I realize that Progressivism and Humanism are dirty words that reek of Socialism and Communism. Marxism FAILED with its philosophical (mainly Hegelian) strategies, but that does not mean the entire European Enlightenment has nothing to offer us now. There is so much more there that does not have to be translated into an ambition for collectivism and dialectical materialism.
Re-synthesize, re-analyze, and don't make the same mistakes or go down similar paths. We know now collectivism does not work, yet the opposite, individualism, promotes Social Darwinistic and fascist tendencies. Autonomy is the key to freedom, but we as a species, have issues balancing ethics with pure autonomy without becoming rascist and intolerant.
This is why we need to explore and revisit the Enlightenment philosophers and more recent philosophies such as Objectivism, where Rand, Kant, Locke, Paine, Jefferson, Franklin and other freethinkers offered their innovative ideas and observations about equality, and what it is to be happily human. The European Enlightenment and American Age of Reason should not be passed over because Marx and Engels hi-jacked otherwise good philosophy for an ideology favored by meglomaniacs. They were only one interpretation. It's an example of not seeing a forest through one huge tree. We are past that tree and able to explore the forest again.
Basically, the first thing to unlearn is with regard to perfection. Perfection lies only in the moment and nothing remains perfect because Nature's law is about change and flux. If perfection continued past a moment, then time would stop and all would cease to exist, or at least become static, never to progress (or in entropy as dark matter). It would be like pressing the pause button, capturing a still frame. So Utopia can never exist, as Arthur C. Clarke so aptly portrayed in "Childhood's End".
The only perfection is God. That aspect will be discussed in future posts.
Re-synthesize, re-analyze, and don't make the same mistakes or go down similar paths. We know now collectivism does not work, yet the opposite, individualism, promotes Social Darwinistic and fascist tendencies. Autonomy is the key to freedom, but we as a species, have issues balancing ethics with pure autonomy without becoming rascist and intolerant.
This is why we need to explore and revisit the Enlightenment philosophers and more recent philosophies such as Objectivism, where Rand, Kant, Locke, Paine, Jefferson, Franklin and other freethinkers offered their innovative ideas and observations about equality, and what it is to be happily human. The European Enlightenment and American Age of Reason should not be passed over because Marx and Engels hi-jacked otherwise good philosophy for an ideology favored by meglomaniacs. They were only one interpretation. It's an example of not seeing a forest through one huge tree. We are past that tree and able to explore the forest again.
Basically, the first thing to unlearn is with regard to perfection. Perfection lies only in the moment and nothing remains perfect because Nature's law is about change and flux. If perfection continued past a moment, then time would stop and all would cease to exist, or at least become static, never to progress (or in entropy as dark matter). It would be like pressing the pause button, capturing a still frame. So Utopia can never exist, as Arthur C. Clarke so aptly portrayed in "Childhood's End".
The only perfection is God. That aspect will be discussed in future posts.
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