WEBVTT 00:01.810 --> 00:03.910 Professor Donald Kagan: Now, 00:03.912 --> 00:05.962 I'm going to ask you this question. 00:05.960 --> 00:10.870 Why are you here? That is to say, 00:10.865 --> 00:14.275 why should you, we, all of us, 00:14.278 --> 00:18.748 want to study these ancient Greeks? 00:18.750 --> 00:22.660 I think it's reasonable for people who are considering the 00:22.657 --> 00:27.047 study of a particular subject in a college course to ask why they 00:27.045 --> 00:29.725 should. What is it about the Greeks 00:29.729 --> 00:33.589 between the years that I mentioned to you that deserves 00:33.589 --> 00:37.519 the attention of people in the twenty-first century? 00:37.520 --> 00:41.270 I think the answer is to be found, or at least one 00:41.267 --> 00:45.857 answer--the truth is there are many answers--in that they are 00:45.855 --> 00:50.165 just terribly interesting, but that's very much of 00:50.168 --> 00:53.768 a--what's the word I want, the opposite of 00:53.766 --> 00:57.536 objective--subjective observation by me. 00:57.540 --> 01:00.780 So I would say, a less subjective one is that I 01:00.775 --> 01:03.865 believe that it comes from their position, 01:03.869 --> 01:07.189 that is to say, the position of the Greeks are 01:07.187 --> 01:11.977 at the most significant starting point of Western Civilization, 01:11.980 --> 01:16.480 which is the culture that most powerfully shapes not only the 01:16.476 --> 01:19.096 West but most of the world today. 01:19.099 --> 01:24.019 It seems to me to be evident that whatever it's other 01:24.015 --> 01:27.415 characteristics, the West has created 01:27.417 --> 01:33.087 institutions of government and law that provide unprecedented 01:33.088 --> 01:38.538 freedom for its people. It has also invented a body of 01:38.536 --> 01:44.126 natural scientific knowledge and technological achievement that 01:44.129 --> 01:48.819 together make possible a level of health and material 01:48.820 --> 01:52.970 prosperity undreamed of in earlier times, 01:52.970 --> 01:56.940 and unknown outside the West and those places that have been 01:56.938 --> 02:01.168 influenced by the West. I think the Nobel Prize 02:01.166 --> 02:05.146 laureate, V.S. Naipaul, a man born in 02:05.152 --> 02:11.692 Trinidad, of Indian parents, was right, when he spoke of the 02:11.685 --> 02:18.215 modern world as our universal civilization shaped chiefly by 02:18.218 --> 02:21.928 the West. Most people around the 02:21.933 --> 02:26.573 world who know of them want to benefit from the achievements of 02:26.568 --> 02:31.668 Western science and technology. Many of them also want to 02:31.665 --> 02:35.545 participate in its political freedom. 02:35.550 --> 02:40.660 Moreover, experience suggests that a society cannot achieve 02:40.658 --> 02:45.938 the full benefits of Western science and technology without a 02:45.943 --> 02:50.443 commitment to reason and objectivity as essential to 02:50.435 --> 02:55.535 knowledge and to the political freedom that sustains it and 02:55.543 --> 03:00.793 helps it to move forward. The primacy of reason and the 03:00.789 --> 03:05.069 pursuit of objectivity, therefore, both characteristic 03:05.065 --> 03:09.815 of the Western experience seem to me to be essential for the 03:09.824 --> 03:15.234 achievement of the desired goals almost anywhere in the world. 03:15.229 --> 03:18.409 The civilization of the West, however, 03:18.408 --> 03:22.908 was not the result of some inevitable process through which 03:22.905 --> 03:26.235 other cultures will automatically pass. 03:26.240 --> 03:31.070 It emerged from a unique history in which chance and 03:31.073 --> 03:34.583 accident often played a vital part. 03:34.580 --> 03:38.490 The institutions and the ideas therefore, that provide for 03:38.492 --> 03:42.682 freedom and improvement in the material conditions of life, 03:42.680 --> 03:47.200 cannot take root and flourish without an understanding of how 03:47.204 --> 03:51.054 they came about and what challenges they have had to 03:51.049 --> 03:54.159 surmount. Non-Western peoples who wish to 03:54.158 --> 03:57.998 share in the things that characterize modernity will need 03:58.003 --> 04:01.853 to study the ideas and history of Western civilization to 04:01.847 --> 04:04.797 achieve what they want and Westerners, 04:04.800 --> 04:08.680 I would argue, who wish to preserve these 04:08.684 --> 04:13.504 things must do the same. The many civilizations 04:13.499 --> 04:18.869 adopted by the human race have shared basic characteristics. 04:18.870 --> 04:24.100 Most have tended toward cultural uniformity and 04:24.104 --> 04:27.144 stability. Reason, although it was 04:27.141 --> 04:30.851 employed for all sorts of practical and intellectual 04:30.848 --> 04:33.608 purposes in some of these cultures, 04:33.610 --> 04:38.830 it still lacked independence from religion and it lacked the 04:38.828 --> 04:43.868 high status to challenge the most basic received ideas. 04:43.870 --> 04:48.750 Standard form of government has been monarchy. 04:48.750 --> 04:53.820 Outside the West, republics have been unknown. 04:53.819 --> 04:59.509 Rulers have been thought to be divine or appointed spokesmen 04:59.512 --> 05:02.872 for divinity. Religious and political 05:02.873 --> 05:07.953 institutions and beliefs have been thoroughly intertwined as a 05:07.948 --> 05:11.358 mutually supportive unified structure. 05:11.360 --> 05:17.410 Government has not been subject to secular reasoned analysis. 05:17.410 --> 05:22.130 It has rested on religious authority, tradition, 05:22.133 --> 05:25.733 and power. The concept of individual 05:25.725 --> 05:31.155 freedom has had no importance in these great majorities of 05:31.163 --> 05:36.203 cultures in human history. The first and the sharpest 05:36.203 --> 05:40.933 break with this common human experience came in ancient 05:40.925 --> 05:43.695 Greece. The Greek city states called 05:43.702 --> 05:48.502 poleis were republics. The differences in wealth among 05:48.498 --> 05:51.878 their citizens were relatively small. 05:51.879 --> 05:55.539 There were no kings with the wealth to hire mercenary 05:55.536 --> 05:58.896 soldiers. So the citizens had to do their 05:58.900 --> 06:02.410 own fighting and to decide when to fight. 06:02.410 --> 06:06.440 As independent defenders of the common safety and the common 06:06.438 --> 06:10.598 interest, they demanded a role in the most important political 06:10.604 --> 06:12.534 decisions. In this way, 06:12.532 --> 06:16.102 for the first time, political life really was 06:16.097 --> 06:18.337 invented. Observe that the word 06:18.335 --> 06:21.585 "political" derives from the Greek word polis. 06:21.589 --> 06:26.079 Before that no word was needed because there was no such thing. 06:26.079 --> 06:30.249 This political life came to be shared by a relatively large 06:30.248 --> 06:34.268 portion of the people and participation of political life 06:34.272 --> 06:37.872 was highly valued by the Greeks. Such states, 06:37.867 --> 06:42.397 of course, did not need a bureaucracy for there were no 06:42.403 --> 06:47.273 vast royal or state holdings that needed management and not 06:47.274 --> 06:52.234 much economic surplus to support a bureaucratic class. 06:52.230 --> 06:56.090 There was no separate caste of priests and there was very 06:56.093 --> 06:59.063 little concern, I don't mean any concern, 06:59.060 --> 07:03.310 but very little concern with life after death which was 07:03.305 --> 07:06.995 universally important in other civilizations. 07:07.000 --> 07:10.440 In this varied, dynamic, secular, 07:10.436 --> 07:15.966 and remarkably free context, there arose for the first time 07:15.973 --> 07:22.563 a speculative natural philosophy based on observation and reason, 07:22.560 --> 07:28.340 the root of modern natural science and philosophy, 07:28.339 --> 07:33.529 free to investigate or to ignore divinity. 07:33.529 --> 07:38.349 What most sets the Greeks apart is their view of the world. 07:38.350 --> 07:41.650 Where other peoples have seen sameness and continuity, 07:41.646 --> 07:44.876 the Greeks and the heirs of their way of thinking, 07:44.879 --> 07:49.419 have tended to notice disjunctions and to make 07:49.417 --> 07:52.677 distinctions. The Greek way of looking at 07:52.683 --> 07:56.193 things requires a change from the characteristic way of 07:56.191 --> 07:58.531 knowing things before the Greeks, 07:58.529 --> 08:02.349 that is to say, the use of faith, 08:02.352 --> 08:07.242 poetry, and intuition. Instead, increasingly, 08:07.243 --> 08:11.293 the Greeks focused on a reliance on reason. 08:11.290 --> 08:17.670 Reason permits a continuing rational inquiry into the nature 08:17.673 --> 08:21.303 of reality. Unlike mystical insights, 08:21.301 --> 08:26.551 scientific theories cannot be arrived at by meditation alone 08:26.545 --> 08:32.135 but require accurate observation of the world and reasoning of a 08:32.144 --> 08:36.414 kind that other human beings can criticize, 08:36.410 --> 08:43.980 analyze, modify, and correct. The adoption of this way of 08:43.980 --> 08:48.760 thinking was the beginning of the liberation and enthronement 08:48.763 --> 08:52.273 of reason to whose searching examination, 08:52.269 --> 08:57.649 the Greeks thereafter, exposed everything they 08:57.648 --> 09:02.308 perceived natural, human, and divine. 09:02.309 --> 09:06.719 From the time they formed their republics until they were 09:06.722 --> 09:10.742 conquered by alien empires, the Greeks also rejected 09:10.740 --> 09:15.810 monarchy of any kind. They thought that a human being 09:15.809 --> 09:21.909 functioning in his full capacity must live as a free man in an 09:21.909 --> 09:28.009 autonomous polis ruled by laws that were the product of 09:28.009 --> 09:34.109 the political community and not of an arbitrary fiat from some 09:34.110 --> 09:38.320 man or god. These are ideas about laws and 09:38.318 --> 09:42.968 justice that have simply not flourished outside the Western 09:42.974 --> 09:47.874 tradition until places that were outside the Western tradition 09:47.870 --> 09:52.010 were influenced by the West. The Greeks, however, 09:52.011 --> 09:55.961 combined a unique sense of mankind's high place in the 09:55.962 --> 09:58.772 natural order. The Greeks had the most 09:58.771 --> 10:02.191 arrogant view of their relationship to the divinity, 10:02.189 --> 10:05.139 as I will tell you about later in the course, 10:05.137 --> 10:08.017 of any people I know. So on the one hand, 10:08.021 --> 10:11.151 they had this very high picture of this place of man, 10:11.146 --> 10:13.246 but they combined it--excuse me, 10:13.250 --> 10:18.500 and what possibilities these human beings had before 10:18.499 --> 10:23.849 that--with a painful understanding of the limitations 10:23.851 --> 10:29.411 of the greatness and the possibilities before man. 10:29.409 --> 10:33.939 This combination of elevating the greatness in 10:33.941 --> 10:38.571 reality and in possibility of human beings with the 10:38.565 --> 10:43.725 limitations of it, the greatest limitation being 10:43.731 --> 10:46.201 mortality; that together, 10:46.204 --> 10:51.074 composes the tragic vision of the human condition that 10:51.068 --> 10:55.288 characterized classical Greek civilization. 10:55.289 --> 10:59.119 To cope with it, they urged human beings to 10:59.116 --> 11:02.666 restrain their overarching ambitions. 11:02.669 --> 11:08.259 Inscribed at Apollo's temple at Delphi, which became–well, 11:08.259 --> 11:13.139 the Greeks came to call it the navel of the universe, 11:13.139 --> 11:16.899 but it certainly became the center of the Greek world--and 11:16.900 --> 11:20.460 which was also seen as a central place of importance by 11:20.463 --> 11:24.293 non-Greeks who were on the borders of the Greek world. 11:24.289 --> 11:29.679 That temple at Delphi had written above the Temple these 11:29.678 --> 11:33.988 words, "Know Thyself," and another statement, 11:33.988 --> 11:39.028 "Nothing in Excess." I think those together really 11:39.034 --> 11:44.244 mean this: know your own limitations as a fallible mortal 11:44.237 --> 11:49.717 and then exercise moderation because you are not divine, 11:49.720 --> 11:54.220 you are mortal. Beyond these exhortations, 11:54.216 --> 11:59.016 they relied on a good political regime to enable human beings to 11:59.016 --> 12:03.356 fulfill the capacities that were part of their nature, 12:03.360 --> 12:09.540 to train them in virtue, and to restrain them from vice. 12:09.539 --> 12:13.139 Aristotle, and his politics, made the point neatly, 12:13.139 --> 12:15.299 and I quote him, "As a man," 12:15.299 --> 12:18.609 - I'm sorry, "As man is the best of the 12:18.608 --> 12:22.608 animals when perfected, so he is the worst when 12:22.612 --> 12:28.452 separated from law and justice. For injustice is most dangerous 12:28.450 --> 12:33.760 when it is armed and man armed by nature with good sense and 12:33.759 --> 12:38.259 virtue may use them for entirely opposite ends. 12:38.259 --> 12:42.199 Therefore, when he is without virtue, man is the most 12:42.198 --> 12:45.378 unscrupulous and savage of the animals." 12:48.440 --> 12:52.640 Aristotle went on to say that the justice needed to control 12:52.644 --> 12:56.784 this dark side of human nature can be found only in a well 12:56.777 --> 13:00.907 ordered society of free people who govern themselves, 13:00.909 --> 13:05.949 and the only one that he knew was the polis of the 13:05.950 --> 13:08.820 Greeks. Now, the second great 13:08.816 --> 13:13.336 strand in the history of the West is the Judeo Christian 13:13.340 --> 13:16.670 tradition, a very different tradition from 13:16.669 --> 13:21.359 the one I have just described. Christianity's main roots were 13:21.360 --> 13:25.330 in Judaism, a religion that worshipped a single, 13:25.330 --> 13:29.650 all powerful deity, who is sharply separated from 13:29.654 --> 13:33.534 human beings, makes great moral demands upon 13:33.529 --> 13:36.539 them, and judges them all, 13:36.535 --> 13:41.155 even kings and emperors. Christianity began as a 13:41.158 --> 13:45.488 persecuted religion that ultimately captured the Roman 13:45.485 --> 13:50.625 Empire only after centuries of hostility towards the Empire, 13:50.629 --> 13:53.969 towards Rome, towards the secular state in 13:53.966 --> 13:57.006 general. It never lost entirely its 13:57.009 --> 14:00.699 original character as an insurgent movement, 14:00.696 --> 14:04.636 independent of the state and hostile to it, 14:04.639 --> 14:08.109 making claims that challenge the secular authority. 14:08.110 --> 14:11.810 This, too, is unique to the West, just like the Greek 14:11.805 --> 14:15.505 experience is unique. This kind of religious 14:15.509 --> 14:21.059 organization is to be found nowhere else in human society. 14:21.059 --> 14:25.189 So the union of a universalist religion, 14:25.193 --> 14:29.233 with a monarch such as the Roman Empire, 14:29.230 --> 14:34.260 who ruled a vast empire, could nonetheless have put an 14:34.260 --> 14:39.860 end to any prospect of freedom as in other civilizations. 14:39.860 --> 14:45.650 But Christianity's inheritance of the rational disputatious 14:45.649 --> 14:50.739 Greek philosophy led to powerfully divisive quarrels 14:50.740 --> 14:56.730 about the nature of God and other theological questions, 14:56.730 --> 15:00.900 which was perfectly in the tradition and uniquely in the 15:00.903 --> 15:04.093 tradition of Greek philosophical debate. 15:04.090 --> 15:06.840 What I am doing is making a claim that even the 15:06.838 --> 15:10.118 Judeo-Christian tradition, which is such a different one 15:10.124 --> 15:13.714 from the Greeks, and in so many ways seems to be 15:13.713 --> 15:17.193 at odds with it, even they were dependent upon 15:17.187 --> 15:21.637 one aspect of the Greek culture, which is inherent in 15:21.643 --> 15:25.503 Christianity and important in Christianity. 15:25.500 --> 15:28.770 That too, was ultimately, a Greek source. 15:28.769 --> 15:32.189 Well, the people who the Romans called barbarians 15:32.186 --> 15:36.326 destroyed the Western empire and it also the destroyed the power 15:36.325 --> 15:39.995 of the emperors and their efforts to impose religious and 15:40.004 --> 15:43.294 political conformity under imperial control. 15:43.289 --> 15:46.339 The emperor in the east was able to do that because they 15:46.344 --> 15:48.514 were not conquered by the barbarians, 15:48.509 --> 15:52.469 but in the West, you have this situation where 15:52.473 --> 15:57.003 nobody is fully in charge. Here we have arrived at a 15:56.996 --> 16:01.846 second sharp break with the general experience of mankind. 16:01.850 --> 16:06.960 The West of the Germanic tribes that had toppled the Roman 16:06.955 --> 16:10.265 Empire was weak and it was divided. 16:10.269 --> 16:15.429 The barriers to unity presented by European geography and very 16:15.425 --> 16:20.325 limited technology made it hard for a would-be conqueror to 16:20.327 --> 16:24.777 create a vast empire, eliminating competitors and 16:24.778 --> 16:27.808 imposing his will over vast areas. 16:27.809 --> 16:32.429 These conditions permitted a development of institutions and 16:32.428 --> 16:36.628 habits needed for freedom, even as they also made Europe 16:36.626 --> 16:40.496 vulnerable to conquests and to extinction, and Europe was 16:40.500 --> 16:44.720 almost extinguished practically before there was a Europe; 16:44.720 --> 16:50.040 very early in its history. The Christian Church might 16:50.037 --> 16:53.727 have stepped into the breach and imposed obedience and 16:53.725 --> 16:57.215 uniformity, because before terribly long, 16:57.217 --> 17:00.687 all of the West had been Christianized. 17:00.690 --> 17:03.870 But the Church, in fact, never gained enough 17:03.867 --> 17:08.157 power to control the state. Strong enough to interfere with 17:08.158 --> 17:12.038 the ambitions of emperors and kings, it never was able to 17:12.039 --> 17:16.589 impose its own domination, though some of the Popes surely 17:16.587 --> 17:19.477 tried. Nobody sought or planned for 17:19.482 --> 17:24.052 freedom, but in the spaces that were left by the endless 17:24.045 --> 17:29.515 conflicts among secular rulers and between them and the Church, 17:29.519 --> 17:33.939 there was room for freedom to grow. 17:33.940 --> 17:38.110 Freedom was a kind of an accident that came about because 17:38.105 --> 17:41.895 the usual ways of doing things were not possible. 17:41.900 --> 17:47.820 Into some of that space, towns and cities reappeared and 17:47.824 --> 17:51.814 with them new supports for freedom. 17:51.809 --> 17:54.789 Taking advantage of the rivalries I've mentioned, 17:54.788 --> 17:58.638 they obtained charters from the local powers establishing their 17:58.636 --> 18:01.616 rights to conduct their own affairs and to govern 18:01.615 --> 18:03.495 themselves. In Italy, 18:03.504 --> 18:06.844 some of these cities were able to gain control of the 18:06.844 --> 18:09.734 surrounding country and to become city states, 18:09.734 --> 18:12.564 resembling those of the ancient Greeks. 18:12.559 --> 18:17.839 Their autonomy was assisted by the continuing struggle between 18:17.841 --> 18:21.791 Popes and Emperors, between church and state, 18:21.791 --> 18:25.801 again, a thoroughly unique Western experience. 18:25.799 --> 18:29.579 In these states, the modern world began to take 18:29.584 --> 18:32.484 form. Although the people were mainly 18:32.480 --> 18:36.450 Christians, their life and outlook became increasingly 18:36.446 --> 18:39.606 secular. Here, and not only in Italy but 18:39.608 --> 18:43.828 in other cities north of the Alps, arose a worldview that 18:43.832 --> 18:47.682 celebrated the greatness and dignity of mankind, 18:47.680 --> 18:52.750 which was a very sharp turning away from the medieval Western 18:52.747 --> 18:57.897 tradition that put God and life in the hereafter at the center 18:57.899 --> 19:01.989 of everything. This new vision is revealed 19:06.890 --> 19:12.500 a Florentine thinker, who said--wrote the following: 19:12.500 --> 19:16.240 "God told man that we, meaning God, 19:16.243 --> 19:20.293 have made the neither of Heaven nor of Earth, 19:20.289 --> 19:25.779 neither mortal nor immortal, so that with freedom of choice 19:25.779 --> 19:29.739 and with honor, as though the maker and molder 19:29.738 --> 19:33.688 of thyself, thou mayest fashion thyself in 19:33.688 --> 19:36.768 whatever shape thou shalt prefer. 19:36.769 --> 19:42.939 Oh supreme generosity of God the Father, oh highest and the 19:42.943 --> 19:49.593 most great felicity of man, to Him it is granted to have 19:49.586 --> 19:55.426 whatever He chooses to be whatever He wills." 19:55.430 --> 20:01.880 Now, this is a remarkable leap, even beyond the humanism of the 20:01.877 --> 20:06.347 Greeks, something brand new in the world. 20:06.349 --> 20:10.599 According to this view, man is not merely the measure 20:10.595 --> 20:15.325 of all things as the Greek Sophist Protagoras had radically 20:15.330 --> 20:21.290 proclaimed in the fifth century. He is, in fact says Pico, 20:21.293 --> 20:26.443 more than mortal. He is unlimited by nature. 20:26.440 --> 20:32.620 He is entirely free to shape himself and to acquire whatever 20:32.618 --> 20:36.368 he wants. Please observe too that it is 20:36.373 --> 20:41.313 not his reason that will determine human actions but his 20:41.311 --> 20:46.341 will alone, free of the moderating control of reason. 20:46.339 --> 20:49.099 Another Florentine, Machiavelli, 20:49.096 --> 20:52.086 moved further in the same direction. 20:52.089 --> 20:57.789 For him, and I quote him, "Fortune is a woman and it is 20:57.789 --> 21:04.439 necessary to hold her down and beat her, and fight with her." 21:04.440 --> 21:08.910 A notion that the Greeks would have regarded as dangerously 21:08.913 --> 21:12.233 arrogant and certain to produce disaster. 21:12.230 --> 21:15.250 They would have seen this as an example of the word that they 21:15.246 --> 21:17.756 used, and we'll talk about a lot in this course, 21:17.759 --> 21:21.069 hubris, a kind of violent arrogance 21:21.070 --> 21:25.670 which comes upon men when they see themselves as more than 21:25.673 --> 21:29.553 human and behave as though they were divine. 21:29.549 --> 21:32.869 Francis Bacon, influenced by Machiavelli, 21:32.867 --> 21:37.757 urged human beings to employ their reason to force nature to 21:37.759 --> 21:42.139 give up its secrets, to treat nature like a woman, 21:42.144 --> 21:46.694 to master nature in order to improve man's material well 21:46.686 --> 21:49.106 being. He assumed that such a course 21:49.114 --> 21:52.714 would lead to progress and the general improvement of the human 21:52.714 --> 21:55.324 condition, and it was that sort of 21:55.320 --> 22:00.310 thinking that lay at the heart of the scientific revolution and 22:00.309 --> 22:04.739 remains the faith on which modern science and technology 22:04.735 --> 22:07.435 rest. A couple of other English 22:07.442 --> 22:10.002 political philosophers, Hobbs and Locke, 22:10.002 --> 22:13.612 applied a similar novelty and modernity to the sphere of 22:13.611 --> 22:16.811 politics. Basing their understanding on 22:16.813 --> 22:21.623 the common passions of man for a comfortable self-preservation 22:21.616 --> 22:26.416 and discovering something the Greeks had never thought of, 22:26.420 --> 22:31.470 something they called natural rights that belonged to a man 22:31.469 --> 22:36.619 either as part of nature, or as the gift of a benevolent 22:36.623 --> 22:41.293 and a reasonable god. Man was seen as a solitary 22:41.294 --> 22:45.724 creature, not inherently a part of society. 22:45.720 --> 22:50.750 That is totally un-Greek. And his basic rights were seen 22:50.746 --> 22:54.466 to be absolute, for nothing must interfere with 22:54.465 --> 22:58.265 the right of each individual to defend his life, 22:58.266 --> 23:02.766 liberty, and property. Freedom was threatened in early 23:02.772 --> 23:07.492 modern times by the emergence of monarchies that might have been 23:07.491 --> 23:11.041 able to crush it. But the cause of individual 23:11.044 --> 23:15.004 freedom was enhanced by the Protestant Reformation. 23:15.000 --> 23:19.560 Another upheaval within Christianity arising from its 23:19.556 --> 23:24.776 focus on individual salvation, its inheritance of a tradition 23:24.780 --> 23:28.650 of penetrating reason, applied even to matters of 23:28.654 --> 23:33.014 faith and to the continuing struggle between church and 23:33.012 --> 23:36.442 state. The English Revolution came 23:36.438 --> 23:40.118 about, in large part, because of King Charles' 23:40.123 --> 23:44.303 attempt to impose an alien religious conformity, 23:44.299 --> 23:49.179 as well as tighter political control on his kingdom. 23:49.180 --> 23:52.380 But in England, the tradition of freedom and 23:52.382 --> 23:56.782 government bound by law was already strong enough to produce 23:56.777 --> 24:01.237 effective resistance. From the ensuing rebellion came 24:01.241 --> 24:05.521 limited constitutional representative government and 24:05.521 --> 24:09.131 ultimately our modern form of democracy. 24:09.130 --> 24:11.900 The example, and the ideas it produced, 24:11.899 --> 24:15.539 encouraged and informed the French and the American 24:15.543 --> 24:18.423 Revolutions, and the entire modern 24:18.416 --> 24:23.166 constitutional tradition. These ideas and institutions 24:23.172 --> 24:28.462 are the basis for modern liberal thinking about politics, 24:28.458 --> 24:33.368 the individual and society. Just as the confident view of 24:33.373 --> 24:37.543 science and technology has progressive forces improving the 24:37.539 --> 24:41.989 lot of humanity and increasing man's capacity to understand and 24:41.992 --> 24:46.612 control the universe, has been the most powerful form 24:46.607 --> 24:50.327 taken by the Western elevation of reason. 24:50.329 --> 24:55.549 In the last two centuries, both these most characteristic 24:55.550 --> 25:01.120 elements of Western civilization have in fact become increasingly 25:01.118 --> 25:04.648 under heavy attack. At different times, 25:04.654 --> 25:09.344 science and technology have been blamed for the destruction 25:09.338 --> 25:14.018 of human community and the alienation of people from nature 25:14.022 --> 25:18.462 and from one another - for intensifying the gulf between 25:18.464 --> 25:22.124 rich and poor, for threatening the very 25:22.122 --> 25:26.372 existence of humanity, either by producing weapons of 25:26.374 --> 25:30.794 total destruction or by destroying the environment. 25:30.789 --> 25:35.099 At the same time, the foundations of freedom have 25:35.103 --> 25:40.093 also come into question. Jefferson and his colleagues 25:40.087 --> 25:45.947 could confidently proclaim their political rights as being self 25:45.951 --> 25:49.451 evident and the gift of a creator. 25:49.450 --> 25:53.720 By now, in our time, however, the power of religion 25:53.719 --> 25:58.239 has faded, and for many, the basis of modern political 25:58.244 --> 26:01.664 and moral order has been demolished. 26:01.660 --> 26:06.930 Nietzsche announced the death of God and Dostoyevsky's 26:06.932 --> 26:12.582 Grand Inquisitor asserted that when God is dead all things are 26:12.575 --> 26:16.855 permitted. Nihilism rejects any objective 26:16.860 --> 26:20.450 basis for society and its morality. 26:20.450 --> 26:24.740 It rejects the very concept of objectivity. 26:24.740 --> 26:29.320 It even rejects the possibility of communication itself, 26:29.317 --> 26:34.287 and a vulgar form of Nihilism, I claim, has a remarkable 26:34.294 --> 26:38.094 influence in our educational system today, 26:38.089 --> 26:41.699 a system rotting from the head down, 26:41.700 --> 26:45.770 so chiefly in universities, but all the way down to 26:45.770 --> 26:49.940 elementary schools. The consequences of the victory 26:49.935 --> 26:53.495 of such ideas, I believe, would be enormous. 26:53.500 --> 27:00.220 If both religion and reason are removed, all that remains is 27:00.221 --> 27:05.231 will and power, where the only law is the law 27:05.233 --> 27:09.823 of tooth and claw. There is no protection for 27:09.818 --> 27:12.998 the freedom of weaker individuals, or those who 27:13.004 --> 27:16.264 question the authority of the most powerful. 27:16.259 --> 27:19.739 There is no basis for individual rights, 27:19.738 --> 27:24.378 or for a critique of existing ideas and institutions, 27:24.375 --> 27:29.365 if there is no base either in religion or in reason. 27:29.369 --> 27:32.749 That such attacks on the greatest achievements of the 27:32.746 --> 27:36.576 West should be made by Western intellectuals is perfectly in 27:36.577 --> 27:39.107 keeping with the Western tradition. 27:39.109 --> 27:42.429 The first crowd to do stuff like that, you will find, 27:42.427 --> 27:46.257 in the fifth century B.C. in Greece is a movement called 27:46.255 --> 27:49.885 The Sophistic Movement. These Sophists raised most of 27:49.885 --> 27:54.105 the questions that my colleagues are now spending all their time 27:54.113 --> 27:57.203 with. Yet, to me, it seems ironic 27:57.202 --> 28:01.932 that they have gained so much currency in a time, 28:01.930 --> 28:05.650 more or less, in which the achievements of 28:05.649 --> 28:11.179 Western reason in the form of science and at a moment when its 28:11.183 --> 28:16.363 concept of political freedom seemed to be more popular and 28:16.355 --> 28:22.065 more desirable to people in and out of Western civilization than 28:22.070 --> 28:25.340 ever. Now, I've been saying kind 28:25.339 --> 28:27.639 things about Western civilization, 28:27.637 --> 28:31.817 but I would not want to deny that there is a dark side to the 28:31.815 --> 28:34.875 Western experience and its way of life. 28:34.880 --> 28:40.640 To put untrammeled reasons and individual freedom at the center 28:40.638 --> 28:45.188 of a civilization is to live with the conflict, 28:45.190 --> 28:47.770 the turmoil, the instability, 28:47.773 --> 28:52.113 and the uncertainty that these things create. 28:52.109 --> 28:57.629 Freedom was born and has survived in the space created by 28:57.632 --> 29:02.862 divisions, and conflict within and between nations and 29:02.859 --> 29:06.719 religions. We must wonder whether the 29:06.724 --> 29:11.794 power of modern weapons will allow it and the world to 29:11.789 --> 29:15.529 survive at such a price. Individual freedom, 29:15.525 --> 29:18.685 although it has greatly elevated the condition of the 29:18.686 --> 29:21.296 people who have lived in free societies, 29:21.299 --> 29:25.939 inevitably permits inequalities which are the more galling, 29:25.936 --> 29:30.406 because each person is plainly free to try to improve his 29:30.413 --> 29:34.733 situation and largely responsible for the outcome. 29:34.730 --> 29:39.950 Freedom does permit isolation from society and an alienation 29:39.949 --> 29:45.169 of the individual at a high cost, both to the individual and 29:45.168 --> 29:48.048 society. These are not the only 29:48.049 --> 29:52.109 problems posed by the Western tradition in its modern form, 29:52.109 --> 29:56.519 which is what we live in. Whether it takes the shape of 29:56.522 --> 30:00.752 the unbridled claims of Pico della Mirandola or the 30:00.750 --> 30:05.820 Nietzschean assertion of the power of the superior individual 30:05.823 --> 30:09.463 to transform and shape his own nature, 30:09.460 --> 30:15.740 or of the modern totalitarian effort to change the nature of 30:15.743 --> 30:20.113 humanity by utopian social engineering, 30:20.109 --> 30:25.949 the temptation to arrogance offered by the ideas and worldly 30:25.951 --> 30:30.801 success of the modern West threatens its own great 30:30.801 --> 30:35.421 traditions and achievements. Because of Western 30:35.419 --> 30:39.769 civilization's emergence as the exemplary civilization, 30:39.766 --> 30:43.626 it also presents problems to the whole world. 30:43.630 --> 30:47.770 The challenges presented by freedom and the predominance of 30:47.771 --> 30:51.911 reason cannot be ignored, nor can they be met by recourse 30:51.906 --> 30:55.176 to the experience of other cultures where these 30:55.179 --> 30:58.239 characteristics have not been prominent. 30:58.240 --> 31:01.490 In other words, to understand and cope with the 31:01.486 --> 31:05.156 problems that we all face, we all need to know and to 31:05.156 --> 31:07.976 grapple with the Western experience. 31:07.980 --> 31:11.660 In my view, we need especially to examine 31:11.658 --> 31:17.258 the older traditions of the West that came before the modern era, 31:17.259 --> 31:21.999 and to take seriously the possibility that useful wisdom 31:22.000 --> 31:26.620 can be found there, especially among the Greeks who 31:26.620 --> 31:29.450 began it all. They understood the 31:29.447 --> 31:33.867 potentiality of human beings, their limitations and the 31:33.873 --> 31:39.093 predicament in which they live. Man is potent and important, 31:39.087 --> 31:43.677 yet he is fallible and mortal, capable of the greatest 31:43.682 --> 31:46.892 achievements and the worst crimes. 31:46.890 --> 31:50.920 He is then a tragic figure, powerful but limited, 31:50.919 --> 31:55.869 with freedom to choose and act, but bound by his own nature, 31:55.871 --> 32:00.161 knowing that he will never achieve perfect knowledge and 32:00.155 --> 32:03.525 understanding, justice and happiness, 32:03.526 --> 32:08.546 but determined to continue the search no matter what. 32:08.549 --> 32:12.769 To me that seems an accurate description of the 32:12.768 --> 32:15.888 human condition that is meaningful, 32:15.890 --> 32:19.570 not only for the Greeks and their heirs in the West, 32:19.571 --> 32:23.501 but for all human beings. It is an understanding that 32:23.496 --> 32:27.446 cannot be achieved without a serious examination of the 32:27.449 --> 32:31.769 Western experience. The abandonment of such a study 32:31.767 --> 32:37.007 or its adulteration for current political purposes would be a 32:37.008 --> 32:40.238 terrible loss for all of humanity, 32:40.240 --> 32:44.060 and at the base, at the root of that 32:44.063 --> 32:49.933 civilization stood the Greeks. These are the reasons why I 32:49.926 --> 32:55.446 examined their experience and I trust why you are thinking about 32:55.449 --> 32:58.489 learning about it. Thank you. 32:58.490 --> 33:01.200 I'll see you guys, some of you, 33:01.195 --> 33:02.995 next Tuesday.