The Origins of Human Reason

Professor Xavier

Have any of you given any thought to the origins of human reason? It would seem to me that an understanding of political power and human reason go hand in hand.

realitykeeper

Human reason pre-dates recorded history but the early Greeks as well as people like Confucius in the orient were the pioneers of philosophy as we know it today. For the purposes of political theory, Plato reckoned democracies had a fatal flaw because politicians would promise more and more until society collapsed under a tidal wave of debt, the auction politics of Bertie Ahern is one of many examples which support this point of view, another example is the welfare state.

recedite

Plato was a Republican, not a Democrat as such.
The origins of reason..... a monkey hears a rustling in the long grass, and wonders if it is a politician snake.

realitykeeper

recedite wrote: »

Plato was a Republican, not a Democrat as such.

Ah hah! So! The Republicans are right just like the great Plato. The pea brained democrats are wrong as usual. Well, I never knew that - but we live and learn.

aidoh

You're kind of right OP,
Humans evolved 'political' behaviour a long time ago. By political behaviour I mean a complex understanding of dominance hierarchies and the particular allegiances of other tribe members. Chimpanzees and many other 'lower' primates also show sophisticated social structuring in their groups.
However I don't think this goes hand in hand with the evolution of logical thought or reasoning. I would assume the ability to manipulate objects and make tools would drive complicated cognitive processes, which in turn perhaps produced 'reasoning' and conciousness as an epiphenomenon.
I'd recommend posting queries like this in the zoology forum if you have any more questions about evolutionary biology, but in any case an ability to understand political structures exists in many other species in varying degrees of complexity. Furthermore lots and lots of animals are known to manipulate objects with the use of natural and created tools. So probably 'political power' and 'human reason' as you put it evolved long before humans and needn't necessarily go hand in hand.

KyussBishop

The corruption of human reason provides a much better understanding of Politics I think:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnotology

Today power is enforced using deliberately intellectually-flawed ideology and spreading propaganda/FUD to both promote it and smear opposing ideologies.
Where fraud in finance allows people to gain money, intellectual fraud like this can allow people to gain great political power (or to slow the erosion of it).

There's an entire industry out there of think-tanks, with a lot of manpower devoted to the construction and upkeep of deliberately non-reality-based ideology, and political advocacy based on that, which is successfully keeping both populations in the dark about a lot of important issues, and keeping most people powerless politically (where political access is bought, and the shape of politics is more determined by money instead of wider society).

There is a good post here from an author, discussing how the state in many countries is working more towards business interests, than the wider populations:
http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2013/11/the-new-world-order-part-1-the-destruction-of-the-nation

Manach

KyussBishop wrote: »

The corruption of human reason provides a much better understanding of Politics I think:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnotology

There is a good post here from an author, discussing how the state in many countries is working more towards business interests, than the wider populations:
http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2013/11/the-new-world-order-part-1-the-destruction-of-the-nation

An interesting read. While there are parts I'd disagree with, it does echo work by other theorists such as Richard Posner(~ Conservative/Lib ) in his work Law & Economics who has tracked the capture of monetary elements of modern states by organised groups/lobbyists to push their own agenda and gain profit.