| The Principle of Humanism |
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| Written by Ianko Stoianov |
| Saturday, 27 September 2008 20:08 |
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The Principle of Humanism
Kant?s superb formulation of the principle of humanism determines the unconditional requirement for each and everyone to "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only." This is the great foundation of a supreme practical principle of the will for humanist ethical perfection of Man. The problem against which Kant?s principle immediately comes up and will invariably come up against is that it cannot and will never be carried out into practice in the conditions of a greedy and immoral capitalist society, whose anti-humanist nature is the absolute opposite of this principle because homo capitalisticos treats only himself as an end in-and-for-himself but all the others as a means only. It can and will be carried out into practice only after the abolition and eradication of the exploiting capitalist state order, in other words, it can only be realised in the conditions of a humanistically-minded society, in which Man?s will ? not the will of one exploiting class ? is the source of legislation of the truly universal will. Kant?s categorical imperative of humanism is the supreme limiting condition on the freedom of each man?s actions ? the duty of man is to ?act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it would become a universal law.? This deservedly famous determination manifests the will of the great idealist-humanist for a better world. Yet, the categorical imperative of the philosopher, who continually fills the thinking spirits with ever new and unceasing admiration and veneration for the astonishing pride with which he talks about ?the starry sky above me and the moral law in me,? is powerless, for it is absolutely individualistic. The very fact that he was a stranger to the class approach to history made it impossible for Kant to express the idea that only huge masses of people expressing the absolute ends, which move Man, have the power of will to realise the universal law of the Absolute Rational Will; not only do they know and will what is truly universal and humanist but they are also absolutely capable of carrying it out into practice. For millennia every man of wealth has known instinctively and at the same time perfectly well the credo of his class: ?Act so that the ends of the will of your class are the dominating principles of the universal legislation. Act so that you enslave people, so that you ruthlessly destroy the wills of the lower classes and simultaneously indoctrinate them with the idea that they are free, that you do it for their own good, knowing superbly well that first and foremost you care for your own good and the good of your exploiting class. Act so that the dictatorship of the principle of ?sacred? private property over the economy and the state to be the supreme principle of the dictatorship of your class over all other classes. Use all your enormous financial and political might to force them to obey; might makes right.? The first care of the exploiting capitalist class is to implement totally its own interpretation of the necessary principle of separation of powers. Class separation of powers begins with separating citizens from the public sphere and destroying their sense of responsibility with respect to their role in it. It is unacceptable. The Neo-Humanists cannot tolerate that any more! The true principle of a humanist and, therefore, truly ethical society is: Act so that public property as well as the common to all mankind good ? the universal public good of humanity, ? are in the foundation of every genuine human ethics; this and only this is the highest principle of humanistic politics. Act so that the huge potential of humanist political capital ? the common good ? is implemented as a political actuality in which all members of the political community have a powerful will to share in the the responsibility for upholding the common good and undertake permanent collective actions in pursuit of the common good. Act so that you are a spokesman of the universal will. Participate in its universal legislation. Do not allow the society to be turned into an enslaved atomised amorphous mass. Act so that your voice is enlightened and expresses the truly universal will and its values in the utmost degree. The Humanists treat World History as permanently developing humanisation of political life as well as eternally advancing emancipation and perpetual self-liberation of labour and production in social economic life; these processes begin in antiquity and pass from the wild and predatory period of early capitalism and the struggles of the working class for its liberation to the fights of the modern political proletariat in the times to come. The movement for humanism is invincible for the absolute humanisation of the common good is the highest end of development of Man, which invariably is carried out into practice with the whole inevitability and irresistibility of what is historically necessary. The capitalist society is not the highest end ? the absolute end ? of mankind. The commonplace hedonism of homo capitalisticos has nothing to do with the highest good of humanity. Humanizing the market forces is a revolution in its making. The humanists have always been contributing and will continue to contribute to this permanent revolution for the welfare of mankind. The developed humanism is invariably a developed communism as well. And vice versa, the developing communism is only possible as a developing true humanism, i.e. as endorsement and recognition of the human person, but the human person comes to his recognition only when he achieves the unity of his theoretical and practical will in his social being so that in the latter he is at himself. The great advantage of humanism over capitalism is based on the teaching of the universal will, which aims at the common to all mankind good, at the universal public good of humanity. And that is the reason why humanism has always been and will always be the solution of the riddle of history, a solution about which Marx wrote in his Economic & Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. Only the good of the whole humanity is the determining factor from which and through which we can understand the personal and public good. It is namely the principle of humanism that is the reason for the success of the European Union, which is highly respected all over the world while the USA have been beneath the contempt of the modern world for a long time. The European Union is a bearer of the universal world will whereas the dominating establishment of the USA ? its financiers, Big Bourgeoisie and political class ? are still dedicated followers of the 19-century egoistic will for world colonialism and imperialism; a global Pax Americana is the newest American dream. The bloody history of the early exploiting childhood of humanity is on the road to repeat ? and time and time again as a farce. It is too late, little American children. Wake up before your inhumane dream turns into a horrible nightmare. The peoples of the XXI Century will wake you up anyway. They will be peoples who know what humanism is and will impose their sovereign wills for creating a new higher world order in conformity with the principles of humanism. The humanists know that a national community is ethical only then when it is the embodied self-determination of the Universal ? common to all mankind ? Will; they want to live under the terms of the legislation of such an ethical will. The humanists want to change the rules of the game. As a replacement of the hydra of capitalism ? a man thinking and willing in a greedy capitalist manner ? which has to be destroyed for it is destructive and merciless for the nature and Man, they want to bring up a man thinking and willing in a humanist manner. Human nature presents us the finest dialectical combination of good and evil; the question which of the two ? the good or the evil ? will dominate in the practice of Man?s ethical life depends on what the laws of the state in which he lives are. Being based on lies and theft, the state of capitalist type is unjust and unethical; it must be made illegitimate and will be made illegitimate and replaced by the humanist states of the future. The Word history presents us the development of the absolutely actual will for humanism and once again it will not be late to begin building the humanist states of the future as it was not late to develop all previous political orders. Only when in-depth treatments of the idea of humanism are connected with the idea of the state, can they be superb. In other words, we cannot treat the idea of humanism truly profoundly without its connection with the highest form of social life ? the state. Humanism is the highest practical form, at which political will constantly aims and wills to achieve; its ends are the highest ones, which political will always sets itself and always carries out into practice. This is the contemporary teaching of humanism. It is totally political and regards the common good ? the state ? as the substantial, the main principle of every truly humanistic will for only in-and-through the state this will can realise its ethical nature. What this humanist manifesto expresses is not a powerless ideal or an abstract utopia. It is exactly the incessant fights of all generations in the whole world history for humanisation of the economic and political relationships in the state that are the best proof that humanist will is the absolutely actual, which invariably aims at a higher state of the world and invariably achieves it. The heroes of these generations have always taken a stand against and will continue to take a stand against any classes of exploiting type, which suppress the principle of the universal, of the common good ? res publica. On the other side of the barricades have always been and still are the superbly organised privileged dominating classes, which have successfully been creating quasi-just, non-humanistic states for themselves willing to strengthen their position and defend their holy of holies ? their right to expropriate, to rob and grab more and more of other people?s private and public property. Are they here to stay? It depends on you, modern proletarians. It is your turn to fight today. Let the great deed of our predecessors inspire you. Follow their example and be great. Great and inspiring was the power of Marxism. Thanks to it, the heroic struggles of the working class achieved what is called humane capitalism today; the fights of the millions of dedicated and selfless proletarian activists made capitalism more humane. Their energy to fight for humanism was amazing. It is only due to it that the modern proletariat has never had it so good. True! But! People, remember! They really died for you to live. The most disgusting thing that could have happened and actually has happened in the trite neo-liberal propaganda of modern times is that their fights have been forgotten. Deliberately forgotten! Capitalism has won! Temporarily but totally! Its ideologues wanted the fights of the working class and its heroes for better life to be forgotten; they have made every endeavour to achieve their perfidious goal and they succeeded. Thanks to its countless brainwashing media today?s neo-liberalism presents itself as the best of all possible economic and political systems and pretends that the contemporary political proletariat owes its welfare and humane capitalism only to the noble wills of the capitalists. No pasaran! The dirty tricks and lies of this Göbels-like propaganda ? with its famous motto: a lie repeated one thousand times becomes a truth ? must be unmasked and publicly denounced. Only when the contemporary proletariat organises itself still more superbly than the privileged classes, only when it fights for its own interests and ceases to vote for its masters, in other words, only when it ceases to support their interests and legitimise their right to expropriate and rob, will it be more powerful than them and will definitely be able to win and constitute the common good - res publica, which is a sine qua non for a truly just freedom. It is essential to bring up the sovereign?s will for humanism and make it stronger than the will of those who do not desire the ethics of the humanist movement and have every reason to be terrified of it ? the exploiters. Only the sovereignty of the people guarantees the real participation of the enlightened political proletariat in the state government. All power to the people! Every Man deserves to be a statesman and a legislator; the ancient Greeks proved it. Today in the era of e-government it is once again feasible and will be carried out into practice. The introduction of e-impeachment will also lead to participation of the people in the political judiciary power. It is the duty of each and everyone to be a political figure and aim at achieving the supreme state of a statesman, i.e. it is the duty of each and everyone to search for the true of the will, to aim at its excellent cognition and contribute to its practical implementation. This is humanism in action. Ethical virtues plus sound political education are absolutely necessary for Humanism to be successful. The aim of a state whose democratic constitution is based on the principle of public property is to create citizens with political virtues; statesmen, who love their country and its laws, i.e. who love their public interests as much as their private interests. No one can advance their own private interests at the expense of the public good. They have the duty to identify their interests with the interests of their country. The principle of humanism has always been working for the welfare of mankind; it will continue doing so. The humanists want to raise humanity to the level of modern Politovolia. This is absolutely necessary. On the one hand, there is small wonder that the majority of contemporary voters hold their politicians in contempt; and rightly so: they deserve to be treated with all the contempt in the world for they are servants of the Big Bourgeoisie. On the other hand, these sovereign voters have never been given sound political education. Yet, everyone is convinced that they know all about politics and possess good working knowledge. No! They do not! Any manifestation of profound contempt of politics in our time is intolerable; it is a betrayal of the highest interests and ends of humanity. Modern Humanism aims at creating a politically educated Man who cannot be manipulated; manipulation is based on ignorance. The newest humanist enlightenment of mankind is absolutely necessary. It is the duty of every member of the humanist society to have sound political education, and what is more, to have a thirst for excellent knowledge of politics so that like Pericles he can say with full right that: ?I am a man who is the equal of anyone both in knowing the needs of the state and in the art of expounding them.?1 The Humanists know what is to be changed in the ethical and political order of the modern societies. Truly humanist freedom is based on real and total participation in the economic and political life of the community, free access to the sphere of public affairs and public happiness. They do not have any doubt whatsoever that what is to be done will be done. The apologists of private property have been proclaiming the freedom of private owners of capitalist type for a significantly long time; only thus far goes their liberalism. The ?democracy? they talk about is nothing else but plutocracy. It is the modern Humanists who will to implement humanist political freedom and private property of humanist type and enjoy them in their everyday lives. They know that the common good ? a true res publica ? cannot exist under the rule of constitutions based on the principle of private property of capitalist type and the dictatorship of the capitalist class as its incarnation. Capitalism ? (a) based on the greed of one exploiting merciless class, (b) based on the monstrous egoism of every member of the capitalist society, and therefore, on the dangerous egoism of the whole society as such; egoism threatening the very existence of humanity, (c) based on hypocrisy and double standards ? cannot be the future of humanity. It has no future. Yes! Marx had every reason to say that ?From the standpoint of a higher economic form of society, private ownership of the globe by single individuals will appear quite as absurd as private ownership of one man by another. Even a whole society, a nation, or even all simultaneously existing societies taken together, are not the owners of the globe. They are only its possessors, its usufructuaries, and, like boni patres familias, they must hand it down to succeeding generations in an improved condition.?2 Today in the epoch of global ecological threat the magnificent principle of Christianity ? love thy neighbour as thyself, ? which Christianity has been preaching for two millennia and many philosophers just the same, deserves to be grasped in its universal form. You have to love not only this concrete neighbour of yours but the whole humanity as such. Strong and great must your love be; a pure volitional love, which does not only pray to God for the survival of humanity but fights and takes decisive actions. Each epoch attains the limit of its knowledge and begins to roam in the dark trying to grope its way forward. We are deeply convinced that the newest ideas of humanism will end the process of the latest, present roaming in the darkness of ignorance and once again we will see the bright light of humanism, in other words, ? like the contemporaries of the great Aristotle as well as Kant, who later expressed the same wonderful thought in his own way ? once again we will be seized by the magic of the starry sky above us and the humanist law in us. In contrast to the unethical behaviour of modern capitalist societies based on the extreme possessive individualism, self-interest and rising materialism of their members, the humanists strongly desire to create political communities that focus on the common good, the public happiness and dignity of all its members, who act in accordance with their deeply held conceptions of personal and civic virtue for both the good of their community and humanity as such. The humanists do not will to fight for the absolute priority of the community over the individual. They fight and will forever fight for the emancipation of the political community. This is the fundamental principle of the humanist res publica, of the humanist commonwealth. Humanists have always had the will for the common good. It is the necessary objective rational principle that guides their will lest it becomes arbitrary and unethical. They enjoy the totality of political freedom only in so far as they participate in the political life of their community. Humanism stresses the importance of civic virtue and the common good. True, each society is composed of many conflicting private interests, countless individuals are in pursuit of their private happiness. Neo-liberalism is right to claim that economics and individualism are of paramount importance but civic virtue and the common good of all citizens are even more important. Citizens have to be the essence of the government. The common good, the common wealth of each ethical political community do exist only when the citizens' personal interests and the absolute ends of the community are indivisable. Only clearly identified communities with a direct interest in the res publica are strong and ethical for they want to live in full conformity with the leading principles of humanism. The energetic will of the political community to act for the common good has to appear again. The humanists are strengthening their movement and ? once again ? are about to go on the stage of world politics to fight for it and make it happen. The humanists want to implement new determinations of the free rational will, i.e. new laws of freedom. For a humanist community to exist, the will of its members must be sufficiently energetic and revolutionary to constitute a new body politic. It has to create an atmosphere of cohesiveness, in which not only do people trust and help one another but also will to defend their sovereignty and participate in the the process of decision-making for they care about the future of both their community and humanity as such. A humanist community has the duty to prevent people from abusing their private property to the great detriment of the common good and the future of humanity. The future belongs to Humanism ? a social order, in which egoism is not encouraged, a social order, in which all decisions are taken from the point of view of humanity, not greedy and irresponsible individuals. Today the Humanism is absolutely necessary. Yes, dear friends! The time of Humanism has come.
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