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Oughtopia
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14671 |
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BOOK WORLD
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| Issue
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11 / 1988 |
2,440 Words |
| Author
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Gordon L. Anderson
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TEXTBOOK ON WORLD CITIZENSHIP
Edited by Young Seek Choue
KYUNG Hee University Press, 1986
495 pp.
"The ship floats on the sea, surrounded by darkness, without light of God and light of Reason.” The metaphor of the "ship of fools" from Plato is used to describe contemporary civilization in Young Seek Choue's reader, Textbook on World Citizenship. Choue claims that "man has given up the will both to direct the ship and find out where he should be heading… The most urgent task today is for man to rediscover his natural and proper position and to regain the ability to create history with himself as the protagonist of history.” This ambitious collection of essays is designed to explain nothing less than the history of world civilization and to offer an understanding of human nature that will give readers a handle with which to grasp history and help them create the world that ought to be--"oughtopia."
This book begins with history of the idea of world citizenship, from the ancient Greeks and Chinese to the present day, and goes on to discuss democracy, rights, and a world federation of nations. It explains why scientific technology and global interactions have led us to the point where our national political systems are gross anachronisms. On the whole, the book provides a valuable stocktaking of Western civilization. However, its concept of "oughtopia" remains a bit naïve.
A Comprehensive Philosophy Proposed
Philosophers who put forth comprehensive theories set themselves up for an onslaught by their colleagues who specialize in criticism and analysis. In his popular History of Philosophy, William Sahakian says, "'Philosophy' is used today to signify the critical evaluation of the facts of existence.” Many modern philosophers feel philosophy cannot ultimately answer major questions of existence because the "is-ought gap," the gap between facts and values, cannot be bridged. They feel that the certainty we seek will come only come through fact or through faith. This view has effectively put an end to the integrated and comprehensive type of philosophy that sought to comprehend the whole of reality, which was found in the philosophies from Plato through St. Thomas Aquinas.
Professor Choue argues that philosophy must return to its traditional task. Young Seek Choue is indeed a remarkable man in vision and accomplishments. At the age of twenty-nine he founded Kyung Hee University, which now has over 32,000 students. In 1964 he started the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP). His initiative moved the UN General Assembly to establish the International Day and Year of Peace. And he has edited The World Encyclopedia of Peace.
Choue characterizes the present age as one without political philosophy, without a vision of the good society. For the last one hundred years, social science has blindly worshiped facts. With the end of traditional forms of political theory, "it has become impossible, as a mater of principle, to have rational dialogues among human beings.” Without discussion centered upon values, the possibility of serious dialogue is precluded. As a result, we each "choose whatever social or political ideals are suitable to us, just as we take a pick of
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