Re: Was Pre-Enlightenment Civilization Superior to our Epoch?
Originally Posted by
Seeker
I cant say much about the yugas that have gone by , but we have recorded history for the past 2k+ years. If I go by that , we are definitely living in a better age.
- A child born has a better chance of surviving
- Oppression of women has greatly reduced
- Slavery is abolished to a larger extend
- knowledge is disseminated far more easliy
I can go on and on...
Notice, however, that these are all particular and external goods. One can have a hundred clean forks but only one dust-covered knife. The problem is, the knife is what's required.
What I am after is a certain internal state I think has been lost due to the particularization and goal-directedness foisted upon us by new desires. Multimedia seems to perpetuate this sense of desire which has left us without a self.
Furthermore, I can question all of the goods you propose:
- A child born has a better chance of surviving
Why is survival set at such a high value? Why is non-survival set at such variance with the human condition? Death may not be the terrible boogeyman we think it is, but a gateway to transcendence. I am not saying survival is of no importance, only that it is overrated, and leads to undue attachment to form.
- Oppression of women has greatly reduced
Has it? Women are certainly more equal in many respects, and protected from physical if not psychological harm, but are they really in a more benefited position now? Instead they seem to be at the mercy of a new type of oppression: their sexual objectification. I can fairly attest to this in my experience of college. Women have been cornered into an awkward position, and the panacea: radical feminism, seems to only further problems, for both sexes.
- Slavery is abolished to a larger extent
Absolutely. But, what do we have in its stead? Lower classes have nowhere to turn but the government. And without any lower institution to guide or accommodate them (such as slavery) they may instead wreak havoc on the rest of the populace. I'm not saying we should reinstate slavery. But slavery did serve as a sort of buffer against mass disorder.
- Knowledge is disseminated far more easily
And the more facts that are present the less we know. The wider the valleys, the shallower the depths. Wikipedia and high school courses may furnish us with some knowledge, but what they can't hand down is wisdom. Real knowledge and wisdom are lived out, and are rare things by nature, I'll wager. The internet is more or less a storehouse of many facts but very little justified true belief, what to say of real, authentic wisdom-traditions. So this point I set at very little, as well.
How can I put this in a sentence? Try next time.
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