[R]everting to the example of relationships and the ‘things related’, relationship is the norm; isolation, if it could ever be wholly achieved (which it cannot), would be the limit case of interrelation. Or again, to continue the image of the ciné film: in the Newtonian universe, the natural state of any ‘thing’ is stasis. According to Newtonianism, motion is an aberration from this primal state of perfect inertia, requiring the equivalent of the projector (some energy conceived as added from outside) to set it going. However, nothing we know is in reality ever entirely static; and relative stasis, not motion, is the unusual circumstance that requires explanation. Stasis is, in other words, the limit case of motion, in which it approaches . . . .
We could start with our own thought processes and their expression in language. The explicit is not more fully real than the implicit. It is merely the limit case of the implicit, with much of its vital meaning sheared off: narrowed down and ‘finalised’. The literal is not more real than the metaphorical: it is merely the limit case of the metaphorical . . . .
Is the truth, or rather a knowledge of the truth, always advantageous to society? is falsehood, or nonsense, always harmful? To both of these questions, the facts compel us to answer, No. The great rationalistic dream of modern times, believing that social actions are or can be primarily logical, has taught the illusion that the True and the Good are identical, that if men knew the truth about themselves and their social and political life, then society would become ever better; and that falsehood and absurdity always hurt social welfare.
Science is a tool; it’s neither good nor bad. Such value judgments depend on the user. Science should and must be promoted, as it’s a primary driver of societal advancement. However, it’s also clear that the overtly political nature of the Flexner Report [1910 publication about standardization of medical education & limiting enrollments], and the effort of Big Business, Big Pharma, and now Big Medicine to capitalize on it, has left a big hole in the profession, which keeps expanding and threatens to engulf us all.
The misdeeds of the West—the crimes of modernity—are also now part of the standard narrative. Indeed, within America’s education establishment the moral failures of Western civilization have become the main point of the story.
I suspect that this statement may prove an overestimation of the "woke" narrative in American education and culture; there's still, I suspect, a great deal of untempered celebration of the West and modernity in the culture as well. Also, some of the emphasis on the "woke" critique in our national dialogue is promoted by right-wing media that seeks to stoke the fires of the culture wars. But whatever the balance, the critique garners more (virtual) ink & attention these days.
Reasons must be in people’s minds to explain their behavior, but in some cases at least, they need not be in their minds to make their behavior either blameworthy or praiseworthy.
“Something exists as the ground of all things and the ground notion is the most basic metaphysical notion across the world’s traditions,” suggests [Phillip] Clayton. “Something emerges out of it, which is influenced by that ground, but also brings about a fullness of experience that can’t be actualized apart from the evolutionary process.” This notion of “ground” has been championed by many philosophers and theologians over the years, including Schelling, but perhaps most notably twentieth-century protestant theologian Paul Tillich, who said that God was not a being but the ground of all being.
So while our political system loves to use such distinctions as right versus left or conservative versus liberal as all-embracing categories when it comes to public values, “traditional,” “modern,” and “postmodern” are actually much better terms with which to analyze social and political movements in this country.
Two pioneering efforts to formulate a complex-systems approach to economics are Eric D. Beinhocker, The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2006): and W. Brian Arthur, Complexity and the Economy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). Kate Raworth also rethinks conventional economics in Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2017).
[Sir Roger] Scruton’s human being is a socially rooted person, rich in sentiments that liberalism neglects: allegiance, piety, a sense of sacredness, and guilt. A British cultural critic in a line of conservative descent from Coleridge and Eliot, Scruton looked to a restoration of values that liberalism ignores. In liberal spirit, he thought, we ourselves, not politics or law, should bring that restoration about.
Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.
