In the news this week: war in Syria, Iran’s new leader, our debt ceiling and continued Federal Reserve stimulus, and battles over health care and gun control. Wow, as usual there is a lot going on. As usual we are being bombarded with divisive rhetoric and various opinions on each, and most people are not listening to any of it. If you are reading these words you are extraordinary. Most people have tuned out.
That is not exactly true. In fact, most people have neck problems from “tuning in” to their smart phones, laptops, and tablets. But they are only getting news in 20 second sound bites or 140 characters or less. And many if not most tune out even that as much as possible in favor of Miley Cyrus clips or food network videos. There is nothing wrong with either of those; and one can go nuts listening to the news all day.
Let’s slow down a bit (trust me, there’s time) and take a slightly wider view. Bear with me here.
I recently ran across an article on what scientists are calling Mitochondrial Eve, which genetically speaking is some woman who lived about 140,000 years ago who is the oldest woman that everyone on earth is related to on the maternal side. Closely related is Y-chromosomal Adam, who lived somewhere around the same length of time ago. No, they were likely not alive at the same time. Here is the Wikipedia link to him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosomal_Adam
Humans in their current physical form were running around on this planet some 200,000 years ago with “pre-humans” having been around much longer. Our current president has been in office about five years, which seems like a long time, but let’s zoom forward and skim over some 180,000 years of humans living on this planet and arrive at the dawn of “civilization”.
Narmer was the first Pharaoh in Egypt, and historians place him at somewhere around 3200-3100 BC. Of course he is the first “Pharaoh” because he united the two Egyptian kingdoms, which had been around for some time. Somewhere around or before 2500 BC a philosopher named Ptahhotep wrote down The Maxims of Ptahhotep. He is the first “known” philosopher, and The Maxims are the oldest book in existence. He was almost certainly not the actual first philosopher. We know the Egyptians wrote books before him, but none of them have survived.
This, the oldest book and oldest known philosophy is astounding for it’s relevance and wisdom. Here is a link to The Maxims: http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe05.htm And since we are a video society, here is a you tube video about him. http://youtu.be/b4oBUbPu51c He said a lot of very wise things, here are a few of my favorites:
"Only speak when you have something worth saying."
"Love your wife with passion."
"Do not repeat a slanderous rumour, do not listen to it."
"If he who listens, listens fully, then he who listens becomes he who understands."
"Injustice exists in abundance, but evil can never succeed in the long run."
The first Chinese Emperor was Yu the Great, who lived about 2200-2100 BC. Again, the Chinese already had a flourishing civilization by then. Yu was known for engineering flood control plans in China. The great Chinese philosophers came much later, some 1500 years after Yu. Lao Tzu lived about 650-600 BC, was the author of Tao Te Ching, and the founder of Taoism. http://youtu.be/D8WOYI3uj44 Confucius lived from 551-479 BC, and is the author of the Five Classics and the founder of Confucianism. Here is a quick synopsis of Confucius beliefs. http://youtu.be/O--AFCI4HCU Sun Tzu (544-496 BC) was another famous Chinese philosopher and the author of The Art of War. http://youtu.be/2dcAUYozdmI
Forgive me, but I have gotten ahead of myself. We have spoken of Egypt, which remains in the news as they are trying for the first time in their very long history to establish a working democracy. Let’s stop and reflect on Syria and Iran, both of which are also in the news this week. Here is a reminder that Mesopotamia is where all of this likely started. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-58v5uGJAt4&sns=em
The Sumerians and Assyrians and the other civilizations in the area rose and fell, and warred with each other endlessly. Somewhere around 2000 BC Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived their lives according to each of the Abrahamic religions. Moses lived from 1391-1271 BC and was the author of The Torah, which beyond being a religious document was also a great book of philosophy.
Somewhere around 1400 BC The Ragveda, the ancient Hindu Vedic philosophy was written down but authors are unknown. This video is somewhat controversial but does a good job of explaining historical timelines. http://youtu.be/KiBfnS5N7jI
Somewhere around 850-800 BC the first great Greek writer Homer wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey. If we skip forward some 400 years we see the Great Greek philosopher Socrates 469-399 BC, his pupil Plato, 428-348 BC, author of The Socratic Dialogues, and his student Aristotle 384-322 BC, author of the Corpus Aristotelicum. There are important differences between Plato and Aristotle, and I for one am a big fan of Aristotle. I am not alone.
Gautama Buddha, 563-483 BC, was the founder of Buddhism and the author of Pali Canon and Agamas. His teachings have been compared to those of Jesus. http://youtu.be/n6XNO6Jv3q0
Speaking of Jesus of Nazareth, 2BC-33AD, he was the founder of Christianity and the source for much of the New Testament. His Apostle Paul (5-67 AD) was the actual author of many of the books of the New Testament. Again, although it is a religious document, it is also a great book of philosophy.
The Roman Cicero, 106-43 BC, wrote the classics On The Republic and On The Laws.
Augustine lived from 354-430 AD and was a prolific writer, including his great City of God and Confessions. He was of course made a saint.
Muhammad lived from 570-632 AD and was the author of The Quran, and the founder of Islam. Despite what many of us think of the behavior of his modern day followers, it remains a seminal book of theology and philosophy.
Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 was a major figure in the Christian Church and the author of Summa Theologica. Here is a discussion of the importance of studying his works. http://youtu.be/m76_JKyPY6o
Francis Bacon 1561-1626 wrote Essays. Rene Descartes 1596-1650 wrote Meditations on First Philosophy. Both are foundational works for later philosophers.
Voltaire lived from 1694 to 1778 and wrote his Essay on the Customs and Spirit of the Nations. Isaac Newton lived from 1642 to 1727 and wrote the Principia Mathematica. The great John Locke lived from 1632-1704 and wrote An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Here is a discussion of the epistemology of John Locke. http://youtu.be/r3U62OkkRkw Note that Locke draws heavily on Aristotle.
Adam Smith, who lived from 1723-1790, wrote The Wealth of Nations. And Immanuel Kant, who lived from 1724-1804 and whom I disagree with, wrote an important work titled A Critique of Pure Reason.
And now, just now, we arrive at the founding fathers of The United States of America. It is important to realize what a rich backdrop of philosophical works they considered when contemplating the foundations of American Society. These were very intelligent, very well read and learned men, but they drew upon literally thousands of years of wisdom that came before them.
To mention just a few; Thomas Jefferson lived from 1743-1826 and was the author of our Declaration of Independence and also the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. James Madison (1751-1836) was the principal author of the US Constitution and one of the authors of the Federalist Papers.
Alex de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was the author of Democracy in America. Frederic Bastiot (1801-1850) was the author of The Law, among other things. John Stewart Mill (1806-1873) wrote On Liberty. Here is an example of an application of Bastiot’s philosophy today. http://youtu.be/M41KhulCKCY
To be fair, I need to include Karl Marx (1818-1883) and The Communist Manifesto. While we are there I will include Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and the infamous Mein Kampf. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) wrote On Denoting, also not one of my favorites. And while I am listing things that are not my favorites, John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) wrote many works, including The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) was a student of Keynesian economics and wrote The Affluent Society, among other works.
Now that all of that distastefulness is out of the way, let’s continue to some more modern philosophers and economists.
F A Hayek (1899-1992) was the author of The Road to Serfdom.
Ludwig Mises (1881-1973) wrote Nation, State, and Economy.
Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) wrote Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy.
Ayn Rand (1905-1982) wrote Atlas Shrugged
Milton Friedman (1912-2006) wrote Free to Choose
Murray Rothbard (1926-1995) wrote Man, Economy, and State
William F Buckley Jr (1925-2008) wrote God and Man at Yale
Each of the people above wrote and did much more than the single work listed, but space does not permit a completely bibliography or biography of each. Next are some interesting clips of several of the above writers discussing their ideas and their contemporaries.
F A Hayek discusses John Maynard Keynes:
William F Buckley discusses Ayn Rand:
Milton Friedman on John Maynard Keynes:
William F Buckley interviews Barry Goldwater about Conservatism and Republicans:
Milton Friedman on Frederick Hayek and John Maynard Keynes:
Murray Rothbard on Statism:
Ayn Rand interviewed by Mike Wallace on Liberty versus Socialism:
Milton Friedman on Collectivism:
And now what is the point of all of this? How do we tie this back to the news of today?
· The President needs to read The Art of War before dealing with Syria or Iran.
· It is important to understand the history of Mesopotamia, and of Islam and of Syria and Iran.
· If you line up all of the philosophers and economists through the ages it is unlikely any of them would have approved of our level of indebtedness, or even of our level of stimulus. I do not even think Keynes himself would have approved of what we are doing.
· Listening to our leaders, it is clear that for the most part they are not philosophers or true leaders but shallow politicians. Where have all of the adults gone to?
· Collectivism has never been a successful strategy. Most of history is that of kings and emperors, whether benevolent or evil. Our constitutional republic is what makes America truly special.
· Hopefully I have at least expended your list of things to read when you get time.
· If you have kids, please encourage them to do some reading.
This week Grand Theft Auto set all kinds of records for entertainment dollars, and our population has been busy playing a violent video game instead of studying philosophy. I can’t change that.
Finally, I offer you this, if you have not seen it. No matter how insignificant we may feel after looking back at the vast expanse of human history, it is actually much, much worse. Enjoy.
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