MACROECONOMICS ORTHODOXY AND POLICY MAKING IN TIME OF CRISIS Keynes, Friedman and the Spread of Covid Pandemic in India
The COVID global pandemic was one such phenomenal event that incited the deepest convictions of the politicians. Thus, when the idea of lockdown was mooted to right wing politicians like Boris Johnson (Boris Johnson fashion himself to be like British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill) and Donald Trump, they snapped that it is ‘totalitarian’ and anti-business. They vacillated to make the decision, while the express train of the pandemic run over the countries. Those who did not ideological opposition to lockdown like the premier of Newzealand Jacinda Ardern, however, were not perturbed by the concept of lockdown. They did what they are supposed to do in the right time. Of course, they had the financial mettle to do so.
COUNTER-ENLIGHTENMENT TRAITS
Counter-Enlightenment traits are a group of beliefs and attitudes that run counter to the values that made possible the modern world. We can list 5 such beliefs. These are mysticism, idealism, totalitarianism /anti-individualism (or communalism and/or communism), anti-republicanism and the rule of whims ( as against rule of law).
Modern world is characterized by increasing ability of large group of people to achieve consensus among them. Ability to arrive at consensus without physical conflicts is the cardinal feature of the modern world. This ability was not achieved in few years, but through decades and centuries of conflicts and turmoil. But its essential features are found in the works of thinkers of 17-18th century Europe belonging to the Age of Enlightenment.
MATRIX OF ENLIGHTENMENT VALUES
Modern nation states and organisations are mostly run by virtue of what is known as Enlightenment values (EV) (for more, see) There may be various permutations of these values in an organisation. Though permutations may vary, for large organisations to exist, the existence of the individual components of EV is almost essential. These are the […]
SADHGURU ISHA JAGGI VASUDEV: OSHO AND MAHESH YOGI FOR THE 21st CENTURY MARKET A Review of Isha Sadhguru’s Inner Engineering Program
I attended one of Isha’s online cum contact programs eager to know what he offer for all the techies to flock to him. I had got positive reviews of ‘mindfullness exercises’ from the writings of ‘reliable’ skeptics like Sam Harris and Yuval Harari, and wanted to get an idea of one of the many […]
NARENDER MODI, INDIRA GANDHI AND THE RESETTING OF INDIAN POLITICS
Narender Modi is a charismatic leader. In the range of his influence, he is undoubtedly the most charismatic political leader India has ever seen since Indira Gandhi. His tricks and tips of social communication are unmatched. But more than his oratorical skills-which may be just above average-what is overpowering is his endless energy which makes […]
WHAT ARE ENLIGHTENMENT VALUES?
Enlightenment values are a set of values that have their origin in the ideas developed by European thinkers from the Age of Enlightenment. These ideas primarily involve a break from the Church-dominated Middle Ages in European history. Enlightenment values are the cornerstone of successful social models in the Western world, especially in Western and Northern […]
What is Postmodernism and what is Modernity?
Postmodernism is a heterogeneous movement in literary theory, sociology, architecture and philosophy that emerged in the second half of the 20th century as a radical departure from the sensibilities of what was considered “modernity and modernism”. Modernity loosely emerged from a set of 17th century European ideas that came to be known as The Enlightenment, […]
THE RISE OF THE WEST An Annotated review of Niall Ferguson's 'The West and the Rest
British historian Niall Ferguson’s book Civilization: The West and the Rest ( Alien Lane, Penguin Group, 2011) is an interesting survey of the history of the world over the last thousand years. It examines the rise of Western civilisation through many historical intersections that were crucial in outsmarting its rival formations. I would recommend this […]
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT AND THE FOUNDATION OF MORALITY
social contract is the basis of all our laws and morals. Human rationality is agency that make people follow laws and morals. Laws are boundaries of major infringements of social contract, while morals are minor infringement of social contact. Change in social, economic and political circumstances bring about changes in the principle of social contract- more so for minor norms or morals and less so for major norms or laws. It is the human capacity for reason and rationality that make them follow laws and morals. Various degrees of compromise to human reason and rationality would cause various degree of infringements of social contract. Religion has no role in it. Religion was just a historical agency that acted as a vanguard of social contract. It is neither necessary nor sufficient for the practice of social contractReligion for historical reason formalized the lesser transgressions as morals and attached social restraint on these. Taboos developed as social restraint imposed by the social agency like religion. Here, we need to understand it is not religion which is the source of moral codes, but the social contract. Religion just happened to there as an agency through which principles of social contract is imposed.
Even if religion was not there, the principles of social contract would have imposed moral restrictions. An agnostics or atheist also follow moral principles. The source of moral norms is human rationality that informs an individual that he is living in a society and that he has to follow the principles of social contract. Indeed, many religions that has developed rigid moral codes in the period of their origin find themselves increasingly anachronistic in the modern era where social circumstances as well as social and political relationships have changed.
MODEL BASED REALISM
What is it like to be a goldfish in a bowl? Does the curvature of the bowl distort its vision enough to prevent it from “knowing” anything beyond the water Can an “intelligent goldfish” make an “estimate” of the world beyond the bowl? What if human beings are in a globe as perception-distorting as the walls of the bowl for a goldfish?