Europe was labouring under
the weight of a socio-political system when Enlightenment dawned on it in the
17th and 18th centuries.
Most European countries had a hierarchical system with the King or the
Queen occupying the top position claiming to have derived his/her power
directly from none other than God. Then
there were the priests of the Church who not only brought God’s power to the
King or the Queen but also enjoyed a lot of benefits of that power in their own
royal ways. Below the clergy reclined
the aristocrats. All these three
together sucked the blood of the common people who did all the work and paid
all the taxes.
The philosophers who
questioned this system usually belonged to the aristocratic classes. But they possessed the sensitivity to feel
the inhumanity of the system. Thus
Rousseau (1712-1778) lamented the chains that shackled man everywhere. The encyclopaedists redefined ‘political
authority’ and ‘natural liberty’. The
coeditor of the Encyclopaedia, Denis
Diderot, is assumed to have said that salvation would arrive when “the last
King was strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” Locke, Montesquieu
and others asserted that the ultimate object of government was to promote the
happiness and dignity of the individual.
These philosophers
inspired the French Revolution with its motto of Liberty, Equality and
Fraternity. The Revolution changed Europe
radically. Eventually, after much
violence and bloodshed, democracy replaced the monarchies in Europe. Every individual became important.
Two centuries after the
Enlightenment, today we stand in need of another Enlightenment. Democracy stands in need of some
Saviour. Democracy today has become the
handmaiden of the politician and the trader.
The politician of today is the equivalent of the monarch of the old
regime in Europe and the trader is the equivalent of the clergy.
When Adam Smith argued for
capitalism, he thought that self-interest would work for the common good. “By giving free rein to individual greed and
the private accumulation of wealth, the ‘invisible hand’ of the market would
benefit society in the end, a formula sometimes characterized by the seemingly
paradoxical aphorism ‘private vice yields public virtue’” [David S. Mason wrote about Smith, A Concise History of Modern Europe]. Now we are left with private vices without
public virtue.
And there are no
philosophers left to inspire another revolution, it seems. Or, maybe, philosophers have joined the
traders.
I think we are on the verge of such process. I remember, once our lecturer told us, there is a kind of relationship between capitalism and human development. Humans only came to know the worth of anything, once they are being deprived of that.
ReplyDeleteA century back Emile Zola predicted that the next revolution would be against capitalism. Revolutions take time to mature. Moreover, capitalism per se may not be the culprit; the way it is being practised is the problem. So a revolution may not be needed; some reforms will do, I believe.
DeleteGreat read. Indeed we need people to rise and stand against politicians, bureaucracy, etc whenever there is anything wrong. Revolution or no revolution,the only difference that could come now is when people make their voices heard and not fear anything.
ReplyDeleteThere's one section of the Indian population which has "nothing but chains to lose" (to use a Marxian phrase). It is only they who will bother to raise the voice against the socio-political evils. And unfortunately they lack the power and resources for doing it.
DeleteThus post reminds me of a documentary I watched. Inside Job. Though got more to do with the economic crisis facing the 21st century, yet similar sentiments were expressed by the director when he tried to portray the ways of the corrupt and the institutions they have corrupted.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention of the documentary, Anu. Perhaps, capitalism as it is practised today has become so vile that it will require some Mahatma or Messiah to cleanse it.
DeleteI'm not sure if it's my pessimism or awareness toward reality, savior to our private greed will take a long time to come, if he/she will.
ReplyDeleteNo Saviour will come from the heavens, Pankti :) I'm not at all hoping for that. The only saviour possible is a human one, a good leader with the right vision...
DeleteI mean human savior only.
Delete