- What do we mean by political revolution when we open up the definition of politics? What would a revolution in company politics look like? How about cultural revolution, as in corporate culture?
- Does revolution start from the top or come up from the bottom?
- Does intellectual freedom demand political freedom? Is the first predicated on the second?
- Can persecution increase intellectual ferment and creativity, as in David Bohm, Marina Tsvetayeva, and many other examples?
- Do students in the arts take enough science classes? Does breadth create freedom of thought? What are the educational issues underlying resulting political persecution?
- Do hierarchies create an opportunity for persecution?
- What would the structure of an intellectually free world or society look like?
- Does repression of women, gay folks, etc. create a limit on intellectual freedom because a significant part of the population can’t participate in intellectual matters?
- What truly constitutes a free society? Is the US such a society? Do political divisions automatically create oppression?
- Does education create intellectual freedom or limit it?
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Revolution questions
Here are a few questions inspired by your wonderful presentations in class this evening on political persecution and intellectual freedom:
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What interesting questions!
ReplyDelete“Can persecution increase intellectual ferment and creativity?” I would submit that it is specifically focus, unbroken stretches of time, and emotional intensity (or some kind of energetic drive) that increase intellectual ferment and creativity, (or any kind of creativity). The book “Solitude” explores how these unbroken stretches of time, often a lonely childhood or something, support creativity, almost like development of an attention span. And it seems true that un-interrupted time is really helpful in working things out. Persecution can create those conditions. However, I think it’s important to keep it as a longer chain of logic, “persecution can create the conditions which support increased . . .” because a) other things can also create the conditions of emotional intensity, focus, and un-interrupted stretches of time, b) persecution can create entirely different conditions, like being chained up in an orange jump suit, and c) persecution has other negative effects.
“Does education create intellectual freedom or limit it?” On the surface, the answer seems to be, “create it.” Then I pause, and think about the teaching of creationism in public schools, and -- facepalm. The tools to access and evaluate information give people freedom: literacy, critical thinking skills, use of the scientific method, numerical literacy, and the like. But someone is always sneaking in doctrine, because the educational curriculum is determined by the government, which is controlled by a political party, which has agendas that may differ greatly from having an independently thoughtful populace. The political agenda may even prohibit a critically thinking populace. It may require that everyone hate Arabs, or believe in a fundamental Christian god, or want to go to war, or let the market run the health care system. Education that has been corrupted by politics not only limits intellectual freedom, but stymies basic common sense. The question, “Does intellectual freedom demand political freedom” also points to this connection.
“What constitutes a free society? Is the US such a society?” The Indian economist Amartya Sen argues for understanding “freedom” as the capabilty to function in the world, including literacy, and access to basic needs. That is very different from US economist Milton Friedman’s definition of “freedom” as doing whatever you want, without regulation or limitation.
Maija,
ReplyDeleteI find your responses very intriguing and persuasive.
1. I agree with the fundamentals of what you are arguing, but I question one thing: does time really matter? You seem to be saying that in order for a person to become creative then they must experience an extended period of time or logic. First, what constitutes a long time? In Einstein's Dreams we found how time simply exists as a perception. What is long for me may not be long for you. By this logic, a man who spends ten years in jail will be more creative than someone with only one year in the cell. Can't the one-year person be more creative? I would argue that intensity does matter more than length. A person with a boring childhood may have a creative mind, but so could someone who experienced ten minutes of torture. Also, this question depends on what we classify as creative. The ability to solve a math problem and the ability to write a poem take different types of creativity and neither of those must be dependent on time.
2. I agree with your argument on this question. Education must limit intellectual freedom because someone, somewhere has to decided what is and is not important and that decision is naturally biased. Even Jefferson Country down the road has decided to stop educating students on topics that revolve around civil unrest. If that isn't a limitation of intellectual freedom then I don't know what is. With that being said, do you think that there is an education system that does create intellectual freedom and is it feasible?
3. It's interesting how you compare two different cultural views of freedom. You seem to be suggesting that freedom is not universal. I understand that each culture values different ideals, but I also do believe that freedom can be universalized. For me, freedom means the ability to choose what and how you want to live your life as long as it does not negatively impede others. Granted much of my definition lays withing cultural relativism, but it can permit a goal for achievement though I do not believe that this goal will ever be reached. Also, I do not believe that the US constitutes a free society. Thoughts?
Hello Maija, thank you for the answers and input to our class, it is very appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI thought that your last answer was very interesting to consider. We discussed academic freedom and political persecution in our last class, and I think that you bring up an interesting point in the cultural influences to this question of what constitutes a free society. Clearly, functioning in the world and freedom of expression, thought, and action are two very different definitions.
If we define freedom through a cultural reference frame, can the ideas proposed by the UN Declaration of Human Rights be realized or even proposed in the first place? Many of these rights are regarding "freedoms," and if we are not able to come up with a definition as a global society then there is very little room to move forward in the scope of human rights. Maybe the global community should focus on what freedom is before we try to set goals to guarantee specific freedoms to everyone on the planet.