This series has argued that egalitarian, democratic practices are made possible in part by the human biological capacity for empathy and that democracy emerged tens of thousands of years ago, long before the ancient Greeks and long before notions of austere, unemotional reason took hold of the Western imagination. As a longtime Democratic consultant, activist, and writer, I am searching for a coherent historical and moral grounding for resistance to the anti-democratic, right wing assault on voting rights, civil justice, public education, and the separation of powers. This series is part of that search.
Because you and I are blessed with the ability to recognize one another as human beings possessed of similar hopes, fears, strengths and vulnerabilities, we make a promise to protect one another from harm and to give to one another the opportunity for free, happy and fulfilling lives. We take responsibility for ourselves and for each other. Millenia ago, long before the Ten Commandments or the ethical codes of the East, we came together, shaken, hopeful and uncertain, and made a promise that we would insist upon our dignity and equality in the face other, less beneficial qualities we knew were also present within the hearts of some: an unscrupulous lust for power and authority over others.
This is The Promise, and it emerged in overt political practices from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago among Late Paleolithic people. Anthropologist Christopher Boehm said the effort created the human moral community. D.H. Lawrence called The Promise "a recognition of souls, all down the open road." Philosopher Jan Patocka called it the "solidarity of the shaken."
The Promise is exactly opposite of what many claim Thomas Hobbes meant in his discussion of promising. Hobbes, they say, holds that our promises to one another are empty and unenforceable unless a sovereign authority, unbound by promises of any kind, can enforce them. Whatever we may think of Hobbes' view of human nature (and many, like James R. Martel in his new book, Subverting Leviathan, think the neo-conservatives have gotten Hobbes all wrong), The Promise - and the earliest democratic aspirations and practices it inspired - was anti-authoritarian from the very beginning. We promised each other freedom, equality and fraternity in our mutual hostility to abusive or absolute authority.
This series has argued that egalitarian, democratic practices are made possible in part by the human biological capacity for empathy and that democracy emerged tens of thousands of years ago, long before the ancient Greeks and long before notions of austere, unemotional reason took hold of the Western imagination. As a longtime Democratic consultant, activist, and writer, I am searching for a coherent historical and moral grounding for resistance to the anti-democratic, right wing assault on voting rights, civil justice, public education, and the separation of powers. This series is part of that search.
Because you and I are blessed with the ability to recognize one another as human beings possessed of similar hopes, fears, strengths and vulnerabilities, we make a promise to protect one another from harm and to give to one another the opportunity for free, happy and fulfilling lives. We take responsibility for ourselves and for each other. Millenia ago, long before the Ten Commandments or the ethical codes of the East, we came together, shaken, hopeful and uncertain, and made a promise that we would insist upon our dignity and equality in the face other, less beneficial qualities we knew were also present within the hearts of some: an unscrupulous lust for power and authority over others.
This is The Promise, and it emerged in overt political practices from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago among Late Paleolithic people. Anthropologist Christopher Boehm said the effort created the human moral community. D.H. Lawrence called The Promise "a recognition of souls, all down the open road." Philosopher Jan Patocka called it the "solidarity of the shaken."
The Promise is exactly opposite of what many claim Thomas Hobbes meant in his discussion of promising. Hobbes, they say, holds that our promises to one another are empty and unenforceable unless a sovereign authority, unbound by promises of any kind, can enforce them. Whatever we may think of Hobbes' view of human nature (and many, like James R. Martel in his new book, Subverting Leviathan, think the neo-conservatives have gotten Hobbes all wrong), The Promise - and the earliest democratic aspirations and practices it inspired - was anti-authoritarian from the very beginning. We promised each other freedom, equality and fraternity in our mutual hostility to abusive or absolute authority.
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