I just revisited one of my old philosophy books and rediscovered yet another great contemporary philosopher who seems to share my concerns about enlightenment humanism and the term ‘progress.’ His name is John Gray. Here is a short quote from one of his more famous works “Straw Dogs”:
What he is basically saying here is that humanism, the ideology, places man at the center of the universe, and leads him on a path of inexhaustible rationality, improvement, development, and progress. Yet Gray argues the contrary. He believes that there is no progress – we are what we are.
He strays into some contested territory in his book when he supposes that human beings are purely instinctual beings; we follow our desires and have no capacity for self-control or moral behavior. We shouldn’t even try to be ‘better’ or more ‘moral’ – we should just accept the ‘real’ (animal) us. Obviously, I disagree with that. Although I do not see humanity going in a positive direction toward some utopian progression to achieving ‘enlightenment’ on earth, I also do not see ‘man’ as a mare animal.
I think humanism carries a very Euro-centric, white, male bias which prevents it from seeing this simple reality that there is no such thing as a one-way evolutionary road toward ‘progress.’ At a time when Europe was experiencing the “Dark Ages,” people in other parts of the world, like Muslim Spain and the Islamic caliphate, were thriving. How can it be then that all of humanity is moving into one direction only?
Perhaps now, with the globalization or universalization of Western values and principles, this imagined humanist utopia may seem more plausible. Yet the gravitational point or epicenter of this ‘progress’ or ‘development’ is, again, no where else but Europe/America. The same geo-political area where humanism was founded. While there may be a general spiral upward in 'development', the gap between the rich and the poor has never been as wide in history. Someone may be ‘progressing’, but at the expense of whom?
Yet, somehow, I feel that human beings are fully capable of doing ‘better’ and being ‘better’. I believe we have the capacity of becoming morally conscious and ethical beings, however, I do share Gray’s pessimism of ever achieving absolute harmony, peace and justice in this world.
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| Southwell, "Words of Wisdom" page 356 |
Any thoughts?
4 comments:
Assalaamu alaikum :)
It seems like if you've had a liberal arts eduction, this is all you learn----'We're the best of every time and every place, and things are only going to get better!'. Well at least that's what it seemed like to me at my university.
I believed it at first, but then when I had my eyes opened to REAL history, not the crap that they load on you at school, but the kind that shows that China was incredibly developed for thousands of years, that Africa had empires of unimaginable wealth, and that Native Americans had sophisticated societies.....and more over that all of these people had WORTH and dignity. When I learned that history, I stopped believing the mumbo-jumbo jingoism that is the West's version of history and progress.
Sorry for the rant, I just get a bit angered over what they teach kids in school here...it just perpetuates the idea of euro-superiority and takes away others dignity in this world.
Wa salaam chica! :)
Yes I have. For what ever it’s worth, I am very grateful I had the opportunity to get a higher education and go into a very multi-disciplinary field of study. While my professors did promote a very liberal position in their teaching styles and content, they equipped me with the knowledge I needed to make well-informed and conscious decisions about many contemporary themes in politics, history, philosophy and economics.
I was also lucky to have an advisor who was not the typical white-Western liberal, but a graceful lady of Tamil Indian descent. She was a non-traditional Hindu too. She taught me to be critical of the standard theories out there, and always pushed me to think outside of my comfort zone. I still keep in touch with her to this date. We will never agree on some very fundamental things in life, but she taught me to be a critical thinker. So from her at least, I didn’t get the typical ‘We are the panicle of human civilization’ crap that you get from the mainstream liberal professors out there.
Yet I see your point clearly. This Euro-centrism and ‘Western’ (developed world) superiority complex have always aggravated me very much. This is why I try to use this blog constructively and write about the multiple dimensions to our contemporary issues, and challenge the standard opinions on Islam, our political-economy, history and philosophy. Especially because I come from a place where the Western and Eastern, the modern and traditional, secular and religious meet. I am white, Muslim, European, have lived all my lived life in a ‘developing’ country and spent many years of my life studying in the ‘developed’ world. I can see both sides of the coin – or at least I try to. :)
What you say is true. And I suppose I am trying to re-claim that dignity through writing about the issues that matter to me. Speaking for myself, instead of relying on the NGOs and governmental org. to speak on my behalf. :)
Assalamu Alaykum sister Nida I could’t agree more with you and the reaction of sister chica. I appreciate the statement of chica, that a lot of indigenous cultures have their own accomplishment in different fields. We tend to forget that sometimes, by just focusing on the accomplishments of the West (due to our biased education in the West even at universities) or as Muslims just on the accomplishments of the Islamic world. This is due to our narrowed view of the world by our own environment. If some groups have made certain discoveries outside our own “in-group” we must give credit to that and positively value it. This shouldn’t go as far as relativism where everything goes and everything is valued the same. From an Islamic perspective it is especially important to have in mind what the purpose of all those knowledge is. If the purpose is to try to better understand the creation of Allah and try to get near to Allah this is of main importance. The arrogance of mankind led him during the “Enlightenment” towards humanism, which led ultimately to the deification of himself. I think the next hadith of our prophet (peace be upon him) is very applicable to this: “The world is a magician greater than Harut and Marut, and you should avoid it”. So basically mankind is illusioning himself with his own actions in this temporal world. Wassalaam. Badr
That's one of the reasons why I like your blog---I think we may have the same degree(s) (me: International Relations/ and Rhetoric)?
And you're right, I too am thankful to have been able to have the education I have, I guess its just the bias that pervades the International Relations/ Political Science departments that really bothers me. Sigh.
I didn't have many nontypical liberal profs in my departments, but I did have them for my Philosophy and Religion classes. I am so indebted to those professors :).
If I could be a career student I sooo would---I really do miss academia!
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