Freedom is Slavery

One of the principle goals of modern society has been the expansion of freedom. The underlying issue has been a conflict as to what freedom actually means. In answer, western society has taken two basic stances. The first was championed by John Stuart Mills in his discourse on liberty. In this view, freedom exists in the absence of coercion. He famously argued that the rights of the individual extend to the point where they infringe upon the rights of another. The Second was that of Jean Jacque Rousseau in his social contract. He held that freedom was the right of self-determination. While these things seem mutually compatible, in practice they are antithetical views, where the counterpart is viewed as tyranny.

Mills was an advocate of British empiricism, and free trade. He held with Adam Smith, that the greatest freedom would be found in spontaneous order. That guided by the invisible hand of market forces, prices would be regulated by the random interaction of self-interest. It was an economy that valued production through vice. In this new world, there was no need for tradition, or nobility, or even God to guide human affairs. The merchant would rise, as a new middle class, that would guide humanity into the future. And this was the ideal of the modern man.

Rousseau would have none of it. He was of the firm opinion that when humans left the trees, that was generally a bad idea. He said nothing that mankind had accomplished with their science and technology was of any value whatsoever. Primitive life is superior to modern man in every aspect.

In response Voltaire Wrote

"I have received your new book against the human race, and thank you for it. Never was such a cleverness used in the design of making us all stupid. One longs, in reading your book, to walk on all fours. But as I have lost that habit for more than sixty years, I feel unhappily the impossibility of resuming it. Nor can I embark in search of the savages of Canada, because the maladies to which I am condemned render a European surgeon necessary to me; because war is going on in those regions; and because the example of our actions has made the savages nearly as bad as ourselves."

To Rousseau, the first evil was ownership. That possession had led to humanities loss of innocence. In a natural state, equality was the proper state of society.  With ownership came a sense of dependency between the master and the servant. This lead to a growing alienation, because the love of self was replaced with the concept of social status. This lead to our sense of consumerism, and the need to maintain our image within society. To this he said

 Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains

The solution he devised was the social contract. That humanity must enter into a self-ruling community based on equality.  That we would work together to serve the community, and not individual interest. This leads to the underlying question of Freedom.

Can a wealthy drug addict be free?

JS Mills would answer yes. They can afford the habit. They only hurt themselves. They are not being coerced into bondage, they have chosen this lifestyle of their own accord.

Rousseau would answer no. The true self is identified by what is best for the community. By taking drugs, they are diminishing their role in society, and surrendering their freedom to self-interest and vice. So by taking corrective action, we are setting them free.

So we have our contradiction. A freedom of individual action, and the freedom of society as a whole. This has lead to all sorts of problems within our popular political debate.

The Great Learning

Confucius

Written ca. 500 B.C.E

What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.

The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined; and, that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained to. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end.

Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.

From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.

It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered. It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been slightly cared for, and, at the same time, that what was of slight importance has been greatly cared for.

While never achieving great success in Life, Confucius is remembered as one of the great teachers of all mankind.

In the great learning he points to the interconnectedness of all things. A good ruler requires an ordered state, family, an ordered self, a rectified heart, sincerity of thought, and the extension of knowledge from the investigation of things. One thing leads to another. When all are in harmony, the kingdom is successful.

 When asked to explain in one word how we should live, he answered Reciprocity

 a basic principle of Confucian ethics that says not to do to others what you would not want them to do to you.

The teachings of Confucius can generally be summarized in the five virtues

Ren: Benevolence, charity and humanity

Yi: honesty and uprightness

Zhi: Knowledge

Xin: faithfulness and integrity

Li: correct behavior, propriety, good manners, politeness, ceremony, worship

The Search for Truth

The search for truth begins with the knowledge of ones own ignorance. As Socrates would argue, it is in knowing what it is that we do know, and subsequently what it is that we do not know. This was likewise a theme of Confucius in the Great learning. The question is asked, what does it mean to be a great ruler? Through a lengthy chain it leads ultimately to the understanding of things, which leads back to the beginning, the goal of being a great leader.

So it is, from completely foreign perspectives, we find the same themes originating at separate places across the world. These would continue to perplex mankind throughout history. A desire for knowledge, for understanding, and the challenge that this presents.

It was Hume who would ultimately present the paradox. That our knowledge of the world is derived from experience. From a process of induction through enumeration, we can arrive to a general understanding, however there is nothing in our experience that can affirm with certainty that this would be so. Hence we must conclude that there is no knowledge that is certainty.

Thus defined, we are left with one of two conclusions. That there is truth, or that we live in a universe without truth. The latter is completely non sensical, so in order to have any understanding, we must start with the assumption that there is truth. This ultimately leads us back to the conclusion of Descartes, and the principle of Cartesian doubt. Cognito Ergo Suma, I think therefore I am.

This leads Kant to his conclusion in the Critique of pure reason. That while it is impossible to know a thing in and of itself, we are predisposed to reason. For instance, if one were to draw two parallel lines, they would have to be at precisely the same angle, or they would eventually intersect. To know for certain, we would have to draw an infinite number of lines, yet that would be impossible. We just know this to be true, because we are predisposed to being rational beings.

While Kant solved the problem of Hume, it was purchased at a price. That is why he is called the great destroyer. We can never know the thing in and of itself, only the perception of being. So while we can know that there is truth, that there is a universe outside our perception, that it acts in accordance to the laws of nature, we can only know our perception of this universe, and not truth in and of itself.

Flotsam And Jetsam

Its been a long time since I wrote for my blog. Of course it has been a busy year. I left last year on a new adventure, a new profession. It has been good to me. For the first time in my working life, I have financial security, and despite the hours, I enjoy driving. I see much of the country, and it gets a little smaller everyday. I imagine in 20 years, it will be like the back of my hand.

 Of course, one of the benefits of driving, is that I spend a lot of time studying. I listen to audio books in route, and I spend my days with the greatest minds of all time. This has given me a new perspective on how to continue.

Of course, I have been writing in the meanwhile, pen and paper.  I’ve never been good about editing though and I prefer a free flow of thought. In this regard, the blog has always worked well. Perhaps, one day I will publish, for now, this gives me a daily exercise. At least that is my new plan. To write a little every day. I have a new computer, and Microsoft word, and I will go from there.

I can’t say that anyone will ever read my blog. I’ve never been good at social networking. I don’t care to advertise, and I don’t really need to. I’m not doing this for a living. I write to focus my thoughts. To know what it is that I believe, what it is that I actually stand for.

This is a quality that is so often lost in pop society. We float around in the flotsam of the daily headlines, and we never know ourselves. It is just a whisper in the darkness, always present, yet somehow lost in the shuffle.

So with this in mind, I have returned to my blog, in the hopes, that perhaps, I might find myself. And maybe in the course of my journey, others will join me, and take comfort, that there is another, out there, wandering about, for the smallest glimpse of truth.