Will mankind ever be united?

by jam 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  Sulla

  But, Steve, civilization itself is built on the violent resolution of rivalry. There is a reason the earliest Egyptian kings (~3,000 BC) are depicted as lions, bulls, or scorpions surrounded by their dead enemies. There is a reason the counding documents of Western civilization are drenched in humann sacrifice (Agamemnon tricks and slaughters Iphigenia to facilitate his war with Troy). There is a reason we keep finding strangled children in bogs, put there to solve the internal crises of the European tribes.

  It is quite a mistake to suppose that we have somehow progressed over these early civilizations. Recall that the French Revolution was, itself, the perpetrator of mass murder and genocide.

  Either all this is deeply distrubing or else it is not. We do not, after all, suppose there is any moral lack associated with a lion slaughtering its enemies. But we might suppose that the Revolution slaughtering their enemies in the Vendee is symptomatic of some deeper failing in our nature. Such a conclusion does not have anything to do with the childish JW teaching on the matter.
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  designs

  Can we change within a few generations 100,000's of years of evolution of our species.
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  steve2

  It is quite a mistake to suppose that we have somehow progressed over these early civilizations.

  Depends on your definition of progress. Our age is the fiurst that has championed human rights, children's included. I think I did refer to 'progress' as being like a thin layer and that it's easily shattered and not necessarily by 'bad' people but by humans in general. Look at the ease with which we humans lose control of our emotions, for example. It's people who become misty-eyed about some idyllic past who need to open their eyes to what nature is really like. It certianly ain't nothing like the JW propaganda.
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  Sulla

  On that, we agree. One version of this idyllic past is the idea of the corrupting influence of civilization -- the old idea of the "noble savage." This is at the heart of comments like Aussie OZ's that religion is a negative and divisive force; as if to say that we are not naturally violent and murderous, but religion makes us so.

  I would disagree that this age is the first to champion human rights. I think we can find lots of cases where limitations on government and various rights were considered and instituted. The old Roman constitution, for example, forbade the execution of any citizen without a trial. Dare I say, the Law of the Jews had a similar set of limitations and protections for the poor and weak. So, I question whether we should be so quick to pat ourselves on the back: Liberty, Fraternity, Equality went sideways pretty quick, after all.