Footnotes

 

 

1.     Isaiah Berlin; ÒThe Purpose of PhilosophyÓ; The Power of Ideas; Princeton University Press; Princeton, NJ; 2002; p. 35.

 

2.     If disagreements among people are to be resolved peacefully, the routes are either social authority, reason or a combination of both.

 

Quoting a footnote from a previous essay, ÒAutomation and Capitalism in the 21st CenturyÓ:

 

ÒThe ability to use reason widely and with some consistency distinguishes modern societies from more traditional ones. Lynch (2012, p. 2) writes, ÔThe thought that everything is arbitrary (or predefined) undermines a key principle of a civil society, that we owe our fellow citizens explanations of what we do. Civil societies are not necessarily polite or homogeneous, but they are societies that value reason-giving, inquiry, questioning, and hashing out oneÕs differences with others. In so doing, they take strenuously the idea that there are better or worse ways of doingÉthings. If you give up on the idea that there are standards of this sort, you give up on the idea that giving reasons has any real point. Deliberation becomes a game played for the joy of manipulation and the increase of power. Skepticism about reason undermines our commitment to civil societyÉÕÓ

 

The use of reason in problem solving also requires the social capital of trust, so people can cooperate.

 

3.     Yuval Levin; ÒThe Great DebateÓ; Basic Books; New York; 2014; p. 122.

 

4.     Ibid, p. 12.

 

5.     Thomas Ertman; ÒBirth of the LeviathanÓ; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge; 1997; p.p. 208, 158.

 

6.     David Fisher; ÒAlbionÕs SeedÓ; Oxford University Press; Oxford; 1991; p. 826.

 

7.     Wikipedia; Common Sense (pamphlet).

 

8.     Levin, p. 64.

 

9.     https://thomaspaine.org/was-paine-present-at-the-constitutional-convention-in-1787.html

 

10.  Levin, p. 4.

 

11.  Edmund Burke; ÒReflections on the Revolution in FranceÓ; Hackett Publishing Company; Indianapolis, Indiana; 1987; p. 19.

 

12.  Levin, p. 133. He is a fair and clear writer.

 

13.  Industrialization has been an economic force affecting societies since the beginning of the 19th century. The question facing developed societies is what to do once this major factor in mass wealth creation has departed.

 

14.  Howard Gardner; Ò5 Minds for the FutureÓ; Harvard Business School Publishing; Boston; 2008; p.p. 1, 3.

 

 

 

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