LIFE IS ART - BEAUTY IT'S EVIDENCE OF GOD. Enjoy the rest and refinement of a desktop mini-course. Classically minded but not classical trained - you fit right in. Walk with the Everyday Dons in the tradition of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien's literary life at their favorite Oxford pub. What a better way than that for Lewis to became an Oxford don - feasting on food for thought among friends. "Creativity means making something for the soul out of every experience" Thomas More.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Liberal Arts and Education
The Early Church and Liberal Arts
The liberal arts and the Christian faith were not immediately on the best speaking terms. While the classically trained apostle Paul treated philosophers in Athens as fellow truth-seekers (Acts 17), Greco-Roman philosophy and philosophers were as likely to be viewed as enemies of the gospel as anything else (1 Cor. 1:20; Col. 2:8). Many early Christian apologists used their liberal arts education to refute much of the Greek philosophy of their persecutors, the end result was often an entrenched anti-intellectualism in the church. Jean LeClercq notes that the general pattern for much of the era was that of “studies undertaken, and then, not precisely scorned, but renounced and transcended for the kingdom of God.”[3]
Following Constantine’s reforms (313 CE) churches began to formalize the catechumenal schools (children and teens) they had founded under persecution and established catechetical schools (college age) often attached to Roman rhetorical schools. Perhaps the most notable of which was the catechetical school and religious community was established by Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in the early years of the fifth-century. Trained in the finest higher education of his day—he held one of the most prestigious academic positions in the Latin world as a professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan—Augustine’s philosophy of education formed the foundation not only for post-Rome Christendom, but in Christian Education and Instruction of the Uninstructed
Read the rest of Gary Stratton's article at Two Handed Warrior
The liberal arts and the Christian faith were not immediately on the best speaking terms. While the classically trained apostle Paul treated philosophers in Athens as fellow truth-seekers (Acts 17), Greco-Roman philosophy and philosophers were as likely to be viewed as enemies of the gospel as anything else (1 Cor. 1:20; Col. 2:8). Many early Christian apologists used their liberal arts education to refute much of the Greek philosophy of their persecutors, the end result was often an entrenched anti-intellectualism in the church. Jean LeClercq notes that the general pattern for much of the era was that of “studies undertaken, and then, not precisely scorned, but renounced and transcended for the kingdom of God.”[3]
Following Constantine’s reforms (313 CE) churches began to formalize the catechumenal schools (children and teens) they had founded under persecution and established catechetical schools (college age) often attached to Roman rhetorical schools. Perhaps the most notable of which was the catechetical school and religious community was established by Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in the early years of the fifth-century. Trained in the finest higher education of his day—he held one of the most prestigious academic positions in the Latin world as a professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan—Augustine’s philosophy of education formed the foundation not only for post-Rome Christendom, but in Christian Education and Instruction of the Uninstructed
Read the rest of Gary Stratton's article at Two Handed Warrior
Saturday, March 17, 2012
What is 'Las Fallas’ ( Pronounced Las Fayers )
Topdeck Tours reports
Las Fallas is the coolest, the biggest, the craziest and; the most fun festival in Valencia, Spain! It all began when people were celebrating St. Joseph’s Day, the patron saint of carpentry, each March 19 as far back as the 18th Century. Back in those days rag dolls were strung up and ninots (figurines) were put on platforms in various places around the city, they were supposed to represent people or occasions that people criticized. The younger people would then collect all of these and that evening they were burned in a huge bonfire or Fallas!
Others remember St. Joseph's Dream by French Counter-Reformation artist Georges de La Tour.
Judy Joyce - Editor
Las Fallas is the coolest, the biggest, the craziest and; the most fun festival in Valencia, Spain! It all began when people were celebrating St. Joseph’s Day, the patron saint of carpentry, each March 19 as far back as the 18th Century. Back in those days rag dolls were strung up and ninots (figurines) were put on platforms in various places around the city, they were supposed to represent people or occasions that people criticized. The younger people would then collect all of these and that evening they were burned in a huge bonfire or Fallas!
Judy Joyce - Editor
Friday, March 9, 2012
WOODY ALLEN AND POETRY
The authentic story of modernism is not one of continuity and emulation, but of violent rupture and hostility to tradition. Art should be oriented toward beauty... Mark Signorelli
Dr. Mattix and Mr. Signorelli clearly have a debate about beauty going on. The essence of the debate was inspired by a difference between these two gentlemen as to how poetry presents itself through poets of the modernist era. Signorelli illuminates his objections to Mattix and other followers of modernism in his essay on Form and Transendence: A Reply to Mattix. March 2, 2012 as follows:..
To say that form harmonizes or orders is to say that it is directed towards beauty, since beauty has traditionally been understood as a kind of harmony or order. Several authors——most notably Roger Scruton——have commented on the fact that, in the modern world, beauty is no longer an important category for art, no longer serving either as a legitimate aim for the artist, or a legitimate criterion for the critic. If this is true (and I think it is), then art, and poetry in particular, has forfeited the capacity for transcendence, the power to help ““elevate ourselves”” above an often ugly, often adversarial world. I think Dr. Mattix errs in not recognizing the revolt against meter as one element of the modernists’’ more encompassing revolt against beauty.
FROM AN OBSERVER WHO HATES POETRY
Enter David Clayton of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts who observes this discussion from afar while admitting the Need for Beauty and Form in Poetry in his March 7 article by that name;
I want to say at the outset (of recommending Signorelli's article) that, as a general rule, I hate poetry. In fact my idea of perfect hell is to spend an evening at a poetry recital. I say that this applies generally because occasionally some do strike a chord and I love the psalms, which I am told are poems. I chant and read them just about every day..... I present it because despite what I have just written I am prepared to acknowledge that I am an ignorant philistine in this regard and that poetry, or some of it at least, does have something to recommend it, even if usually I can’’t see it. I like this essay because the arguments he makes in regard to poetry correspond very closely to what I argue in regard to art. Put simply, he says that the best poetry is the most beautiful poetry because this will communicate truth most eloquently. I would say that this is the poetry that even when read by someone like me, strikes to the spirit and is understood intuitively.
ME, MYSELF. AND I
Finding myself to be somewhere between Mr. Signorelli and David Clayton when it comes to being attracted to poetry as an art form or for casual indulgence, I attribute this attitude most directly to my experiences in Poetry class in college. I couldn't avoid the class in college as I needed more semester credits to graduate. The Poetry class was empty and available. The lack luster professor to whom I and the rest of my classmates were chained during a lovely part of the day when we'd much prefer to be lawn lizards or on the way to the beach, not only did not expose us to Poetry that might inspire the nimble mind, he was a positive deadbeat lacking enthusiasm for anything - much less life.
Woody Allen when asked what he most regretted in life
reportedly said “reading Beowulf”.
Despite my college missteps with encountering much of an understanding of a poet’s life and work, I still harbor nascient beliefs that a dear Sister of the Incarnate Word’s ebullient attitude toward Poetry saved me from total rejection of the art form. Beowulf, for me and because of her, was not a dastardly adventure. It is very likely that these extreme experiences with poetry as between High School and College finds me perplexed about how much I would ever want to dip my toes in those waters.
Enter Dante. With this very tepid approach to that portion of my life that seeks out beauty, I must admit I have long been intrigued by Alighieri's Divine Comedy. This comes more from seeing attempts to depict this longest poem in English literature in carvings and paintings throughout Western Culture not to mention references in literature, that I've always wanted to be familiar with this poetic work of art. At long last! I have found a way to do so. Robert Royal's completely understandable and engrossing treatment of the Divine Comedy in his book:
DANTE ALIGHIERI: DIVINE COMEDY; DIVINE SPIRITUALITY
If I may say so, Robert Royal's book truly touches the transcendent qualities of Dante's work.. A beautiful book.
Dr. Mattix and Mr. Signorelli clearly have a debate about beauty going on. The essence of the debate was inspired by a difference between these two gentlemen as to how poetry presents itself through poets of the modernist era. Signorelli illuminates his objections to Mattix and other followers of modernism in his essay on Form and Transendence: A Reply to Mattix. March 2, 2012 as follows:..
To say that form harmonizes or orders is to say that it is directed towards beauty, since beauty has traditionally been understood as a kind of harmony or order. Several authors——most notably Roger Scruton——have commented on the fact that, in the modern world, beauty is no longer an important category for art, no longer serving either as a legitimate aim for the artist, or a legitimate criterion for the critic. If this is true (and I think it is), then art, and poetry in particular, has forfeited the capacity for transcendence, the power to help ““elevate ourselves”” above an often ugly, often adversarial world. I think Dr. Mattix errs in not recognizing the revolt against meter as one element of the modernists’’ more encompassing revolt against beauty.
FROM AN OBSERVER WHO HATES POETRY
Enter David Clayton of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts who observes this discussion from afar while admitting the Need for Beauty and Form in Poetry in his March 7 article by that name;
I want to say at the outset (of recommending Signorelli's article) that, as a general rule, I hate poetry. In fact my idea of perfect hell is to spend an evening at a poetry recital. I say that this applies generally because occasionally some do strike a chord and I love the psalms, which I am told are poems. I chant and read them just about every day..... I present it because despite what I have just written I am prepared to acknowledge that I am an ignorant philistine in this regard and that poetry, or some of it at least, does have something to recommend it, even if usually I can’’t see it. I like this essay because the arguments he makes in regard to poetry correspond very closely to what I argue in regard to art. Put simply, he says that the best poetry is the most beautiful poetry because this will communicate truth most eloquently. I would say that this is the poetry that even when read by someone like me, strikes to the spirit and is understood intuitively.
ME, MYSELF. AND I
Finding myself to be somewhere between Mr. Signorelli and David Clayton when it comes to being attracted to poetry as an art form or for casual indulgence, I attribute this attitude most directly to my experiences in Poetry class in college. I couldn't avoid the class in college as I needed more semester credits to graduate. The Poetry class was empty and available. The lack luster professor to whom I and the rest of my classmates were chained during a lovely part of the day when we'd much prefer to be lawn lizards or on the way to the beach, not only did not expose us to Poetry that might inspire the nimble mind, he was a positive deadbeat lacking enthusiasm for anything - much less life.
Woody Allen when asked what he most regretted in life
reportedly said “reading Beowulf”.
Despite my college missteps with encountering much of an understanding of a poet’s life and work, I still harbor nascient beliefs that a dear Sister of the Incarnate Word’s ebullient attitude toward Poetry saved me from total rejection of the art form. Beowulf, for me and because of her, was not a dastardly adventure. It is very likely that these extreme experiences with poetry as between High School and College finds me perplexed about how much I would ever want to dip my toes in those waters.
Enter Dante. With this very tepid approach to that portion of my life that seeks out beauty, I must admit I have long been intrigued by Alighieri's Divine Comedy. This comes more from seeing attempts to depict this longest poem in English literature in carvings and paintings throughout Western Culture not to mention references in literature, that I've always wanted to be familiar with this poetic work of art. At long last! I have found a way to do so. Robert Royal's completely understandable and engrossing treatment of the Divine Comedy in his book:
DANTE ALIGHIERI: DIVINE COMEDY; DIVINE SPIRITUALITY
If I may say so, Robert Royal's book truly touches the transcendent qualities of Dante's work.. A beautiful book.
Monday, February 27, 2012
CASABLANCA: WHY EVERYONE MEETS AT RICK’S CAFE
When Gary David Stratton discusses the idea of the "Two - Handed Warrior", he peaks the imagination by leading the reader directly to the source of his idea:
Inspired by this theme, Dr. Stratton has established an insightful and impressive presence on the web.
We're an online community of artists, intellectuals, faith leaders, philanthropists, educators, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs seeking to reimagine faith and culture one story at a time.
Wasting no time in gaining audience allegiance, Gary reviews one of America’s favorite film romances Casablanca. That review is unique in that discussion of why everyone meets at Rick’s Café is something most readers or film buffs never discuss. A Two Handed Warrior analysis explains Rick’s nightly soirees can teach an audience a lot about “Worldview”: moral; cultural, philosophical, and mythical.
As Stratton’s dissection of the characters explains:
Casablanca, 1942 Academy Award-winner for Best Picture (originally entitled, Everyone Meets at Rick’’s), provides a clear example of how character (both cinematic and moral) is “constructed” from the ground up. Our unexamined presuppositions about reality form a worldview that guides our life in ways we rarely think about in our day-to-day existence. In life and in great films, we experience that worldview on four overlapping, but distinguishable levels.
OUR RECOMMENDATION: Casablana and the Four Levels of Worldview
Judy Joyce - Editor
These were the men who came to David while he was banished from the presence of Saul. They were among the warriors who helped him in battle. They were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones right-handed or left-handed. Warriors who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. -1 Chronicles 12
Inspired by this theme, Dr. Stratton has established an insightful and impressive presence on the web.
We're an online community of artists, intellectuals, faith leaders, philanthropists, educators, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs seeking to reimagine faith and culture one story at a time.
Wasting no time in gaining audience allegiance, Gary reviews one of America’s favorite film romances Casablanca. That review is unique in that discussion of why everyone meets at Rick’s Café is something most readers or film buffs never discuss. A Two Handed Warrior analysis explains Rick’s nightly soirees can teach an audience a lot about “Worldview”: moral; cultural, philosophical, and mythical.
As Stratton’s dissection of the characters explains:
Casablanca, 1942 Academy Award-winner for Best Picture (originally entitled, Everyone Meets at Rick’’s), provides a clear example of how character (both cinematic and moral) is “constructed” from the ground up. Our unexamined presuppositions about reality form a worldview that guides our life in ways we rarely think about in our day-to-day existence. In life and in great films, we experience that worldview on four overlapping, but distinguishable levels.
OUR RECOMMENDATION: Casablana and the Four Levels of Worldview
Judy Joyce - Editor
Thursday, February 16, 2012
WHY ARE WE LIKE THIS? We Don’t Need Art or Literature for Our Survival So What is it in Fantasy and Fiction that Yearns for the Transcendent. PART II
Michael O’Brien is a professional artist and iconographer and the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction, including his seven-volume series of novels published by Ignatius Press.
In Part One of this series - Michael O’Brien states:
More of O’Brien later........
Judy Joyce - Editor
In Part One of this series - Michael O’Brien states:
Why do we so often, especially in the Arts of many, make what we are trying to communicate beautiful and gripping to the imagination of another?
Prose and Pale Ale observed that this contention is grounded in the author’s understanding of the Natural Law. O’Brien believes it is because:
“Beauty is a foretaste of what we are intended for in eternity."To clarify his meaning, the author, speaking at Kolbe Academy\Trinity Prep in Napa, California digs deeper. His topic for the evening is “Catholic Fiction and Restoring Culture in an Age of Escapist Illusions." Mr. O’Brien assures us this is not conjecture on his part nor limited to faith-based ignorance assigned to him by would-be perveyors of Scientism. Rather, the works of C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien make his case for him.
Michael O’Brien makes the case that fantasy stories and literature have been a constant in all ages and all cultures despite religion, non-religion, or religious differences. It is the way that humankind externalizes internal questions while tasting delightful forms and frightening images of himself and his transcendence. Man himself recognizes he is more than a physical being.
More of O’Brien later........
Life is Art ....Beauty it's Evidence of God
Judy Joyce - EditorMonday, January 30, 2012
SPEAKING OF LORD OF THE RINGS
Although (Tolkien) the greatest master of fantasy passed away, he left the door open for anyone to an enchanting world of his stories, the key to which is love, kindness and loyalty. These are the qualities that help Tolkien’’s characters to win over Evil. Although overlooked by the literarati of his day.....Hemingway, Faulkner and the like, two surveys in England voted Lord of Rings #1 book of 20th Century
These are just a few of the insights Dr. Tom Howard expert on 20th century English Literature at NYU with interest in the famous Oxford lterary group " Inklings” made up of Chas. Williams, C.S. Lewis, and Tolkien discussed with Fr. John McCloskey for McCloskey’s series on Catholic authors on satellite television, EWTN.
Dr. Howard continued:
Tolkien went to Oxford as an undergrad spent rest of his life as a don and held a prestigious academic chair at Oxford. Tolkien (prounounced Tolkeen) was actually an expert on Anglo-Saxon or Old English doing translations of great literature like Beowolf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and so on. He and C.S. Lewis shared a great devotion to Nordic’ myth that Lewis called Northerness”....that large epic icey vastness quality unknown in other mythologies including Greek.
In FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING there is a magic ring 100% evil. The good people of the story are called the Free People. There are various species of Free People who are involved in getting rid of the ring which is wholely EVIL and almost but not quite omnipotent.
WHY DOES TOLKIEN USE THE GENRE OF MYTH
Tolkien loved myth. It is Dr. Howard’s contention that it was an astute literary decision to do an end run around literary scholars and arbiters of the 20th century as they just didn’t know what to do with it: He simply wrote it without Hemingway, Faulkner and all modernism and post modernism of Camus and existentialism of Satre. Here comes this Oxford don who knows everything and writes a fairy tale. Howard believes this is the same reaction of the vestal virgins of today even in our most prestigious graduate schools of literature. J.R.R. Tolkien instinctively knew that 20th century fiction could not enable a story of this magnitude...he had to reach back.
Those familiar with this monumental work might ask “Why did Tolkien put all the burden of this horrific evil on these small Hobbit people?
He did it for the same reason that kind of burden is placed on little people in our own stories today. Middle Earth was a 2dry world just like our own primary Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday world. Many would think of this work as an escape to a fairytale. But the reader doesn’t get too far into these myths til you realize you are no longer caught up in the fairy tale and fairy tale characters because you recognize exactly the analogy between that world and this.
Goodness looks exactly the same in that world as in ours..
These are just a few of the insights Dr. Tom Howard expert on 20th century English Literature at NYU with interest in the famous Oxford lterary group " Inklings” made up of Chas. Williams, C.S. Lewis, and Tolkien discussed with Fr. John McCloskey for McCloskey’s series on Catholic authors on satellite television, EWTN.
Dr. Howard continued:
Tolkien went to Oxford as an undergrad spent rest of his life as a don and held a prestigious academic chair at Oxford. Tolkien (prounounced Tolkeen) was actually an expert on Anglo-Saxon or Old English doing translations of great literature like Beowolf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and so on. He and C.S. Lewis shared a great devotion to Nordic’ myth that Lewis called Northerness”....that large epic icey vastness quality unknown in other mythologies including Greek.
In FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING there is a magic ring 100% evil. The good people of the story are called the Free People. There are various species of Free People who are involved in getting rid of the ring which is wholely EVIL and almost but not quite omnipotent.
WHY DOES TOLKIEN USE THE GENRE OF MYTH
Tolkien loved myth. It is Dr. Howard’s contention that it was an astute literary decision to do an end run around literary scholars and arbiters of the 20th century as they just didn’t know what to do with it: He simply wrote it without Hemingway, Faulkner and all modernism and post modernism of Camus and existentialism of Satre. Here comes this Oxford don who knows everything and writes a fairy tale. Howard believes this is the same reaction of the vestal virgins of today even in our most prestigious graduate schools of literature. J.R.R. Tolkien instinctively knew that 20th century fiction could not enable a story of this magnitude...he had to reach back.
Those familiar with this monumental work might ask “Why did Tolkien put all the burden of this horrific evil on these small Hobbit people?
He did it for the same reason that kind of burden is placed on little people in our own stories today. Middle Earth was a 2dry world just like our own primary Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday world. Many would think of this work as an escape to a fairytale. But the reader doesn’t get too far into these myths til you realize you are no longer caught up in the fairy tale and fairy tale characters because you recognize exactly the analogy between that world and this.
Goodness looks exactly the same in that world as in ours..
Friday, January 20, 2012
WHY ARE WE LIKE THIS?
Our E-Courses are best explained in the words of artist and writer, Michael O'Brien, where he says:
"Why are we always communicating with each other? All human communication is part of the Natural Law in us....part of the image and likeness of God within us. We are always communicating with each other but not always with language. Why are we like this? Is it an evolutionary survival technique? Is it for the imparting of data? Why do we do it the way we do it? Why do we so often, especially in the Arts of many, make what we are trying to communicate beautiful and gripping to the imagination of another? It is a foretaste of what we are intended for in eternity."
more of O'Brien later.....
Judy Joyce - Editor
"Why are we always communicating with each other? All human communication is part of the Natural Law in us....part of the image and likeness of God within us. We are always communicating with each other but not always with language. Why are we like this? Is it an evolutionary survival technique? Is it for the imparting of data? Why do we do it the way we do it? Why do we so often, especially in the Arts of many, make what we are trying to communicate beautiful and gripping to the imagination of another? It is a foretaste of what we are intended for in eternity."
more of O'Brien later.....
Judy Joyce - Editor
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Human Touch
The Human Touch
’Tis the human touch
For shelter is gone
when the night is o’er,
And bread lasts only a day.
But the touch of the hand
And the sound of the voice
’Tis the human touch
in this world that counts,
The touch of your hand and mine,
Which means far more
to the fainting heart
Than shelter and bread and wine.
For shelter is gone
when the night is o’er,
And bread lasts only a day.
But the touch of the hand
And the sound of the voice
Sing on in the soul always.
by: Spencer Michael Free
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
TODAY'S CHALLENGE - WRITE A MICRO-STORY
USING TWITTER-LIKE RESTRICTIONS OF 140 characters see if you can concentrate on writing a Short Story in the style of Leo Beach who wrote:
THE STORM came over the ridge, a rocket, dropped rain like bees, filled the corral with water and noise. I watched lightning hit the apple tree and thought: "Fritters!" as we packed sandbags against the flood. There was nowhere to go that wasn't wet, the squall had punched a hole in the cabin roof and the barn was knee-high in mud. We'll bury Jess later, when the river recedes, before the ground turns hard again.
Send it to us via a COMMENT. This will also indicate that you give us permission to publish on this webiste what you have written. We will pick the best out of the series and publish it.
THE STORM came over the ridge, a rocket, dropped rain like bees, filled the corral with water and noise. I watched lightning hit the apple tree and thought: "Fritters!" as we packed sandbags against the flood. There was nowhere to go that wasn't wet, the squall had punched a hole in the cabin roof and the barn was knee-high in mud. We'll bury Jess later, when the river recedes, before the ground turns hard again.
Send it to us via a COMMENT. This will also indicate that you give us permission to publish on this webiste what you have written. We will pick the best out of the series and publish it.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
NOURISH YOURSELF OUTSIDE IN
John Neumeier -- the American-born chief choreographer for Hamburg Ballet -- blends dance, dramatic storytelling and spectacle into this interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic fable. With choreography, sets and costumes all by Neumeier, this ballet -- as much theater as it is dance -- reveals the depths of the choreographer's imagination. And it demands the heights of artistry from the dancers, who must venture into deeply emotional terrain in order to convey the ballet's full meaning.
Created for the Royal Danish Ballet in 2005 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Andersen's birth and featuring a score by acclaimed young composer Lera Auerbach, San Francisco Ballet received Neumeier's rare permission to present the American premiere in March 2010, which was met with ecstatic audience response. San Francisco Ballet prima ballerina Yuan Yuan Tan gives the performance of her career in the title role.- Arizona Public Media
Created for the Royal Danish Ballet in 2005 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Andersen's birth and featuring a score by acclaimed young composer Lera Auerbach, San Francisco Ballet received Neumeier's rare permission to present the American premiere in March 2010, which was met with ecstatic audience response. San Francisco Ballet prima ballerina Yuan Yuan Tan gives the performance of her career in the title role.- Arizona Public Media
Sunday, December 4, 2011
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER ENDORSES OUR COURSES - Sort of.
The National Book Festival in Washington D.C. chose as it's closing speaker, one of America's most treasured authors, David McCullough, whose works of history have kept this nation spell bound with the likes of novels: John Adams, Truman, and 1776 (about George Washington's extraordinary character and leadership as a General).
In straying from his usual themes, McCullough introduced a series of what he considers critical ideas in education which prompted him to write this latest tome. In so doing, he unwittingly endorsed our newly released Everyday Don E-courses at Proseandpaleale.com in the following ways.McCullough spent a great deal of time in his presentation expressing his long held admiration for the common citizens - like each of us are - who made up the early settlors of this country. His admiration was so great that he penned his latest release The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris in an effort to show the extent to which even those without formal education sought to explore that about which they knew little or nothing. It was their intention to improve their language, literacy, technical and artistic skills by leaving their homes and homeland, traveling to Paris, the center of culture, returning home and then contributing what they had experienced and learned to advance their new nation. McCullough observed that there is little point in reading that about which we aleady know. "What's the point?" the author wondered aloud. It is the challenge that advances anyone not the comfort of what is already mastered.
He then expressed the oft unexplored belief that many who do read, do not really know how to read a book. Funny, that's the very name of one of our E-course offerings. How to Read a Book Try this seven day revelation. You might learn something as David McCullough warns.
He then expressed the oft unexplored belief that many who do read, do not really know how to read a book. Funny, that's the very name of one of our E-course offerings. How to Read a Book Try this seven day revelation. You might learn something as David McCullough warns.
Just register free to receive our Newsletter. Puruse our course offerings. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain. http://www.proseandpaleale.com/
WRITE YOUR OWN MICRO-STORY
140 CHARACTERS WILL SURPRISE YOU in it's simplicity. It's challenge is posted on our PROSE AND PALE ALE FACEBOOK page.
This is an except from Leo Beach's nicro-stories written when FACEBOOK only allowed that number of characters in one post. Checkout our Facebook page and enter your own micro-story. When you see these little masterpieces don't be discouraged, we all need to challenge ourselves. Here's one way to do it with as little pain as possible.
THE STORM came over the ridge, a rocket, dropped rain like bees, filled the corral with water and noise. I watched lightning hit the apple tree and thought: "Fritters!" as we packed sandbags
against the flood. There was nowhere to go that wasn't wet, the squall had punched a hole in the cabin roof and the barn was knee-high in mud. We'll bury Jess later, when the river recedes, before the ground turns hard again.
THE TRAIN pulled into the station. I hesitated before stepping down to the platform, then made my way to the shoeshine stand. I sat, put my foot up on the metal rest. The old man looked up before tending to my shoe. "You new in town?" I told him that indeed I was. "OK then," he said and began cleaning my loafer. There was a local paper on the chair next to mine. The headline read: fire in hospital melts iron lung.
ZUMA PEDLEY hailed from Lubbock, came to L.A. in '02 with his guitar, some songs, and an ugly dog. He didn't think to change the world, wasn't built that way, but thought music might lessen the burden of those with hearts. He was looking for an army of smiles, but settled for a girl with corn hair and a bungalow in the hills, grew tomatoes. The dog is still ugly.
I AM EXPLORING in the Bones, formations of caves interspersed with rock basins open to the sky. I hear a sound like a turbine as I exit a cave and approach the light ahead. I'm sure it's a waterfall. What I encounter is a massive beehive, honeycomb several stories high, millions of bees. I crouch down to avoid detection and notice a shift in the tone of the hive's collective drone. I turn around and see the bear.
Judy Joyce - Editor
Thursday, September 22, 2011
HARK! THE EVERYDAY DON* E-COURSES COMETH
Our Everyday Don* E-Courses have a Mission
http://www.proseandpaleale.com/
ONE - Rather than the professor at the university, most of us are out and about as Everyday Don’s just trying to find the time and space to learn a little something to inform and elevate our lives. We are not conducting this inquiry in order to know what virtue is, but in order to
http://www.proseandpaleale.com/
ONE - Rather than the professor at the university, most of us are out and about as Everyday Don’s just trying to find the time and space to learn a little something to inform and elevate our lives. We are not conducting this inquiry in order to know what virtue is, but in order to
Friday, August 19, 2011
THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL ORDER: PART III- : From Pre-Human Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama "THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, CELIBACY, AND THE REFORMATION - The Roots of Rugged Individualism"
About the Author: Francis Fukuyama
Francis Fukuyama is the author of numerous books, including The End of History and the Last Man, State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, and America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. He is a former professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University and is currently a senior fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
KARL MARX: AN AFFINITY FOR ENGLAND’S VIEW OF HISTORY
Reminding his audience of Karl Marx, a great admirer of the British system, quote “England’s present is everybody elses future”, Francis Fukiyama acknowledges his own affection for England while at the same time wanting to correct some of Western cultures understanding of British influence over the formation of democracies.
Studying the History of England, the author posits to the reader, one thing notable is that “it is a very peculiar country”. For this and other reasons, it is unrealistic to suppose that other countries followed it’s lead in their own development. On the other hand, while China did not establish the first State (that happened in many places e.g. Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the valley of Mexico), Fukiyama contends the Chinese established the First Modern State.
FIRST MODERN STATE - CHINA STRIKES AT NEPOTISM
“Modern” in this context means not hiring your cousins and your friends into government but based on Civil Service Examinations creating rational bureaucracies and centralized administration. They did this in 3 B.C. Using the Three Basket Theory, Fukiyama suggests the correct question is why aren’t other democracies like China started out to be?
Basket One: The State and it’s institutions are all about power and in a hierarchy it is all about enforcing rules over a territory; Basket Two: The Rule of Law and it’s institutions are community standards of justice that are considered superior to whoever happens to be running the government; Basket Three: The Institutions of Accountability: today associated with Democracies and elections.
When Institutions of Accountabilty arose in England in 17th century, it established the accountability of the King to Parliament at a time when parliament represented only 10% of the population. The richest 10%. This demonstrates that a country can have accountability without having democracy. In the China example, the government civil servant was accountable to take into consideration the interests of their citizens yet there was no democracy.
STATE vs. FAMILY
Basket One: The State is all about power: Baskets Two and Three are all about limiting State power. Thus, the President of the U.S. has the power to nuke the modern world but that power is limited by the Rule of Law and the Rule of Accountability. Thus, in the States effort to gain power, it pits itself against the family, as well as, the Universal Law of Human Nature. That Universal Human Nature, contrary to the theories of Thomas Hobbes, is a biologically provable proposition about human beings attraction to sociability and kinship.
Humans are biologically drawn to people with whom they share the original number of genes. With these people, they are altruistic. "The corruption of Nepotism stems from this altruism", Fukiyama points out. "I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine".
The State seeks to break that bond by disallowing hiring practices of unqualified relatives and conflicts of interests. This came through the Civil Service System based solely on citizenship and not the tribal ties from which the first states arose.
In China starting at 1100 B.C., wars for centuries diminished the population of thousands of rival tribes (3500 to 4000 tribes). These tribes were obliterated and became almost non-existent, depleted to only seven states. This allowed for the conquering Westen state of Chin in 227 B.C. to subdue all it’s rivals and establish a new Civil system The system, of necessity, was based on who is left and competent to run things. This falls apart in 300 AD with the conquering Han Dynasty. Patronage starts all over again. The first modern state goes out of existence.
Ottomans
The effort to acquire a competent fighting force was taken to it’s weirdest level by the Ottoman’s who raided the Balkans, kidnaping boys from 12 to 19 yrs of age and then enslaving them as the Ottoman military. These youngsters were made into officers or administrators, not allowed to marry or to have children. The Ottoman's did this to breakup the family for purposes of conscription.The effect was to break the back of nepotism, corruption, and favoritism. The military slavery method was much more efficient and effective.
The dynamic in Europe of constant warring taught the aristocrats that they could conscript peasants to fight the wars for them but to finance the wars they needed to tax. To tax, they created institutions. The bureaucracies and then administrators to run them was similar in construction to the one’s used by the Ottoman’s.
The French Paulette
In Pre-revolutionary France, the Royal Edict of 1604 resulted in making offices hereditary, a step in the creation of a permanent class of judicial magistrates called the noblesse de robe. The edict provided that for an annual payment to the crown of one-sixtieth of an office’’s value, that office could be sold or bequeathed rather than revert to the crown on the death of the holder.
The edict took its name from Charles Paulet, who proposed the measure and obtained control of the collection of payments.The Paulette provided the crown with needed revenue By the time of the French Revolution, all the public offices had been sold off to rich private individuals.
“The French Revolution divested all these old elites of their estates, their offices, and ultimately their heads”, Fukiyama says.
RULE OF LAW COMES FROM RELIGION - TRANSCENDENTAL EFFECT
Religion is the only source of laws outside the Rulers themselves that provide a source of law that the Ruler doesn’t actually make. This is true in the world of Israel, Christianity, Islam and the Hindu world of India. In each of these instances, there are judges who are the hierarchical authority for interpreting these rules: The Imam in the case of Islam, the Brahmin in the case of Hinduism, the Priestly Caste in the case of India. In these civilizations, the ruling class has to go to the religious to be sanctified. In the case of India, you cannot be a Rahja without going to a Brahmin.
The only world civilization that did not have this Rule of Law type of civilization is China.
Fukiyama believes the reason for this is that the Chinese never had a transcendental religion. They did have ancestor worship. This does not require worshiping the Emperor’s ancestors but only one’s own ancestor. Thus, no Chinese Emperor has felt there was a higher source of law they had to obey.
This notion continues to today with the Chinese Communist party.
Francis Fukiyama likes the Catholic Church as the heroes of the modern Western State. “In the post-Carolingian period in the early Middle Ages, bishops and priests could marry and they could have children. Guess what they did? They all started to turn their benefices over to their children. They got involved in court politics and all wrapped up in the clan shenanigans with all the local princes in Italy and Germany.”
In the late 11th century came the rise of Pope Gregory VII. Gregory the Great, was a titanic historical figure very much like Martin Luther who would come after him by a few centuries. Gregory realized that unless the church eliminated this biological principle of the ability to have children among it's priets and hierarchy, it would not have the moral authority to become an independent institution. Until then, the emperor was appointing Church bishops. Married priests did not like this celibacy ruling nor did the Emperors and Princes. This creates a two generational war of the Pope vs the Kings and Princes.
At this point, as the wars drug on, the Church established it’s independence and created it’s own juridical system apart from the royals. All bishops and priests were now appointed only by the church. From this came the first Ecclesiastical Lawyers, called Canon Lawyers. This became the first establishment of legal authority outside the emperor. It is the oldest established legal system in the Western world. It happens first in the church and then gets transferred to the secular realm.
THE CHURCH - NOT THE STATE - ESTABLISHES SEPARATION AND THE ROOTS OF RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM.
In the research of Francis Fukiyama, he finds the Christian West looks to the separation of church and state as an act of moral authority instituted by the Catholic Church completely freeing individuals to pursue freedom independent of European rulers. Fukiyama contends it was the Catholic Church and not the Reformation that established the roots of rugged individualism.
Editor - Judy Joyce
Sunday, July 3, 2011
THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL ORDER: PART II- : From Pre-Human Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama " WHY DEMOCRACY ISN'T PORTABLE"
About the Author: Francis Fukuyama
Francis Fukuyama is the author of numerous books, including The End of History and the Last Man, State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, and America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. He is a former professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University and is currently a senior fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
WHERE DOES STATE, RULE OF LAW, INSTITUTIONS OF ACCOUNTABILITY COME FROM?
The State and Universal Human Nature
Fukuyama believes that the State, in some sense, is a big struggle against the family. There is a Universal Human Nature. There are a couple of biological principals that govern Human Sociability.
BIOLOGISTS IDENTIFY ERROR IN THOMAS HOBBES THEORY
We sometimes get this incorrect notion from English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes that before the State, we had nothing but nomadic human beings going around clubbing each other over the head in a war of all against all. That was actually not true because humans never went through that period. Humans have always been social. They are social because they are born with certain characteristics that allow them to cooperate and are governed by biological principles. No child has to be taught these ways. They are default ways we relate to each other.
SOME ELEMENTS OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN NATURE IDENTIFIED BY BIOLOGISTS
First: Kin Selection or Inclusive Fitness. This means humans are altruistic to people depending upon the number of genes shared. In other words, nepotism. Humans favor relatives.
Second: Reciprocal Altruism - you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
STATES AROSE OUT OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN NATURE
In the absence of some institution to force you to hire someone with qualifications preventing you from practicing nepotism and hiring your brother-in-law, that is how you are going to do it. So it is that States arose in large kin groups, tribally. People were assembled in large kin groups. They all believed they had come from a common ancestor. They are basically 3d, 4th, and 5th cousins.
How to Get Beyond Political Organization that is Tribal.
In order to get from a State organization that is no longer based on kinship but instead based on citizenship so that social organization relies on being from Japan or France etc., Fukuyama believes, there is a constant struggle against the urge to practice nepotism and in an effort to protect one’s children ie state struggles against family.
Tribal organization was first ended in China as a result of centuries long military conflict where due to war, tribes are driven into these hierarchical units. At the beginning of the Western Xia Dynasty around 1100 B.C. tribes come in from Western Manchuria and conquer the Shang people - maybe 3,000 tribal groups. In the Spring and Autumn Period they fight about 1200 wars with one and other: in the Warring States Period they fight about 450 wars more This process continues and eventually winnows down everything until there are 7 warring states surviving.
Chinese Dynasty and European States Emerge from Tribes Through Warfare and Tax
Among the 7 warring states, one finally conquers all and establishes first unified Qin Imperial Dynasty in 221 B.C. the most powerful. 1800 years later in Europe, this process is also driven by warfare. At first it is done by Aristocrats driving chariots but they find out you’ll do a lot better by conscripting peasants. In order to conscript peasants you need resources so you tax. You need an Administrative hierarchy to run this whole machine. This is what the Chinese did too. They figure out if you hire your cousin or your uncle to be a general through patronage appointments you are going to lose the war.
So you need a different principle. A merit based principle and this is what the Chinese did. They were the first to come up with Civil Service Exam and did so 3 B.C
It doesn’t last, as Han Dynasty comes to power and by 3 A.D. centralized government had collapsed. It did not come back together until 1100 A.D. So the struggle against the family goes on for a very long time.
WEIRD STATE INSTITUTION BUILT TO BEAT BACK THE FAMILY
THE ONE GENERATION ARISTOCRACY
The system of military slavery was the weirdest institution designed to beat back the family and build up the State. It developed during the second largest Arab Dynasty, the Abbasids and followed to it’s logical conclusion by the Ottomans. What the Ottoman’s did was send out every 3 or 4 years a group of people into the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Like football scouts, they would look for young men between the ages of 12 and 19, take them from their families and raise them as slaves in Topkapi. They would train them, not for degradation but to be Senior military officers and the grandest of Adminststrators. The people recruited in this fashion were not allowed to marry or to have children. If they did have children, they were expelled from these positions and the children never allowed to rise to any status.
Why did they do this? To control having families. Ottomans understood they needed a modern administration. Bhat once families were allowed in they are going to want to secure positions for them. Ottomans realized that if you allowed families, there would be no means of advancing their administrations through merit. So, they created a one generation aristocracy. This came to an end when
The entire Ottoman system began to collapse when these Aristocracy gorups began to take advantage of the onset of famine and inflation. In the 17th century, they began to demand their children be allowed to assume their positions.
This is the same problem for Old Regime France before the French Revolution.
Wealthy elites who potentially could oppose the king were a threat so they began to sell offices. They sell offices if tax ciollector or finance minister to wealthy individuals with the important effect of breaking up the oppostion. They wanted to privatize the public sector. In the early1600's, through an institution that became known as the Paulette (1604), and allowed hereditary office taking. Heirs would not only get the estate and the vineyard upon death but also an important French public office.
By the time of the French Revolution, the entire Public Sector had been sold off to the wealthy. However, you cannot create a modern state What the Rebolution did was divest the old elites not just of their property and their offices but their heads.
THE RULE OF LAW - COMES OUT OF RELIGION
Where does this come from. From the author’s view, limits on power has always come out of religion, Relligion is the only source of a rule of laws that come from outside rules that the State does not make. This is true of many civilizations: Ancient Israel; Christian tradion; Islam; ;and India;s Hinduism. In all of these cases the ruler has to go to the religous leaders to get permission to do things. To become a Rajah, you have to be sanctified by a Brahmin. There is a clear status distinction and it is the priest who is on top of the warrior.
The only civilization that did not have Rule of Law in this sense is China. Francis Fukuyama bellieves this is because they never had a transcendental religion.The Chinese seemed to have remained backward in this way because they only worshipped ancestors. Those ancestors were their own and not even the Kind’s ancestors. No Chinese Emperor ever thought there was a higher source of law they had to obey.That continues even up to today.
The Chinese Communist party does have a Constitution but the Constitution doesn’t limit what they do so their power is whatever they want it to be.
Next - How the Spirit of Rugged Individualism Did Not Start with the Reformation but in the Middle Ages
Francis Fukuyama is the author of numerous books, including The End of History and the Last Man, State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, and America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. He is a former professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University and is currently a senior fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
WHERE DOES STATE, RULE OF LAW, INSTITUTIONS OF ACCOUNTABILITY COME FROM?
The State and Universal Human Nature
Fukuyama believes that the State, in some sense, is a big struggle against the family. There is a Universal Human Nature. There are a couple of biological principals that govern Human Sociability.
BIOLOGISTS IDENTIFY ERROR IN THOMAS HOBBES THEORY
We sometimes get this incorrect notion from English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes that before the State, we had nothing but nomadic human beings going around clubbing each other over the head in a war of all against all. That was actually not true because humans never went through that period. Humans have always been social. They are social because they are born with certain characteristics that allow them to cooperate and are governed by biological principles. No child has to be taught these ways. They are default ways we relate to each other.
SOME ELEMENTS OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN NATURE IDENTIFIED BY BIOLOGISTS
First: Kin Selection or Inclusive Fitness. This means humans are altruistic to people depending upon the number of genes shared. In other words, nepotism. Humans favor relatives.
Second: Reciprocal Altruism - you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
STATES AROSE OUT OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN NATURE
In the absence of some institution to force you to hire someone with qualifications preventing you from practicing nepotism and hiring your brother-in-law, that is how you are going to do it. So it is that States arose in large kin groups, tribally. People were assembled in large kin groups. They all believed they had come from a common ancestor. They are basically 3d, 4th, and 5th cousins.
How to Get Beyond Political Organization that is Tribal.
In order to get from a State organization that is no longer based on kinship but instead based on citizenship so that social organization relies on being from Japan or France etc., Fukuyama believes, there is a constant struggle against the urge to practice nepotism and in an effort to protect one’s children ie state struggles against family.
Tribal organization was first ended in China as a result of centuries long military conflict where due to war, tribes are driven into these hierarchical units. At the beginning of the Western Xia Dynasty around 1100 B.C. tribes come in from Western Manchuria and conquer the Shang people - maybe 3,000 tribal groups. In the Spring and Autumn Period they fight about 1200 wars with one and other: in the Warring States Period they fight about 450 wars more This process continues and eventually winnows down everything until there are 7 warring states surviving.
Chinese Dynasty and European States Emerge from Tribes Through Warfare and Tax
Among the 7 warring states, one finally conquers all and establishes first unified Qin Imperial Dynasty in 221 B.C. the most powerful. 1800 years later in Europe, this process is also driven by warfare. At first it is done by Aristocrats driving chariots but they find out you’ll do a lot better by conscripting peasants. In order to conscript peasants you need resources so you tax. You need an Administrative hierarchy to run this whole machine. This is what the Chinese did too. They figure out if you hire your cousin or your uncle to be a general through patronage appointments you are going to lose the war.
So you need a different principle. A merit based principle and this is what the Chinese did. They were the first to come up with Civil Service Exam and did so 3 B.C
It doesn’t last, as Han Dynasty comes to power and by 3 A.D. centralized government had collapsed. It did not come back together until 1100 A.D. So the struggle against the family goes on for a very long time.
WEIRD STATE INSTITUTION BUILT TO BEAT BACK THE FAMILY
THE ONE GENERATION ARISTOCRACY
The system of military slavery was the weirdest institution designed to beat back the family and build up the State. It developed during the second largest Arab Dynasty, the Abbasids and followed to it’s logical conclusion by the Ottomans. What the Ottoman’s did was send out every 3 or 4 years a group of people into the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Like football scouts, they would look for young men between the ages of 12 and 19, take them from their families and raise them as slaves in Topkapi. They would train them, not for degradation but to be Senior military officers and the grandest of Adminststrators. The people recruited in this fashion were not allowed to marry or to have children. If they did have children, they were expelled from these positions and the children never allowed to rise to any status.
Why did they do this? To control having families. Ottomans understood they needed a modern administration. Bhat once families were allowed in they are going to want to secure positions for them. Ottomans realized that if you allowed families, there would be no means of advancing their administrations through merit. So, they created a one generation aristocracy. This came to an end when
The entire Ottoman system began to collapse when these Aristocracy gorups began to take advantage of the onset of famine and inflation. In the 17th century, they began to demand their children be allowed to assume their positions.
This is the same problem for Old Regime France before the French Revolution.
Wealthy elites who potentially could oppose the king were a threat so they began to sell offices. They sell offices if tax ciollector or finance minister to wealthy individuals with the important effect of breaking up the oppostion. They wanted to privatize the public sector. In the early1600's, through an institution that became known as the Paulette (1604), and allowed hereditary office taking. Heirs would not only get the estate and the vineyard upon death but also an important French public office.
By the time of the French Revolution, the entire Public Sector had been sold off to the wealthy. However, you cannot create a modern state What the Rebolution did was divest the old elites not just of their property and their offices but their heads.
THE RULE OF LAW - COMES OUT OF RELIGION
Where does this come from. From the author’s view, limits on power has always come out of religion, Relligion is the only source of a rule of laws that come from outside rules that the State does not make. This is true of many civilizations: Ancient Israel; Christian tradion; Islam; ;and India;s Hinduism. In all of these cases the ruler has to go to the religous leaders to get permission to do things. To become a Rajah, you have to be sanctified by a Brahmin. There is a clear status distinction and it is the priest who is on top of the warrior.
The only civilization that did not have Rule of Law in this sense is China. Francis Fukuyama bellieves this is because they never had a transcendental religion.The Chinese seemed to have remained backward in this way because they only worshipped ancestors. Those ancestors were their own and not even the Kind’s ancestors. No Chinese Emperor ever thought there was a higher source of law they had to obey.That continues even up to today.
The Chinese Communist party does have a Constitution but the Constitution doesn’t limit what they do so their power is whatever they want it to be.
Next - How the Spirit of Rugged Individualism Did Not Start with the Reformation but in the Middle Ages
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL ORDER: PART I - From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama
Anyone with a love for the written or spoken word of oral tradition has no trouble finding and experiencing these expressions as an Art Form. Art Forms of all varieties are delightful ways of providing life with a closer look at the world around us adding many an Ah-Haa moment. Ah-Haa moments come easily and often when reading a well-crafted idea about something of interest past or present, traditional or trendy. So too, with Politics.
It is always amazing to reflect upon how a book about historical events and social theory can enlighten our understanding of ourselves and post- modern experiences while shedding light on each country’s place in the world and the role played by religion, politics and the family. Francis Fukuyama’s book is just such an endeavor. Fukayama’s research pulls together some interesting and thought provoking ideas as he illuminates the role of the State and it’s need to control families; the activity of the Catholic Church in devising the vehicle for ending corruption between two ancient societal institutons through rules of celibacy that carry on to this very day, and again when this same Church, acting in his words in it's own self-interest, creating women's rights to property that ushered in rugged individualism in a way still unacknowledged by those who are wedded to the notion of individualism as a creature of the Reformation.
Fukuyama dissects the misunderstandings of modern historians who fail to bow to the Biological Sciences findings of a Universal Human Law thereby debunking the theories of British philosopher Thomas Hobbes still honored to this day as if humankind went around clubbing each other in constant wars of all against all.
Before a standing room only crowd at Washington D.C.’s Politics and Prose Bookstore on April 25, 2011, Stanford University Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Francis Fukuyama, introduced his audience to an understanding of the origins of government among humankind. From the onset of tribal societies to the development of early states in China and the rise of European politics up to and including the French Revolution, even onlookers showed a heightened interest in understanding just how things came to be the way they are in our post-modern era.
I. BACKGROUND OF POLITICAL ORIGINS
In taking the reading audience through the ideas in his books, the author discusses a wide range of topics from the origins of state and law, to that of "accountable" government. On being introduced to the audience, the moderator points out that "having one of those in place does not presuppose that the others will have vibrant and alive institutions".
Karl Marx Prefers England as Model
Beginning his remarks with the somewhat surprising observation that it was Karl Marx who introduced the notion that England is the model for modernization. Marx believed that England’s present was the future for all other countries. In Fukuyama’s view, this idea is misplaced.
China is earliest best Model for Modernization.
Although Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the valley of Mexico established the first states, it was China that established the first "modern" state. The term "modern" for purposes of this book means not hiring your cousins and your friends to run the government but based on Civil Service examinations, a rationalized bureaucracy, and centralized administration in the 3d century B.C.
THREE BASKET ORIGINS OF INSTITUTIONS: THE STATE - THE RULE OF LAW - INTITUTIONS OF ACCOUNTABILITY
The State - All About Power
The State is defined here as the ability to make rules and enforce those rules through a hierarchy in a particular territory.
The Rule of Law - All About Limiting Power
The Rule of Law is the community rules of Justice that is regarded as superior to the will of whoever happens to be running the government whether a President, Prime Minister, King who is the Executive in the society. This person must implement a rule someone else makes. The Rule of Law is a means to limit power.
Institutions of Accountability - for Gov’t: for Morality - All About Limiting Power
Today we associate those Institutions as created by democracies through elections but the first time they were put into place was in 17th Century England. The king was accountable to Parliament which represented only 10% of the richest part of the population. So, you can have accountability without having Democracy. As in China, you can even have moral accountability where a government takes into account the well-being of it’s citizens even without elections.
MIRACLE OF MODERN POLITICAL WORLD: THREE BASKETS
The President of the United States is the most powerful person in human history because the President holds the reigns of nuking the entire world. Why doesn’t he? Because he is limited by the Rule of Law and Institutions of Accountability.
Next: The Three Baskets -Why Democracy Isn't Portable
It is always amazing to reflect upon how a book about historical events and social theory can enlighten our understanding of ourselves and post- modern experiences while shedding light on each country’s place in the world and the role played by religion, politics and the family. Francis Fukuyama’s book is just such an endeavor. Fukayama’s research pulls together some interesting and thought provoking ideas as he illuminates the role of the State and it’s need to control families; the activity of the Catholic Church in devising the vehicle for ending corruption between two ancient societal institutons through rules of celibacy that carry on to this very day, and again when this same Church, acting in his words in it's own self-interest, creating women's rights to property that ushered in rugged individualism in a way still unacknowledged by those who are wedded to the notion of individualism as a creature of the Reformation.
Fukuyama dissects the misunderstandings of modern historians who fail to bow to the Biological Sciences findings of a Universal Human Law thereby debunking the theories of British philosopher Thomas Hobbes still honored to this day as if humankind went around clubbing each other in constant wars of all against all.
Before a standing room only crowd at Washington D.C.’s Politics and Prose Bookstore on April 25, 2011, Stanford University Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Francis Fukuyama, introduced his audience to an understanding of the origins of government among humankind. From the onset of tribal societies to the development of early states in China and the rise of European politics up to and including the French Revolution, even onlookers showed a heightened interest in understanding just how things came to be the way they are in our post-modern era.
I. BACKGROUND OF POLITICAL ORIGINS
In taking the reading audience through the ideas in his books, the author discusses a wide range of topics from the origins of state and law, to that of "accountable" government. On being introduced to the audience, the moderator points out that "having one of those in place does not presuppose that the others will have vibrant and alive institutions".
Karl Marx Prefers England as Model
Beginning his remarks with the somewhat surprising observation that it was Karl Marx who introduced the notion that England is the model for modernization. Marx believed that England’s present was the future for all other countries. In Fukuyama’s view, this idea is misplaced.
China is earliest best Model for Modernization.
Although Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the valley of Mexico established the first states, it was China that established the first "modern" state. The term "modern" for purposes of this book means not hiring your cousins and your friends to run the government but based on Civil Service examinations, a rationalized bureaucracy, and centralized administration in the 3d century B.C.
THREE BASKET ORIGINS OF INSTITUTIONS: THE STATE - THE RULE OF LAW - INTITUTIONS OF ACCOUNTABILITY
The State - All About Power
The State is defined here as the ability to make rules and enforce those rules through a hierarchy in a particular territory.
The Rule of Law - All About Limiting Power
The Rule of Law is the community rules of Justice that is regarded as superior to the will of whoever happens to be running the government whether a President, Prime Minister, King who is the Executive in the society. This person must implement a rule someone else makes. The Rule of Law is a means to limit power.
Institutions of Accountability - for Gov’t: for Morality - All About Limiting Power
Today we associate those Institutions as created by democracies through elections but the first time they were put into place was in 17th Century England. The king was accountable to Parliament which represented only 10% of the richest part of the population. So, you can have accountability without having Democracy. As in China, you can even have moral accountability where a government takes into account the well-being of it’s citizens even without elections.
MIRACLE OF MODERN POLITICAL WORLD: THREE BASKETS
The President of the United States is the most powerful person in human history because the President holds the reigns of nuking the entire world. Why doesn’t he? Because he is limited by the Rule of Law and Institutions of Accountability.
Next: The Three Baskets -Why Democracy Isn't Portable
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