[MD] Can Humanity Learn to become Civilized? (Maxwell)

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting Heather Perella <spiritualadirondack at yahoo.com>:

> "But in sharp contrast to all this, the traditional
> Enlightenment has sought to apply generalized
> scientific method, not to social life, but merely to
> social science!  Instead of helping humanity learn how
> to become more civilized by rational means, the
> traditional Enlightenment has sought merely to help
> social scientists improve knowledge of social
> phenomena.  The outcome is that today academic inquiry
> devotes itself to acquiring knowledge of natural and
> social phenomena, but does not attempt to help
> humanity learn how to become more civilized.  This is
> the blunder that is at the root of our current failure
> to have solved the second great problem of learning
> [19]."
> 
>      - Can Humanity Learn to become Civilized?
>  The Crisis of Science without Civilization
>  (Published in Journal of Applied Philosophy 17,
>  2000, 29-44.)
>  Nicholas Maxwell
>  Emeritus Reader in Philosophy of Science at
>  University College
>  London
> 
>      So, are people to learn what is and do nothing
> about it?  To observe, but think they do not
> participate with what they observe.  It seems to be a
> question of when do we step in and when do we let go. 
> I find practicing balance to be helpful in making
> balanced decisions, but when dealing with decisions
> that are intellectually challenging, in other words,
> involve more complex senarios to weigh against each
> other, the decision making task may not always come to
> the ideal conclusion.  Sometimes the answer is, this
> is the best we can do with what tools we have.

Both the quote above and your comment are excellent. There's a wide
gap between theory and practice.

Platt

  

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