Midterm essay

Midterm Essay Justin Hughes

Abstract

Paragraph by paragraph I will answer the question, "is it the trend of Western History to cultivate a skeptical faith, avoid dogma, listen and watch well, try to clarify and define ends, the better to chose means"? I will tie in all of the revolutions into one idea. I will bring in many sources including Medici Money by Tim Parks, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David S. Landes, and The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

Essay

It is the trend of western history to “cultivate a skeptical faith, avoid dogma, listen and watch well, try to clarify and define ends, the better to chose means”. This question might be able to be answered in one word but it takes a lot of background knowledge and research to come to this conclusion.

The first part of the question is “cultivate a skeptical faith.” This means to bring about a faith that could about doubt in the minds of the citizens. (Faith ) People would doubt this faith. With every new faith there will be more than enough skeptics. The second part of the question is to “avoid dogma”. This basically means “to avoid an established opinion." (2) This was true before the French revolution. Many people in France did what the Church said and that is wrong. To avoid this is to think for your self, or in other words, have humanistic qualities. Humanism changed the people of the time thought. The third part of the question is to “listen and watch well”. What this means is that you must learn from others. Watch and listen what others are doing so you will not make the same mistakes. This goes back to the book “The Wealth and Poverty of Nations”. In chapter 18 it explains how other countries (other than Britain) headed into the industrial revolution. It is not like the other countries did it on their own. They learned from Britain’s mistakes. There is no use reinventing the wheel. The last part of the question is “try to clarify and define ends, the better to chose means”. This goes back to the saying “it is better to chose means than to define the ends”. Is it the trend of western history to try to clarify what the end product or impact is going to be, or is it the trend to justify the ways to get to that end product. (The means)

The first part of the question is to “cultivate a skeptical faith.” This is what leads to revolution. From the French Revolution to the Flattening of the World. It all starts with one person, or one group that “cultivates” a new idea. Faith does not have to be pertaining to religion. It can be a “complete trust”. (3) Starting with the French Revolution, there was that one group, the humanists, which had a “skeptical faith.” At first many people doubted straying away from the Church. It was forbidden. Once people found out that they could think for themselves, this new faith was not doubted as much. This was the same in “Medici Money”. This new banking was neither a sin nor was it morally wrong. But this is what the Church told everyone. Even though they were also benefiting from this new form of banking. At first people were skeptics, but look at us now, we all use modern banking and it never crossed our minds that maybe back in the time before this revolution that what we are doing would have been a sin in the eyes of the Church. Even today people are skeptical of new ideas. In “the World is Flat” it explains that in the beginning people were skeptical of the “all mysterious Internet”. Now people use the Internet everyday without thinking of how anyone could be skeptical of this wonderful idea. The industrial revolution was a “skeptical faith”. Many people around the world were set in their ideas of how things are supposed to be. They never thought of why you would give up quality for quickness. And the only question to that question is capital. At the end of chapter 18 of “the Wealth and Poverty of Nations” many countries embraced the industrial revolution. What they learned is that embracing some of these “skeptical faiths”, pays off in the end. It just goes to show you that with every new substantial idea there will be people skeptical of the idea but will learn to live with it once they learn the “greater good” that this idea is bringing about.

The second part of the question is it “the trend of Western History to avoid dogma.” Dogma, which has already been explained, is an established opinion. The biggest example is the reformation and humanism. This all happened during the French Revolution. The Church established an opinion that all were supposed to live by and agree with. Usually when a country or civilization does not avoid dogma, there is going to be a change at one time or another. People do not like being told what to think and how to act. This does not bode well with the country’s government. During the days when humanism was just starting, people were shackled by the ideas of the Church. Once the idea of humanism was fully instilled in the minds of the general public then there was no turning back. This is why the Church tried to discourage change. Most importantly the increase of rights. When Calvin wrote his 95 theses the Church tried to censor him but that was not going to happen. In the mind of the humanist you should be able to criticize even the common religion of the state much less its governing power. (Reformation Slideshow) In “Medici Money” it explains that usury was a quote, “unholy” thing to do. The modern banker of the time saw that you could make a lot more money by committing this small sin. If someone thinks that they can do something quicker, more efficient, or more lucrative then they are going to do it. Even though it may be a sin. In their eyes and in the eyes of the humanist, it was not such a sin. To have a functional and relatively peaceful country or society you need to avoid dogma. People should not have to abide by opinions of the state just because that’s what they think. That is why when the founding fathers wrote the Constitution they wrote the Bill of Rights. This is so people would have the right to religion and other rights. In other words they learned from the British and French to avoid dogma at the beginning and not have a revolt or something of that manner.

The third part of the question is to “listen and watch well.” It is imperative that you learn from others mistakes if you want to get ahead in this world. If you don’t you will be a grey blob in the mass of all the other grey blobs that do not observe. This concept shows through during the industrial revolution. As Britain was at the forefront of technology during this time period countries like France, Germany, and the United States were ready to pounce when the time was right. While Britain was making mistakes and fixing them the aforementioned countries were listening and watching well. As chapter 18 in “the Wealth and Poverty of Nations” goes on to say that after Britain did all of the “grunt work” these other countries could come in and start at the same level as Britain. Also in chapter 17 there is a thought from Alexander Gerschenkron. He basically explains that there is no difference in whether to be first or come along later when it comes to industrialization. He also has a good point; the way to get ahead in life is to gain the “ability to leap the gap of knowledge and practice separating the backward economy from the advanced.” (p275, pp4) What this basically means is that to get ahead in life you need to “leap the gap of knowledge” or in other words you need to learn from others rather than taking the time to learn it yourself. Just think, what is quicker, sitting through an hour and twenty minute class or getting notes from the class and reading them?

The fourth and final part of the question is to “try to clarify and define ends, the better to chose means.” To clarify and define ends is to set a long term goal for your self or on a much broader scale, the country. Without long term goals a country has no direction what so ever. Long term goals help keep you on track of the thing you really want. During the industrial revolution the countries like Germany, France, and the United States had goals to industrialize even if they were subconscious goals they are still what drove countries and leaders to industrialize. They knew that if they reached their goal of industrialization then there would be a bigger payoff in the end which was a better functioning economy and trade deals with many countries. The second part to this section of the question is that is it better to chose means. Means is how a country gets to their long term outcome. Some of the means of industrialization were to set up trading routes across the world and to learn from others to produce a better functioning economy.

It is the mindset of the typical American the question at hand goes through their mind everyday, even if they don't know it. They don't know it but, everyday this American tries to avoid dogma or watches and listens. All of the worlds greatest changes have influenced this person's thinking and they don't even know it. The aspect of humanism has influenced this American to think for him/herself. The aspect of industrialization has made this American watch as others do and fix mistakes. It is basic problem solving.