Humanism and Its Perils

Modernism, as an advance towards humanism, has also revealed its weaknesses. As it evolved in the Western world, crass individualism emerged as its dominant tendency. At a basic level, the binary of the “I” and the “other” became central to human self-understanding. This binary, when reflected at the community and national levels, takes the form of aggressive nationalism and a drive to dominate others. It facilitates the otherisation of people and weakens sympathy for those of different races and nationalities. The culmination of this modernist trajectory was the two great wars that devastated the world.

Apart from this inherent weakness, which appears to be resurfacing with renewed force, other threats to humanism have emerged. One such threat is the rise of political and economic systems that are neither liberal nor democratic, but instead host forms of captive capitalism.

A separate challenge arises from the growing ethnic consciousness in different parts of the world, which undermines the universal moral claims of humanism.

The newest threat to humanism comes from technology. Human relevance has historically depended on mutual service and interdependence, but this role is increasingly being taken over by machines. Autonomous systems and their interconnectedness across geographies may severely undermine human agency and control. Clouds are gathering over both human consciousness and the experience of life itself.

Humanism needs to address both its internal contradictions and emerging external challenges.

Niraj Kumar Jha

Client Capitalism

Capitalism works even in a captive state. Patron forces every element to conduce the captive operatives and enterprises grow exponentially.

At first, such economies grow very vast and overwhelm the others, but after some time, the model starts crumbling.

It may be an absolute case under authoritarian regimes and partial or selective under the lesser authoritarian ones.

Client capitalism has inherent limits: the patron's imagination and position. That cannot be crossed. More critically, patrons often resort to their 'wisdom,' say whims and fancies, to drive the economy and that costs the economy badly.

The fact is overlooked that capitalism is essentially about rationalism. A regime harms the economy badly if it works to defy the principles of the market. This explains the crises which engulf many economies of the world. However, one must know that one fits all expertise does not work. Knowing, how and what of it, is critical knowledge by itself.

The mantra is simple, a regime must remain focused on its task, i.e. to ensure freedom and fair play. All other activities of a regime are deviations, and those violate the rules of civility and impoverish the national culture both materially and morally.

Niraj Kumar Jha

Captive Capitalism

Yet another form of socialism is captive capitalism. Such an economy mines the capital and deploys the same to its full potential, and here the government's hands, and not the market's invisible hands, move the economic wheel. Its milder version is crony capitalism, which we often talk about.

 

Niraj Kumar Jha