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To: Thinkingallowed@bbc.co.uk |
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Last Wednesday's
Thinking Allowed dealt with the concepts of "honour" and
"respect", which are
central to understanding and influencing human behaviour, and
with it, to the kind of society we live
in, e.g. whether humane and sustainable,
or not. What more important (and urgent) topic could there
possibly be for a social scientist?
An individual's maturity (the extent
to which their behaviour is determined either
by their dumb-animal nature or by their more enlightened
human nature) can be judged pretty much from what they honour
and respect others for, and from how and from
whom they seek honour and respect for themselves.
Our animal nature desires and
respects, above all else, POWER, because,
in evolutionarily terms, this served the individual's
advantage, originally in their extended family group, in
cooperation with which the Darwinian struggle for survival and
(group) advantage in the natural environment took place.
With the advent of civilization, this struggle transferred to
the artificial, "socio-economic environment", which - to our
great behavioural confusion and peril
- has effectively replaced BOTH family
group and natural environment.
Our natural,
animal inclination is to seek power for ourselves and to
curry favour with those who have power. In the modern world, by
far the most important and versatile form of power, of course,
is MONEY.
However, a member of a street gang,
who doesn't have a lot of money, may seek respect
using the power of his fists, a knife, or
a gun, while the British government seeks respect - within the
international community - though the possession of nuclear
weapons (all its arguments for retaining, i.e. upgrading, this
country's nuclear deterrent are rationalizations of the
irrational, dumb-animal, logic that ANY
national government can make, and which
is responsible for taking us along the fateful path of nuclear
proliferation).
Where is the courageous social
scientist who will point out that our politicians are largely
governed by their dumb-animal nature? All too afraid of losing
their jobs, no doubt - as anyone dominated by their dumb-animal
nature would be, of course . . . .
Our more enlightened, human nature
honours and respects, in ourselves and in others, the LOVE and
WISDOM which seeks to raise us above our primitive animal nature.
It does not seek to exploit or have power over others,
including, most importantly, the power of MONEY.
Thus, the fate of the world (which
doesn't look too good at the moment) depends on us understanding
the nature of "honour" and "respect", how
they influence human behaviour and the
development of the socio-economic order we live in.
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