Linear Directional and Cyclical Views of Human Affairs
—and their possible association with absolutist/purist and relativist/accommodative views of the same
A) Forward Moving (or Linear Directional) versus Cyclical Views of Human Affairs
The main issue I have with Marx's view of human affairs, which I otherwise admire, is the same as I have with many other views that might perhaps be traced most directly to Europe and:
- initially, its admirable "Renaissance" (rebirth), sparked by the entry and reentry of knowledge and analytical thought into southern, Mediterranean Europe (mainly southern Spain and then Italy) through the Muslim, mainly Arab, Mediterranean North Africa and Asia
- subsequently, and perhaps more significantly, Europe's equally admirable "Enlightenment".
The roots of these views extend further in space, including, most obviously, North Africa and West Asia, but also the rest of the Old World, and also further back in time.
The common element in these "modern" views, with which I have some issue, is the idea of a "forward" direction in our collective and perhaps even individual human affairs.
On the Left, the view behind the words "progressive" and "reactionary," as applied to political directions, is one manifestation of this basic view of human affairs.
However, this same view (and the drive issuing from it, with its benefits and its harms) can be found in many other human attitudes and endeavors.
This includes, in politics, views prevailing on the political and economic Right, despite its adoption of the term "Conservative" in Britain and the USA.
This “conservative” view also assumes a linear path in human affairs, with the purpose being to either resist any movement away from the current state of human affairs, or else to move this state "backwards" towards what is viewed as a better state.
Then there are all the views in the economic sphere, be these on the political-economic Left or Right, that advocate a particular economic system and its consequences.
This can be contrasted with the cyclical views that had long been prevalent in many human cultures previously, as especially evident in the philosophical and religious literature and scholarship in Asia, including China, especially, but also India.
So, just as the yin rises within the yang and vice versa and just our own multiple biological rhythms, along with the tides, the days and nights, and the seasons of the year, keep cycling through, so also, in this view, empires and other human constructions rise and fall and various currents in human affairs surge and ebb.
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B) Absolutist and Relativist Views of Human Affairs
In association with these two world-views, one finds also, in general:
- an intolerance for other views, or absolutism/purism, often accompanying the first, "forward moving" or “linear directional” view;
- a tolerance for other views, or relativism/accomodation, accompanying the second, "cyclical" or “mingling, spreading, and circulating” view.
Absolutism in the Abrahamic Religions
One possible historical manifestation of this association of absolutism/purism with a "forward moving" or “linear directional” view, often also seeing the world as a struggle between polarized opposites, might perhaps be found in some of the precepts and practices of the "Abrahamic" religions, each of these faiths being again admirable in many ways in its other teachings and practices.
These Abrahamic religions, among which Judaism is usually accepted to constitute the common, shared base, are of ancient and medieval provenance, originating and finding stable form, in the case of Judaism, in West Asia and North Africa, spreading later, mainly as proselytizing Christianity and Islam, into parts of the rest of the Old World and subsequently, via Europe, as Christianity, into much of the rest of the human-inhabited planet.
The "forward moving" view within the "Abrahamic" religions may be most evident in the proselytizing views and practices of Christianity, which were followed historically by those of Islam, with possible influences from Zoroastrianism and perhaps Mithraism and Buddhism, with Judaism remaining mainly (with some important exceptions) a hereditary, tribal religion.
Interestingly, though perhaps incidentally, both Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, though otherwise different, were radical reform and revolutionary movements that had arisen within adherents of polytheistic religions practiced initially mainly by speakers of Indo-Iranian languages. Among other things, both developed strong ethical codes that extended to all humans, and even, in the case of Buddhism as also in Jainism, all sentient beings.
The two major proselytizing Abrahamic faiths (Christianity and Islam, with their various branches) are closely linked to each other, and also to Judaism, with these linkages most clearly understood, accepted, and respected in Islam. The ethical codes in Christianity and Islam are based on that which existed in Judaism, but are further extended, in keeping with their generally more inclusive views on humans.
The three major Abrahamic religions share, to varying degrees in their various branches, a core absolutism/purism and so also an often-accompanying disrespect towards and intolerance towards other faiths, especially non-Abrahamic ones, with this absolutism/purism and intolerance being inherited from Judaism.
Indeed, Judaism, at its hard, resistant core, extends this disrespect and intolerance even to Christianity, especially, but also, to a lesser extent, to Islam.
Christianity typically extends this intolerance to Islam and also, in historical practice, to Judaism.
All of this said, it is possible to find many historical and current exceptions to these general patterns in all three Abrahamic traditions.
While Islam has, both in core precept and general practice, generally respected both Judaism and Christianity (though regarding Jesus as a prophet, not as an incarnation of divinity, a concept as alien to Judaic thought as it is part of the religious traditions of the Indo-Europeans and others) its attitudes and actions, again in both precept and practice, has rarely been truly free of this absolutism (and consequent intolerance) that is rooted in Judaism.
Again, one can find many exceptions to these general remarks, both in practice and in the core teachings of these three religions.
This absolutism has generally persisted and prevailed in all the three major Abrahamic religions, with large variations in their branches and over time.
As religious faith and affiliation waned in many countries over the last century, so also did this absolutism, at least in the religious sphere if not in others.
However, we have been seeing resurgences of religious faith and affiliation, for better or worse.
Unfortunately, there have been accompanying surges, typically associated with weaponizations of religions for political-economic purposes, of absolutism, disrespect, and intolerance.
These surges have not been confined to within the branches of the three Abrahamic religions. They have been very strongly evident in non-Abrahamic ones.
Absolutism in Economics, Politics and Other Human Affairs
In the economic and political spheres, we again encounter absolutist views, with "statist" opposed to "democratic", "capitalist" opposed to "socialist", etc.
In the closely associated social sphere, one finds again "individualist" and "collectivist" views, with extreme versions of each being, typically, intolerant of other views and practices.
In various other human endeavors, be these in medicine, education, science, engineering and other technology, industry, commerce, or whatever, as well as in all the humanities, arts and crafts, one also often encounters "absolutist" views, at times presented as "optimal" ones.
In these views, anyone who disagrees with there being "one best way", or one set of "best practices" or "one right way" is regarded as a woefully misguided nuisance at best and, too often, as a dangerous crank who needs to be silenced and eliminated.
In many of these cases, one may detect a strong association of these absolutist views with "forward moving" views of human affairs, and a disassociation of these with more "cyclical" and so also often generally more relativistic and accommodating views of human affairs.
2025 February 3, Mon.
Berkeley, California
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