THE TIME OF REAPPRAISAL

[Breeze54]

THE TIME OF REAPPRAISAL

http://www.crvp.org/book/Series01/I-23/chapter_iii.htm

"These were the best of times. These were the worst of times."


These opening sentences of Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities could apply equally to the present epoch. We are of two minds because we live in confusing times. Humans never "had it so good," and yet they were never threatened in such a global way as they are now. The situation of humanity has never been so indeterminate. For the first time in history, we have the power to elevate ourselves to a higher level of humaneness or to descend to the depths of self-destruction. For the first time, we are more afraid of the consequences of our own activity than of natural dangers. While we have emancipated ourselves from the fear of nature, we have become afraid of ourselves as thinking creatures.

History seems to have run a full course. The present situation of humanity is the culmination of a period of unprecedented development, fueled by optimistic expectations for a rosy future and by an ardent belief in the value of material achievements. The period of naive optimism is now over, having been replaced by an era of reappraisal. The idea of progress has lost much of its original appeal; optimism has been largely replaced either by pessimism or by a much more sober and cautious evaluation of humankind’s present and future situation. The demiurgic powers which until recently have been our pride and joy are now viewed with increasing concern. Human beings have become a problem for themselves.

The change in the intellectual climate has happened while knowledge increases at an unprecedented pace. It has been estimated that in this century the amount of scientific knowledge has doubled every ten years. It is important to notice that our rising concern for humanity coincides with prodigious developments in theoretical and practical knowledge. These developments are not an accidental circumstance of the change in the psychological climate — quite the contrary. They are an essential factor of that change. The more we know and the more we can do, the more we doubt and the more we worry. Our doubts and our worries appear to be commensurable with our knowledge. If this analysis is correct, then we are facing a rather surprising consequence of the much vaunted notions of intellectual and civilization progress. Whatever were the intentions and hopes of the originators of the idea of progress, certainly they did not intend to make life more insecure or worrisome. Nor did they want to debase the image which man had of himself — quite the contrary. The discrepancy between the hopes which accompanied the birth of the Modern Era and the consequences with which we must now deal have been discussed and analyzed from many angles. Demographic, ecological and economic studies have brought into focus various aspects of the situation of humankind and have suggested more or less dramatic remedies. Necessary and useful as these analyses have been, they have concentrated on the effects, rather than on the deep causes of the present crisis.

The fact is that the immense increase in knowledge leads to a better understanding of the outside world and of the inner realm. We continue to discover new things about both the natural world and about ourselves. It is now possible to analyze the human species as never before. More is known about humans in their physical, psychological and social dimensions. Likewise their physical and intellectual behavior are better understood now. Members of the species have acquired a mind rich in understanding of themselves as individuals, of their involvement in society, of the hierarchy of societies and their global interdependence, and of mankind as a whole. For the first time, humans realize the role and the consequences of the planetary oneness of the human species. We look at ourselves in the mirror of our knowledge and see ourselves in the context of the species.

Growth of humanity’s self-knowledge is not limited to the present but extends to the temporal dimension as well. The past becomes increasingly better known and man looks, now, more intensely into the future. The drama of the human species unfolds before our eyes in greater breadth, depth and detail. It is an awe-inspiring spectacle, but humans contemplate it with a growing sense of foreboding. The essential fact is that, through knowledge, we are capable of grasping the human phenomenon conceptually, sizing it up and evaluating its achievements and shortcomings. The growing self-knowledge of the human species does not come cheaply. In general, the price of self-knowledge is responsibility for oneself and one’s behavior. In particular, two major consequences result from our knowledge of our own species, namely, responsibility for the fate of humanity and an ability to do something about it. Proportionally to this knowledge, humans have to assume the stewardship of their own species.

Moreover, they now have the power to influence humanity on a worldwide scale, thus affecting their near and distant future.

Through the development of knowledge, humanity becomes humanity’s chief concern and principal business. From this perspective, the evolution of our species in general and of Western human beings in particular comes under close scrutiny. In this context, the problems and fears of contemporary humans acquire their full dimension and meaning.

The history of humanity has been one of competition: individual against individual, tribe against tribe, nation against nation.

Men have fought for women, food and territory; they have been at each other’s throat for political, religious or ideological reasons.

But, never in the history of the human race have humans been in competition with themselves;

never has the existence of humanity itself presented such a challenge or been the source of so many difficulties. This is today’s unique dilemma. Although great thinkers have developed a number of theories about the value of the human body, until now human nature itself has been taken for granted. We know, for instance, that Plato took a rather gloomy view of the value of the material frame of our being, as did many others, motivated by the search for spiritual perfection. If the body was challenged, if our natural makeup was questioned, it was in relation to the idea of a hereafter in the perspective of an ultimate personal destiny. No matter how much Western humans may have cursed their bodies, they accepted their minds and their intellectual powers as perfections and thought rather highly of them. There was little question, if any, about their activity as a source of serious problems for humanity as a whole. In general, humans thought of themselves as individuals or as members of a determined, particular society, a part of a greater whole.

Today, thoughtful humans are ill-at-ease with themselves and question themselves radically. Not only does their existence as individuals appear to them to be of dubious value, but, moreover, their very nature as human beings is under critical scrutiny. For the first time, serious questions are being raised concerning the biological value of the species Homo Sapiens. Thoughtful men, such as Arthur Koestler, wonder whether humans are not just another of the unsuccessful products of evolution, a blind alley, similar to many others whose existence and extinction is attested to in an objective and detached way by the unbiased fossil record. Whatever the truth is, the very fact that questions of this sort are being raised is the measure of our contemporary predicament and of our concern about ourselves individually and collectively.

In this situation, the future of humankind can no longer be taken for granted. We cannot assume that nature will take care of the human species the way it takes care of all other species. Ours is a species unlike any others. Besides, we know that the history of life on earth is a history of the development and disappearance of forms of life. Nature is no safeguard for the permanence of a species.

In particular, it cannot assure the future of the thinking species which, through the exercise of its rational powers, has acquired the unique capacity to alter significantly the conditions of its own existence and that of other beings.

Faced with the problem of our future, we have to take stock of ourselves, our achievements, our abilities and our goals. We have to know where we came from, where we are now and where we are going.

In short, we have to understand the situation we find ourselves in.

In particular, we have to understand the role knowledge plays in our predicament.

.....

The next chapter will discuss the present intellectual situation.

[Breeze54]

1. "The period of naive optimism is now over,.."

Thanks for the Recommend, anonymouse.

This is worth reading ... slowly. ;)

[Breeze54]

2. *

Oops!

:P

[Breeze54]

3. Don't attempt to read this..... I failed (BOLD)

:P

Actually? I really did fail 'bolding'. :P

The whole thing went bold instead of only bolding MY lines...

the one's I really wanted you to read. Now it's all obscured. :(

And meaningless..... *sigh*

[Breeze54]

4. All is well... I read it again... fruit for thought.

lots of pickings for the mind in that article. ;)