Tag: individualism

Categories
- Governance - Religion - Three Protagonists

Guns and Moses

If other people were carrying guns in the Newtown massacre they would have been able to intervene and stop the mentally ill killer — Or so the argument by gun owners goes. The reason why this argument is false is that mental illness exists with a predictable proportion within the population. Increasing gun ownership increases the number of mentally ill people with guns too. This means we will have more mass shootings, which will require more people to carry guns. Very convenient for the NRA.

Unintelligent and egotistical people fall for this corporate reasoning. Real heroes don’t kill bad guys, they sacrifice their “rights” to save children. It is vain and statistically inaccurate to believe that guns prevent mass shootings.

This is not a progressive viewpoint. This transcends partisan disagreements. This is a moral ideal with universal scope. Absolute demilitarization of nations and disarmament of individuals is a pre-requisite for world peace. Whatever minor technologies are necessary for maintenance of internal law and order by official police is all that is needed. Without national militaries, a small global peace keeping force under UN authority will be all that is necessary.

It is the presence of weapons and militaries that makes violence and war possible. Security and peace cannot be kept by threats and war, they must be produced by disarmament and demilitarization.

The legislative function of nations and the UN must come into play to outlaw the possession of all guns and weapons and the demilitarization of all national armies. Only when disarmament and demilitarization are embraced as law and principle can the safety and security of the people of the world be established.

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MLK

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Categories
- Education - Governance Human Nature Justice

Spring Showers onto Hard Earth: Prevailing Theories of Human Nature, Alterable?

How great is our capacity for change? The endpoint of our progress is as difficult to imagine as space travel is to cavemen. Social reform will outpace our technological ingenuity. Freedom fighting at present is dwarfed by the liberties of the future. Cause-drops merge into revolution-streams; but the goal remains oceans away. Over fair seas, where life is fair, sail with me.

Activists confront wide-scale cynicism. Their hopes dashed by erroneous assumptions of human nature. Does the past have to be our future? Competitive economics prescribed because of the struggle for survival in World War II? Cutthroat education climates because individuals procreate their genes?  Contentious politics because checking leads to balance?

Selfishness theory is self-fulfilling. Its prescription causes the disease; the disease is mistaken for our nature; that nature is re-prescribed. If disease is described as health, symptoms become prescribed as cure.

Although, failure is common, is it also our nature? War and injustice reinforce this  illusion. The state of the world, however, reflects a distortion of the human spirit, not its essential nature. Anachronisms disallow drawing on the extraordinary reservoir of spiritual potential available to us.

Drawing on this power, activists develop spiritual capacities to contribute to social reform. Like hard earth, prevailing theories, seem impervious to alteration, before the spiritual springtime brings rain. Like flowers, accurate theories of human nature, are due to spring up fresh and fair.

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Categories
- Governance - Human Body - Prevailing Conceptions Discourse Human Nature Justice Oneness

Economic Theory: Competition, the Key to Prosperity?

Human nature has been misinterpreted. We are not selfish and competitive by nature, but rather, altruistic and cooperative. Human societies to some extent actually represent an anomaly in the competitive theory of the jungle. Humans demonstrate a detailed division of labour and exchange of goods and services, with or without a cooperative intention on the individual level, between genetically unrelated individuals, that amounts to an economy-wide scheme of cooperation for collective prosperity. Modern societies with large organizational structures for meat and vegetable production and distribution, banking services and widespread trust in economic stability, and the rule of law and order, do the same. Since earliest days of the species Homo sapien, we have seen dense networks of exchange relations and practices of sophisticated forms of food-sharing, cooperative hunting, and collective warfare in hunter gatherer societies. The world of the animal for example, exhibits little to no distinguishable division of labour. In the jungle, cooperation is limited to small groups, and when it is seen it is almost certainly among genetically closely related individuals (eg: a family in a pack of wolves). Even in non-human primates (chimpanzees etc.), cooperation is orders of magnitude less developed than it is among humans. One may argue that certain insects such as ants and bees, or even the naked mole rat demonstrate cooperation in colonies of 1000’s of individuals working together. However, cooperation of these types of organisms cannot be appreciated except in the context of their considerable genetic homology. Genuine, conscious, cooperation that is biologically altruistic or selfless (ie: lacking genetic incentive) is seen in human society because of our unique nature, distinct from the jungle.

The “Jungle” interpretation of human nature comes from looking at humanity’s past of war and crime and deducing that human nature is selfish and competitive. No serious sociologist would look at a child and deduce that human beings are 2 feet tall and irrational. Yet, that is precisely what has been done when we look at humanity’s war- and crime-ridden history and deduce that human nature is selfish and competitive. Over the course of the child’s maturation and development it will become evident that he is actually capable of being a 5’10” professor of physics, for example. To judge human nature based upon an immature stage in human development leads to misconceived notions of who we are and how we should behave. The problem arises from the mistake of taking descriptive observation and mistaking them for a prescription of how things should be. The is-ought fallacy. Based on the observation of selfish and competitive behaviour, sociologists have prescribed selfish and competitive standards for others to follow. Instead of describing humankind’s violent past and seeking to overcome and transcend these difficulties in the future, many social theorists normalize these characteristics and prescribe them as the mode of interaction in economics and political practice. The sad truth is that much of our social order is built with this view of human nature in mind, catering to the worst aspects of our potential. No wonder society and the global state of affairs are in such shambles. A distinctive effort is needed to rethink human nature and our relationship to the collective order. Nothing less than a spiritual revolution in the hearts and minds of people and a transformation of the values of society will redeem us from the course we have set for ourselves with bankrupt self-conceptions.

Current economic theory is modeled around a self-interested conception of human nature analogous to the competitiveness of animals fighting for survival and reproductive resources in a jungle. I believe human nature is fundamentally altruistic, analogous to the harmony of cells and tissues cooperating for total organismic prosperity. The best advantage of the part is pursued in the progress of the whole. Cooperation of the various parts leads to health, and selfishness of any cell leads to cancer. The human body and not the jungle is what I choose as my model for societal and economic organization.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g

Assumptions of the Jungle Interpretation of Human Nature:
1. Human beings are naturally self-interested
2. There is a finite amount of goods, services, and opportunities with an infinite amount of wants, drives, and competitors
3. Competition is both biologically necessary and mandated by the scarcity of resources
4. Survival of the fittest is not just a biological law, but a social one as well, equally applicable to the biological and social human condition

Assumptions of the Body Interpretation of Human Nature:
1. Human beings are naturally altruistic
2. Goods are produced in proportion to the sense of a duty, purpose, and enterprise animating human endeavours, individually and collectively
3. Needs are satisfied in a way that does justice to their severity and intensity, which balances the extremes of satisfaction and want society-wide
4. Creation of a just and prosperous world order is the fruit of all social evolution, just as the manifestation of the rational mind has been the fruit of biological evolution

 

Categories
Development Human Nature Oneness

Rural Life and Industrialization

The region known as the ‘west’ comprises a minority of the population of the globe. The west influences global trends and determines national agendas disproportionately. China and India comprise vaster quantities of human souls than the west. Chinese and Indian individual identities are  shaped by western trends and ways of thought. Resulting contradictions in the values of these peoples provide a telling study. A western conception of the individual proves efficacious to agendas of western businesses and the commodification of value. Traditional values emphasize family authority, moral virtue, public reputation, and social solidarity. In wisdom rural values see dignity, and in respect they see merit, in hospitality honor, in discipline virtue, and in public engagement social responsibility. Materialism infiltrates developing societies, rural life, cultural norms, and is reinforced by a seducing power to undo the fabric of social cohesion. Men seduced by prospects of ‘self-made’ success abandon families in pursuit of daring and romanticized exploits for material prosperity. Insecurity nurtured by images in advertising create fear of inferiority. Competitiveness fills the void. Familial loyalty is not worth the opportunity cost in the face of impending failure to compete. Women objectify themselves for the sexual satisfaction of suitors. Energy and effort wasted on vain pursuits replace a woman’s natural confidence with conceptions of self-worth that are conditional on submission to consumer industry. Instead of submission of each woman to her husband (a condition deplorable in the past), the modern age has seen the rise in submission of millions to a handful of oligarchs who deem what clothing and body habitus is considered attractive. Aesthetic values are conditioned over time with exposure to certain kinds of images since childhood.  Elders unwittingly resist the inevitable proliferation of technology as a highly visible culprit enabling the genocide of their cultural values. Rural communities, where the majority of earth’s inhabitants are housed, lose their cohesion with the upsurge in individualistic desires for consumption and self-advancement. Hysteria follows paranoia with the conception that multitudes are competing for relative self-worth . Psychological manipulation on a mass scale has been linked to patterns of competitive behaviours in the absence of any objective need for certain commodified imports. Insecurity undermines the essential equality of all human beings. Individuals pursue their new conception of self-worth where family unity, social solidarty, and collective prosperity cannot follow. Competition for social fitness where an individual wins versus multitudes of outcompeted misfits, who lose, borrowed from biological evolution, is adopted and popularized as a conception of social reality. Inequality is both the result and motivation of competition. Erosion of rural solidarity is isolated from centers of discourse and policy. Nuclear family unity is relegated to a romantic and outdated past. Youth are the victims of this in the short-term. Posterity struggles with the challenges these deranged generations will create in the long-term.

Categories
- Prevailing Conceptions - Three Protagonists

Ideological Either-Or

In addition to individualism and individuality, here are two more examples of fragmented social theories on the conception of the individual: anarchism and socialism.

Anarchism’s view places the individual as the source of inspiration, and values freedom for the people from the state.  It is not the popularly-held notion that individuals just create disorder in society through lack of rules.  Rather, social rules and moral principles are only valuable to the extent that they don’t repress the individual, but free him from imposition of political authority.  People naturally have energy and talents, and they should have the freedom to express and develop these.  A collection of self-interested actors will create a successful collective.

Socialism’s target for critique is capitalism, in which, they claim, egoism and anarchistic pursuit of self-interest creates disorder and disunity.  Socialism resolves this by places higher value on service to the community and placing confidence in order.  No individual is free from social ties, and thus no individual can simply pursue one’s own interest; the Robinson Crusoe ideal is absurd and can’t actually exist.  Socialism’s collective values, implemented by a strong state apparatus, will establish an equality and freedom that capitalism cannot naturally achieve.

Clearly, none of these theories provide an adequate enough understanding of human nature required for humanity’s imminent transformation.  How have these prevalent thoughts been incorporated into society’s current view of an individual?  What are they missing?  What do they have in common?  What are some of your thoughts on human nature?

Categories
- Prevailing Conceptions - Three Protagonists

Individualism and the West

Individuality consists in the inner feelings and essential subjectivity of the human condition. Individualism on the other hand is a politico-economic doctrine instating rights and privileges of persons. The former is empirical fact; the latter, a cornerstone of anglo-american political theory and cultural heritage. The concept of the radical individual is a new historical phenomenon, unique to the modern age. Ties of loyalty and love connect human hearts as always, but beneath it lies awareness that we do so as individuals with the freedom and liberty to decide otherwise. Diverse cultures and divergent stages in history have seen types of humans conscious of themselves only as members of one collective, one party, one corporation, one tribe, one army, one race, one civilization, a single species. Our notion of the individual as an entity separate from the collectivity is the product of an evolutionary process that contributes in part to the roots of  Western civilization. North America and Western Europe have placed an increasingly weighty emphasis on the individual. Human names are not an empirical fact, and yet to disregard a person’s name and instead address her or him according to their function is culturally rude. Perhaps this is universally true. Alternatively, it goes against the individualistic agenda of aggrandizing the importance of the personal identity. A complicated and persistent program with roots traceable to the 12th century can be seen consolidating itself in cultural attitudes towards death, the writing of novels, the painting of portraits, and the crafting of sculptures. Religion follows suit. The development of the confessional in Catholicism and salvation through faith alone in protestant Christianity have brought the hegemony of churches into the consciences of individuals, recasting religiosity in the mold of economically advantageous policies, controlling industrial productivity and entrepreneurial innovation through the soul of the fundamental protagonist.

Categories
Discourse Human Nature

Questioning Fragmentation

The previous post’s mention of various views about human nature, incoherent and fragmented in and of themselves, are also incoherent and fragmented in their application towards different domains of life. One individual, as an example, who claims self-interested notions of human nature when discussing the economic life of humanity would not claim these same notions when considering family life; it would more likely be characterized as altruistic. A certain group might hold the belief of human nature as innately competitive when describing politics, for instance, but would think quite differently regarding their own friendship and community life.

Throughout all of history, human beings have demonstrated the capacity for selfishness and selflessness, for competition and cooperation, for malice and mutualism. In fact, these higher nature qualities have been responsible for most of the greatest accomplishments throughout history. In the midst of our current crisis of civilization, and given the profound reciprocal relationship between society and the individual, we would benefit well from re-examining the assumptions underlying social relationships and systems, and re-conceptulizing human nature, purpose, existence, and capacity. At a fundamental level, understandings of these foundational concepts actually form social reality. Let us be clear. What type of conceptual framework are we seeking to construct? A fragmented view or a coherent vision? What type of society are we aiming to create? One that bolsters our animalistic nature, or one that engenders our higher susceptibilities?

Categories
- Prevailing Conceptions Discourse

Caricatures of Human Nature

There are multiple models of human nature that have been claimed on various levels throughout the ages, and regardless of whether they are religiously or philosophically associated claims, social models employed by policy makers, rhetorical assertions used to group rationalize behavior, or popular opinions constructed for economic profits of advertisers, they are all highly fragmented conceptions – including such examples as materialism, that humans are sophisticated animals with the illusion of self-consciousness as a result of neurochemistry; hedonism, that human happiness is achieved through consumption and seeking pleasure; individualism, that humans are atomistic, relationships are a means to an end, and society is a mere aggregate of autonomous actors; and competitism, that humans are inherently conflictual and motivated by self-interest.

These caricatures of human reality are not just interesting to discuss, but have real social ramifications.  Their selective and exaggerated views have been reified in human consciousness and social structure, serving to normalize, justify, and encourage the associated patterns of behavior – often egoistic and harmful.  These behaviors, in turn, become models for social structures and institutions, which shape behaviors, and the result is a vicious self-reinforcing feedback cycle.

It’s true, fragmented conceptions of human nature did not originally create these behaviors, but started off simply describing them – after all, human beings did have selfish tendencies prior to Adam Smith.  The problem is when descriptive models of human nature are used for prescriptive purposes.  It is then that problematic models are reified, policies are built around them, self-interested behaviors are encouraged and normalized, and the flawed conception is reinforced.

Categories
- Prevailing Conceptions

Consumer Culture

Today’s consumer culture, a byproduct of the cult of the individual’s materialistic religion, is unapologetic as it reinterprets every aspect of human history and behavior within its single-minded view, as it imposes its ideology through a cultural hegemony, as it infiltrates its value in all social systems and structures – education, media, law, health care, and development being far from immune.  If one analyzes it deeply, it is simply no more than the triumph of animal nature and impulse, free now from any religious restraints, however superstitious they may have been.

One clear example is its effect on language.  Behaviors which at one point were characterized as moral failings are now rewarded, encouraged, and prized.  Selfishness is referred to as a commercial resource; truth is reduced to a negotiable commodity; pride is viewed in terms of social value; manipulation is called advertising.  The loss of meaning in our language reflects the profound loss of meaning in all relationships that make up civilization – breakdown of family life, weakening of community ties, dysfunctional educational systems, institutional power-struggles, the worldwide crisis of authority.  And this is perhaps the greatest crime of consumer culture.

Categories
- Three Protagonists Human Nature Oneness

Cult of the Individual

Society is plagued by a cult of the individual that has gone so far as to see association with other human beings merely as a means through which an individual acquires commodities that satiate his private desires. Presuppositions of the individual’s paramount importance amongst the structures of society, and materialistic assumptions that individuals desire inanimate or personally consumable pleasures enjoyable mostly in private, this cult casts human nature in its own mold of convenience to suit its structural agenda. Ignored and marginalized lies the importance of collective and community life as well as the power and productivity generated by institutional capacity. Dissuaded and castigated remain the achievements and glory of public reputation, community responsibility, and collective destiny. These are less easily commodified and consumed; these are difficult to acquire; these are not deemed valuable in the consumer culture currently propounded. The individual becomes the sacrosanct end and society the denigrated means. Consumer culture’s iron clad grip on the global conscience originated historically as a ruse foisted onto the materially developed populous, propelled in part by a profiteering consumer agenda in whose interests it is for human masses to remain so haplessly addicted, and perpetuated in part by people’s own temptation when confronted with instant gratification. With corporate tycoons as ecclesiastics, financial motivation their will to power, the marketplace as their temple, satiety as its heaven, and commodification as ritual – the cult of the individual has become the orthodoxy of a new materialistic religion.