Current discussion approached my recent professional interests and
i feel a duty to response to this intellectual challenge. I wrote three books
on philosophy and logics of values for global praxis and education but here
i'll try only to present briefly some ideas and a metaphoric picture
philosophically plausible global future.
First two abstract theses:
1) civilizations (including societies and cultures) already have
ultimate (superior) values. They are changing in history step by step but
seem to rest different from each other FOREVER.
Here Western liberal, individualistic values have the same status as
values of any other civilizations
2) at the same time people from different civilizations encounter with
each other and that's why they need also MINIMAL values
(or Values of General Significance - VGS ) and correspondent norms without
which contacts become troublesome.
This list of VGS is well known:
A. human life, health, dignity, non-violence, tolerance to cultural,
religious, ethnic diversity, etc
B. subordinate values of legacy (against non-legal violence), ecology
(against pollution and other dangers for human life and health), etc
Fully realizing the danger to be blamed for eurocentrism i maintain that
since XVI-XVII Europe has the most developed value system, norms and
traditions (though used mostly WITHIN Western Europe, later WITHIN the West)
for this realm of minimal inter-civilization values.
Recent anti-racist, minorities-support, PC, feminism and similar trends in
USA and Canada have general humanistic basis and European cultural
origin.
A visible general project for global praxis includes a great variety
of human regimes (the notion of Elias, Goudsblom, Spier) with their own
irreducible value systems and superior values, but added by a general
platform of minimal values (VGS), that fit requirements and constraints of
encounters, exchange, global security, environment, resourses, etc.
VGS must include possibility for anyone to 'move'
between civilizations, i.e. the rights to leave (country, confession,
culture) and minimal openness of other communities to accept new members
(because pushed out marginals usually are troublesome for all sides and
themselves)
My metaphor for civilizations in global future is coexistance of various
religious communities within a city: nobody hopes that his God will be
accepted by those who believe in other Gods, but everybody respect minimal
values and norms of their common city (f.e. not to kill and not to insult
alien religious symbols).
The main problem that is not solved by this system is social (within
society) and global (among nations) justice that concern economic rights and
access to planetary resourses. But I don't see any possibility to solve this
problem until the global consensus of VGS based on human rights is achieved.
Global economic as well as environmental struggle can be effective only on
solid base of global legacy, global consensus of minimal values and global
geopolitical security.
Instead of revolutionary 'antisystemic movements' i suggest to focus
on initiating of wide humanistic movement for the following value
(not already minimal one but constructed on the base of the same
paradigm of human rights, compare with Kant's categorical imperative and
Rawl's theory of justice) :
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Equal possibility for each person of current and future generations of the
planet (including f.e. modern Central Africa, people of 21-22 centuries) for
life, health, freedom, security, education, self-realization, having family,
and guaranted minimal access to profits of utilizing planetary (especialy
non-renewed) resourses.
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Why cannot a city-humanity (first personalized by its intellectuals) start to
think of security and possibilities of all citizens notwithstanding their
confessions-civilization and date of birth?
I'll be grateful for your comments.
Nikolai
PS I can send a more detailed resume of my last book on this issue
(Values in the Problematic World: Philosophical Foundations and Social
Applications of Constructive Axiology) to everyone who is interested.
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Nikolai S. Rozov # Address: Dept.of Philosophy
Prof.of Philosophy # Novosibirsk State University
rozov@cnit.nsu.ru # 630090, Novosibirsk
Fax: (3832) 355237 # Pirogova 2, RUSSIA
Moderator of the mailing list PHILOFHI
(PHILosophy OF HIstory and theoretical history)
http://wsrv.clas.virginia.edu/~dew7e/anthronet/subscribe
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