Progressive ideology (Sustainable progress)

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group

Sustainable progress may look a weird term. Indeed the concept of sustainability has been one of key driving forces behind humankind’s advancement and progress. Sustainability has been pivotal to humankind’s survival strategies. It helps humans improve the ways they carry out their daily affairs, develop different ideologies and mindsets, create and find out merits in peace, law and regulation. By creating ideologies, humans facilitate the creation of different socioeconomic structures which in part respond their social interaction requirements.

Sustainability balances people’s interactions among their societies and benefits all members. It also balances societies with engaging communities in political systems to see their contributions in collective decision-making process in a broader context, and energizing members to pursue the grand vision. It keeps leaders accountable in societies and does not allow they impose their own interests on their communities. Instead, leaders must engage and cultivate new values based upon the culture values that already exist.

Sustainability does not halt humankind’s progress, unless the “ideological trap” appears and sustainability from a dynamic concept turns to a static one.

In the my next post I will discuss in brief about “ideological trap”

Rotten Spirit of Individualism

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development - Policy Analysis Research Group

In 1865, a theory with its origin in Europe put in practice in North America. A radical, profound and calculated change took place in America. The change was to affect nearly every aspect of individuality for generations to come. It was a lesson-learned from the past, and ready to shape the future and the destiny of millions. The ideology was embraced since its birth. Both it targeted individual’s natural incentive while it could create collective incentive within the concept of progress by the means of joining the common liberal man together, for strengthening and moving forward toward collective progress. The force with such overwhelming strength would condition the minds of the people to accept and withstand the cry of torture, hunger, death, while tilting the scales of justice in favor of social injustice. This was a true force which would cause to alter the common man’s value system so as to conform to its purpose of a new ideology. It would create a new value and faith, undermined radicalism, fueled by greed, and chosen as an alternative to prevent revolution of the masses. It was a two-edged sword, one for powerful elite, and one for common man; one for the rich and one for the poor.

But now, it is a stranger to its founders and lost touch to its original principle. Bankers have taken over not only the wealth of nations also their minds’ assets.

Please, the spirit of Norseman and the great arctic breath, please, please puff fresh air again

A brief on Confucianism and Critical Thinking

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group

Confucianism posits moral eductaion for nobles who will take office, is the critical point that determines the success of a government and progress of a state. It beilives that nobles who are educated, under this system, will feel a sense of responsibility to their society (Journal of Democracy 11, 2000)

This system believes the art of government and nobles are to correct people and it is fundamental in societies who influenced by Confucinism, "the optimum is what nobles say". The system believes the moral accountability notion maintains NOBLES from any wrong doing (Fukuyama)

Without any value judgment on Confuciosim, it could be said that this system keeps away people from participating in debates. Would it eventually cause to halt the growth as the notion of Critical Thinking would fade away (which is the main value of Freedom and progress)? Does this notion kill curiosity and would lead to the decay of a society?
One may say China, with adopting such a notion, could improve its society and got changes. Will it be sustainable?

Review the definition of values

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group

The fact is that by nature capitalism has tendency to form cartels, shuffle off the costs of pollution and collapse under the weight of its own innovative financial instruments needs to be regulated by laws in order to employ its capacity for the general good. Business needs governing, as all organizations for reaching their optimal performance require law.

The question of the essence of progress and the necessity of a revision on it is critical in our days. It is crucial for economics to rethink about the application of the concept of progress. Too often it seems human interest gets subsumed to the market, that the is treated as absolute. A thing is often fundamentally worth more than what its buyer will pay for, something that can get lost by a science so focused on a particular theme.

Progress can become empty and mathematical, and conceal our possibility to be authentically be in the world (Heidegger) Heidegger critiques modern technological progress, and conceives of a truthful and correct attack on it. Businesses have an incentive to inflict common costs for financial gain which it makes the uncomfortable feeling with capitalism. In the liberal political structure the financial gain allows capitalism invests in the political power to manipulate policies and regulations. This political investment and politics-corporations close relationship will yield payoffs by the means of financial and externalities deregulation and dysfunctional policy (such as energy)

The sense of progress is often defined in terms of quantities. It could measure in a way to answer “to what extend the human needs of those quantities are fulfilled”. Our social, economic, and environmental systems are profoundly integrated and the quality of these links is by far, significant to the progress of the modern human

Progress

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group

In a discussion with Professor Shabbir, I was asked for my thought on the concept of “progress”. By nature my mind was starting to make up words, based on my knowledge, for expressing my proposition, but I paused. Second thought ran through my mind that it would be better to look into “progress” from a different perspective. I have never thought about its concept in the context of our days.

Progress entails time and reference. It is a dynamic phenomenon that occurs over the time span. It should also be gauged and compared with a reference. Therefore an accurate definition, from social science standpoint, would be as “humankind evolves toward perfections”. In effect perfections are values which are established in societies. Let me borrow the values from the origin of law.  

Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica describes that virtue denotes a certain perfection of powers. He says that “a thing's perfection is considered chiefly in regard to its end. But the end of power is act. Wherefore power is said to be perfect, according as it is determinate to its act”.

Thomas defined the four cardinal virtues as prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude which are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. There are, however, three theological virtues, faith, hope and charity. These are somewhat supernatural and are distinct from other virtues in their object.

The object of the intellectual and moral virtues is something comprehensible to human reason. Therefore the theological virtues are specifically distinct from the moral and intellectual virtues

Giving this ground, we are now able to discuss about the concept of progress.

The concept of progress had been developing for centuries before conceding as a principle by western societies. In the 17th century, enlightenment thinkers believed that man emancipated by reason would rise to ever greater heights of achievement. The many manifestations of his humanity would be the engines of progress: language, community, science, commerce, moral sensibility and government. Unfortunately, many of those engines have failed.

Inevitably for developed western countries, the idea, in its classical form, was fundamental for their freedom, democracy and technological advancements.

The idea supported the development of reasoning and rationale and also free-market, social spending, innovation and investments. Societies have continued to advance in the paths which the idea of progress had paved.

But there is a flip side. The 18th century, societies were optimistic that business could bring prosperity; and that prosperity, in its turn, could bring enlightenment. Business has lived up to the first half of that promise. (Joseph Schumpeter) In the early 20th, the idea that individual progress should be subsumed into the shared destiny of nation led to break out of wars. Nationalism became the chief organizing principle of society even in the Middle East. Ruling elite in the pursuit of progress, in some countries, committed crime against people. The idea that humans would advance as part of a collective, would encourage few that have the right and the duty to impose progress on the masses whether they choose it or not,. It claims the blood of millions. With the demise of communism in the early 90s, it was proved that decay is inevitable for every system (No system is perfect and cannot get close to perfection) that basing on stagnated ideologies. Even ideology and concept should get changes over time as the society’s values are altered.   

Now the modern world focuses on consumption and quantities progress. They are based on the classical capitalism principles.

There is a question. Does capitalism with its classical and untouched principles along with technologies have power to tackle our day’s challenges such as climate change, inequality, poverty, energy security, water and food management and support any changes in favor of the wellbeing of the world?

Certainly history has more stories about the usefulness of technologies, but the point is that the quantitative concept of progress is unable to guide smoothly onto progress for humanity. From the human progress perspective, science needs governing and to be hitched to what humanity call “moral progress”. It yields untold benefits, if people wisely use it. Societies should understand what kind of technologies benefit the whole aspects of their lives and how the technologies should be used.  And to do that, we must take into account the society’s values and the way through which people behave in each society based on theirs own culture and the universal human value.