| good thinking |
flourishing humanity |
| culturally social advocacy
gary e. davis |
March 21, 2022 |
Progressive thinking accomodates lower cultural literacy for the sake of higher literacy. Accomodation is provisional, relative to higher literacy’s better (more promising, more capabile, more flexible) orientation of action: Autonomy is better than adaptivity. Manifold flexibility is better than individualistic autonomy. Deliberative normativity is better than traditional convention. Manifold appropriativity is better than sociocentric normativity. Progressive thinking accomodates provincial thinking provisionally. Appeal of gaining understanding (education) draws challenges of gaining understanding (edification) which warrants sociocentric duty to gain understanding—which is no burden; or is a burden welcomed (due burden of appealing duty). One owes oneself the appeal (on grounds of integral potential) of higher literacy; and, at best, welcomes challenges of outgrowing ethnocentric and mythical thinking, because a person inherited potential, challenges, valid duties, and even due burdens of remedially learning joys of never ending discovery. We need organizations understanding themselves as learning organizations; society understanding itself as learning society; political leaders understanding themselves as educators; and media staying oriented by the great legacy journalism that is always trustworthy. Good law serves an educational state, accomodating low cultural literacy provisionally (requiring educational opportunity and reasonable engagement). For the American Idea, good government will prevail, thanks to the voter appeal of democratic aspirations. In progressive thinking, values-based principles constitute rules-based orders; and validly lawful order prevails over ethnocentrism (and mythical ideologies). The American Idea of belonging—trust with tolerance with equality with humility with liberty with democracy—is multiethnically and globally inclusive (centripetal), not exclusive (imperial). The American Idea is a humanity which prevails over autocratic pretense by making society evolve ever more literately, ever more democratically. It's no understatement now to say that humanity, in the demographic sense of Our whole globality, depends on one's, on our, Our humanity, in profoundly ethical senses. That calls for working to improve citizen support for leadership which advances global sus-tainability, as well as making education—across all age levels—integrative, relative to issues of ecological humanity. In the university, interdisciplinary studies in the humanities deserve the funding and curricular salience that the sciences have. Philosophy has an important role to play as facilitator of interdisciplinary studies with the humanities and for integrating humanities and sciences conceptually. Americans need to better understand how the values that are inspiring the non-autocratic world are reflecting the values that comprise the humanitarian and democratic humanity of America: the first global nation, so defined by its immigrant constitution, which is the world's most exemplary cross-section of humanity. America is humanity's greatest instance of Itself—of humanity striving to flourish. America is not a national humanity, but a humanity of the world seeking to spread genuine democratic government and fair markets Modernity and democracy cause each other. That's the prevailing story of Euro-American history. |
next—> sociopolitical advancement |