives cause of great concern. Social
consensus and development Development
has not worked in many parts of the world because masses of people have
been governed by elites according to the mandates of culturally foreign
systems. These governments could not relate to the general populations
and their grassroots needs, and cannot make the best use of the wealth
of their human resources. It is vital to consider the basic socio-cultural
foundations of societies when constructing development projects for economic
or social progress on local, national, and international scales. In South
East Asia, Malaysia or Indonesia, for example, the questions to be posed
are whether it is the people or their elite institutions which are working
for economic development: whether the development targets are located
in macro-level institutions serving the elite according to their moral
and ethical norms or whether they are at the micro-level according to
peoples time honored customs and aspirations. A closer look would probably
show that the strongest base to build on is at the micro-level. The thrift,
skills, and habits of working together are so positive that by relying
and nurturing them those economies will grow. VIII.
Marking Paths to the Future The
need for a unifying myth A
better understanding of history History affects
the way people act because of the popular beliefs it causes. Every child
within the Balkans learns of a war that occurred in the Balkans over seven
hundred years ago when the Turks invaded and a portion of the population
became Islamic, and are seen as traitors. One of the problems within the
Balkans is that when history started to be written in the 18th century,
it was written with a nationalistic view point and this distorted the
good aspects of the Ottoman Empire because they were overlooked, meaning
the ideals were overlooked. The notion
of common humanity is to be attained through a better understanding of
history which will demonstrate the unfounded oasis of contemporary conflicts.
History should be taught in a way that avoids emphasizing mistakes and
prejudices. Sense
of purpose in life A
reconstruction movement Balance
between integration and identity Code
of conduct for sustainability Is technology
going to shape the future without guidance or is society going to use
a value system of some sort to shape technology itself? How can humankind
enlighten itself as it approaches the twenty-first century? Can science,
economics, development, and right reason co-exist? Where will human codes
of conduct come from for the twenty-first century and how can they be
evaluated? Perhaps an evolutionary type of reasoning is the place to start
to lay out a code of conduct for the future. Codes reflect
values. The values for the 21st century should be aimed at maintaining
ecological security and a certain ecological equilibrium between humankind
and everything else on the earth. Another source
of values comes from the belief that there is an evolutionary faculty
in human consciousness. Even more primitive human beings, historically,
adopted value systems because of evolutionary factors and their experience
with the physical environment. The acknowledgment of human rights as aspirations
for people permits people to choose collectively how to organize themselves
in the face of existing limitations with the help of science and technology.
The species-- homo sapiens, has the confidence and is in a position to
define rights and responsibilities. Since people are conscious of themselves,
understand the world in which they live, and now understand that they
can have aspirations and enjoy an abundance that is unprecedented in human
history, their higher aspirations should become a strong source of values
as humanity moves into the twenty-first century. Twelve years
ago when I became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, we had a substantial
problem in terms of the economy, including rising unemployment, a large
budget deficit, and similar typical European welfare state problems. We
tried to improve that. If you come around now in the Netherlands you don't
see this problem at all. There is low inflation and a very small budget
deficit and there is no unemployment. But there is something strange going
on: the average number of hours that the people work in the Netherlands
at paid jobs is substantially lower than in other matured economies, especially
in the United States. I will not
say we are poor because our efficiency per hour is higher than in the
United States. So we are a modern country in that sense, but we have developed
a model in which people are not really going to the utmost to maximize
their personal income. We have many families with one and a half jobs,
so they are not maximizing their income potential. It means that there
is a lot more time for non paid work and, also, for cultural activities.
My point is that the "Dutch model" suggests that it is possible
to convince each other that you have more quality to life if you do not
maximize your Gross National product. This is not
accepted wisdom. People find it strange but, nevertheless, there is the
beginning of change in the dominant mentality in one country. Perhaps
this is possible for other countries. R.L. The
universality of human rights I always
find it interesting that on this question of rights and duties, when we
speak of individuals we always start with the word rights and when we
talk of institutions we always start with the word duties. Perhaps what
we need to do is when we speak of individuals, start with the concept
of duties and let rights emerge from the sense of duty that we have as
members of the human race. I don't know if that leads to a global awareness,
but it seems to me we tend to start with rights and then duties take a
second seat; when, however, it concerns what someone owes us, our view
shifts a bit. J.F. Rights should
not be claimed without acknowledging some sense of duty as well. All too
often the parallelism between right and duty is forgotten. It can help
lead humankind to a much needed, broader consensus on what is truly a
universal right. Perhaps what is required in such consensus building is
a minimum amount of accepted responsibilities that are voluntarily assumed
but are, at the same time, delicate enough so as not to jeopardize established
rights. Without a consensus on morality, this process is reduced to a
slow-going venture. In the end, all people are free, in certain fundamental
ways, no matter what their culture may dictate. Notes prepared by Barbara Baudot, Secretary and Coordinator of the Triglav Circle.
Triglav
Circle
|