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Solo Standing on Guard: Life Before Law

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Abhijit Naskar

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“Dank dieser und ähnlicher Tricks und Ausflüchte überstand das Hobbes'sche Tier im Menschen die moderne Sittenreform unbeschadet und intakt, in seiner ursprünglichen und potenten, kruden, ungehobelten, flegel- und rüpelhaften Form, die der Zivilisationsprozess zwar zu übertünchen und/ oder (wie bei der Verschiebung aggressiven Handelns vom Schlachtfeld ins Fußballstadion) 'outzusourcen', die er aber nicht zu zähmen, geschweige denn auszutreiben vermochte. Das Tier in uns liegt auf der Lauer, bereit, unter der erschreckend dünnen Tünche konventionellen Anstands hervorzubrechen - deren Zweck es lediglich ist, das Unansehnliche zu verbergen, und weniger, das Sinistre und Blutrünstige zu unterdrücken und wegzuschließen.”

Human NatureCivilizationHuman Animal
Book:Retrotopia
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“But I did not expect science merely to extend lifespan, feed the hungry, cure disease, and shrink the world with jets and cell phones. I also expected science to banish the evils of human thought—prejudice and superstition, irrational beliefs and false fears. I expected science to be, in Carl Sagan’s memorable phrase, “a candle in a demon-haunted world.” And here, I am not so pleased with the impact of science. Rather than serving as a cleansing force, science has in some instances been seduced by the more ancient lures of politics and publicity. Some of the demons that haunt our world in recent years are invented by scientists. The world has not benefited from permitting these demons to escape.”

SciencePoliticsHuman NatureGreedHypocrisy
Book:State of Fear
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“I studied anthropology in college, and one of the things I learned was that certain human social structures always reappear. They can’t be eliminated from society. One of those structures is religion. Today it is said we live in a secular society in which many people—the best people, the most enlightened people—do not believe in any religion. But I think that you cannot eliminate religion from the psyche of mankind. If you suppress it in one form, it merely re-emerges in another form. Even if you don’t believe in any God, you still have to believe in something that gives meaning to your life, and shapes your sense of the world. Such a belief is religious.”

ReligionSocietyHuman Nature
Book:State of Fear
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“The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable. The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim – for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives – is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal. Thus throughout history a struggle which is the same in its main outlines recurs over and over again. For long periods the High seem to be securely in power, but sooner or later there always comes a moment when they lose either their belief in themselves or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both. They are then overthrown by the Middle, who enlist the Low on their side by pretending to them that they are fighting for liberty and justice. As soon as they have reached their objective, the Middle thrust the Low back into their old position of servitude, and themselves become the High. Presently a new Middle group splits off from one of the other groups, or from both of them, and the struggle begins over again. Of the three groups, only the Low are never even temporarily successful in achieving their aims. It would be an exaggeration to say that throughout history there has been no progress of a material kind. Even today, in a period of decline, the average human being is physically better off than he was a few centuries ago. But no advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimetre nearer. From the point of view of the Low, no historic change has ever meant much more than a change in the name of their masters.”

Human NatureInequalityHierarchyHuman History
Book:1984
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“Why is the dance beautiful? Answer: because it is an unfree movement. Because the deep meaning of the dance is contained in its absolute, ecstatic submission, in the ideal non-freedom. If it is true that our ancestors would abandon themselves in dancing at the most inspired moments of their lives (religious mysteries, military parades), then it means only one thing: the instinct of non-freedom has been characteristic of human nature from ancient times, and we in our life of today, we are only consciously—”

Human NatureSoviet UnionDistopian
Book:We
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