The Provisional Scriptures of the Planet Gaia

A tale of how world religions might have evolved in tune with philosophy and science, rather than in conflict.

Second Edition October 2013

The scriptures in this book have been revealed to me by some mysterious form of ‘brain-to-brain’ data communication not currently known on Planet Earth. The version conveyed to me was in a form of language known as Modern Anglian, it has been a very light task to present these scriptures in our earthly form of Modern English.

The planet Gaia is clearly many light years removed from our solar system, but is broadly comparable to earth.

The survival of these scriptures on Gaia reflects a different set of accidents of history than those that have affected civilization on earth. On Gaia, the ideas of the ancient Graecarians were not (as were those of the ancient Greeks on earth) downgraded for many centuries by a monotheistic, totalitarian and hierarchical religion such as Christianity or Islam. Great prophets continued to appear, but the religion launched in these scriptures by Christian of Cornith was able to celebrate their witness and encourage their separate but generally complementary teachings.

This was partly due to Christian’s principle of ‘common goals, but many paths’ which encouraged a range of parallel local traditions, as long as they retained an overall commitment to the ‘Spirit of Good’. A series of 100-yearly councils – the Centennial Ecumenical Symposia, which had been recommended by Christian himself, were able to take on board the good points of all prophets subsequent to Christian’s original scriptures. This explains the tradition of including the adjective ‘provisional’ in the title of the collected scriptures.

Unlike scriptures on our planet Earth, the scriptures of Gaia do not strictly separate the ‘sacred’ from the ‘secular’. Pragmatic considerations are regarded as just as important to the principles of living a good life as are considerations of human spirituality, aesthetics, ritual and emotion.

Again in contrast to planet Earth, Gaians do not generally entertain concepts of an afterlife or reincarnation, although these had been popular in ancient times. It was very much through the influence of the Graecarian philosophical schools – and subsequently also of Christian – that people moved on from these ideas, which never reappeared in any big way.

To earthlings in the 21st century, these scriptures represent an integration of philosophy and religion such as might have continued if the spirit of Ancient Greece had not been overtaken by the triple whammy of Roman Imperialism, Dogmatic Monotheism and Barbarian invasions in the first millennium. They are perhaps more in sympathy with the multiple schools of Chinese and other oriental philosophies than with the so-called ‘Abrahamic’ traditions.

The overall philosophy seems a mix of what we on Earth know as Pragmatism and Existentialism, the style of the latter being nearest to that of Samuel Todes. There are also echoes of the approach of Stephen Toulmin. The ‘Pentagon’ in Gaian religion shows certain similarities with that proposed by the American author Loyal Rue in 2005.

If there is a message here for Earth today, it is that the Spirit of Good must take precedence over the dogmas and doctrines of any particular religion or sect. This does not mean that our current religions should disappear; most of what they do is of great positive value. But they should never claim a monopoly on the truth. Further, they should always ask themselves "Is what we are saying really for the Good?" - where 'Good' should take into account five things:

These five things represent the five sides of Christian's ‘Pentagon’. To view a diagram of this Pentagon, click here.

If what a religion is saying encourages hate, intolerance, victimisation, cruelty or any of the other things that are 'outside' the Pentagon, then it is wrong. Earth religions ought to immediately stop endorsing any dangerous evils, make plans to remove any idiotic dogmas, and attempt to reduce the level of silliness in their teachings.

Roger Tagg, Magill, October 2013

Main Index

We, the members of the editorial council of the 20^th Centennial Symposium of the Christian Religion of Planet Gaia, welcome you to the new update of our scriptures and recommend them for your study.

Those familiar with the previous version will find value in understanding how the many changes to life on this planet can be addressed and accommodated within the broad theme put forward by our founder, the prophet Christian of Cornith.

To those readers who are, for whatever reason, yet to read the Christian scriptures, we think you will find these scriptures thoroughly relevant to today’s issues.

At the symposium, which was held between 21^st March and 21^st September 2000 in Fisen, Gnosce, the following issues were chosen as most critical, in our view, to the updating of these ecumenical scriptures.

• The rapid advance of science, culminating in the exploration of space
• Worldwide information networks: news, radio, television, internet, mobile telephony
• Breaking away from authoritarian influence, whether from institutions, families or social norms
• Growing human obsession with possessions and fashions
• Globalization, with a breakdown of tight nationalistic attitudes and ‘particular’ cultures
• The problem of multinational businesses becoming more powerful than some countries
• The threat of planetary environmental degradation
• Recognition of the inherent cultural bias in all communication
• Realization of the dangers of the inherent imprecision of language, drifts of meaning and spin
• Persistence of problems of disadvantage and failure - individually, group-wise or nationally
• Gradual disappearance of those laws and barriers unequal with respect to gender and race
• Increasing acceptance of the advantages of explicit, mixed ownership of businesses

We have taken aboard a wide range of opinions expressed on these topics in the revision of the scriptures that follows.

Our position on each individual issue is presented, as usual, in the summary of conclusions of each centennial symposium, which appears at the end of the book.

In summarizing the most important issues facing humanity and the whole planet at this time, we wish to highlight the following issues.

Regarding the aspect of Reason and Logic, Christian himself said that all knowledge is provisional. Hence it is also fallible. We have noted the explosion in information that can now be circulated through newspapers, radio and television, and computer networks. We feel that there is not enough understanding that this information is just as fallible as information was before. People seem in danger of regarding publicly printed information a5 carrying some sort of authority. But as we discussed in the symposium, authority by inherited or appointed right is becoming less and less respected. Some of what we are told is not information at all; it is ‘adformation’, an appeal for compliance with the originator’s wishes. An increasing proportion of what one can read over the internet is just put there by ordinary individuals. In one way this usefully reflects the erosion of old-fashioned authority; but in another way it leads to the view that any person’s opinion is just as good as any other’s – which is clearly opposed to the Spirit of Good.

Regarding the aspect of Society and Manageability, we have recognized that some multinational organizations are now more powerful than some nations, and this represents a danger. The structure and control of all business organizations should more closely reflect not just investors, but also the people whose lives they affect. We recommend that there should be a minimum percentage of local ownership in a subsidiary of any transnational business. We also favour increased adoption of mixed ownership businesses, requiring participation from consumer groups and labour as well as capital. In turn, the breakdown of total capital between individuals, investment trusts, pension funds, banks, insurance etc should be required to be transparent. Nominee ownership or partnership should be phased out.

Regarding the aspect of Economy and Resources, we note that the threat of global environmental degradation has been recognized as potentially catastrophic. Targets for planet-wide population limits and restriction on damage to key natural domains should be re-emphasized and commitments sought from all governments and transnational businesses.

Finally, we are concerned at the increase of obsessive behaviour among people; this seems to be most serious in the developed nations. We see much obsession with possessions and fashions, with gadgets and appearances. We also see much obsession with ‘my rights’; we object to anyone who gets in our way – as we see with road rage incidents in cities. We are also very concerned with the preference (or habit) of many young people nowadays for the company of their music player, mobile phone or internet connection to that of the physical world in which they move, including the real people round about them. We feel that this will soon lead to a society that is less caring and less coherent – and that will ultimately decline. We hope it is a fashion that will pass.

Christian’s Original Preface

Both the Graecarians of Cornith and its allied cities, and the Germanians of Torshaven, Segeburg and Undelsheim, have implored me, in my remaining years, to make a collection of my writings that they can refer to in future years. (Editor's note: If you like to see a map of the part of the planet where all these places are, click here.)

I feel honoured that my supporters have said so many kind words about me. I am also grateful for the hospitality they have afforded me.

Apart from the many conversations I have had with my contemporaries and supporters, I could not have even started to put my ideas together without having had access to the long tradition of Greek philosophy in its many forms and schools. I owe much to Idomenes and Xanthippe who introduced me to this tradition and the many books they had access to.

I hope I will be excused for the bias which I will inevitably have introduced into my writings by having been closely involved with trading between nations across the great seas. However I believe it is through meeting and gaining understanding of the different peoples of this planet that we will have the best chance of leading humanity forward in peace and enjoyable living.

These writings are not intended to inspire any crusades. Although some people may consider them as a religion, I prefer the term ‘meta-religion’; they talk about the principles that all good religions should have. My hope is that they will form the basis for continuous improvement in the future, and that they will last longer than a spiritual revival preached by a single prophet at one point in time.

I wish that the Spirit of Good will shine on all who read these words.

Biographical Notes on the Founder of our Scriptures

Christian was born in around 70 BCD* in a coastal village in Graecaria (far west end of the Southern Continent). His mother was one of the ‘old people’ whom the Graecarians had displaced. His father was unknown, but it’s possible he was a shipwrecked Germanian, or a raider or pirate.

Christian’s mother, whose name was Krinia or Lily, was forced to migrate to the city of Cornith (Koronithos), which had grown rich and populous due to its sea-borne trade with neighbouring states.

With good luck, Lily found employment as a domestic and nursemaid with Idomenes, a successful trader, and his family. Idomenes and his wife Xanthippe had met when they were inmates of a philosophical sect called the Kepoics, whose members lived communally in a smallholding on the zigzag road between Cornith’s citadel on an isolated rock plateau and its port on the coast. Xanthippe was the sister of one of the other male members.

Three events caused Idomenes and Xanthippe to leave the sect. One was their disagreement with some of the sect’s ideas, particularly their separateness. A second was the death of Idomenes’ father, which meant that Idomenes had to take over the family trading business. And the third was that Xanthippe was expecting a child.

They had taken on Lily and Christian just before Xanthippe gave birth to a son, Eugenes. Unfortunately the birth was a difficult one, and Xanthippe suffered serious post-natal depression.

However Idomenes’ business flourished, especially through increased trade with Germanian merchants, who had good trading ships. Idomenes continued to support the Kepoics, although he was still not keen on their inward-looking ideas. He began to read and discuss with another group, known as the Peristylians.

Christian grew up as a playmate for Eugenes, and the two boys got on well. He also won the favour of Xanthippe, as his sympathetic attitude helped her gradually emerge from her depression. The boys became fond of her vast fund of stories.

Christian started to read some of the books that were in the house, and was encouraged by Idomenes and Xanthippe. He was even able to help both Eugenes and his own mother to become able readers. He started to ask a lot of questions about what he read.

When Eugenes reached the age of 10, he was sent to a school not open to children of servants. Christian was unhappy just helping his mother with housework, so Idomenes gave him the chance to be an errand boy for his business. Christian showed a lot of aptitude, and over time he learnt the ways of the markets and the traders. He also picked up some of the foreigners’ languages.

Idomenes showed Christian some books of notes that he had acquired some years previously, when he had been a student at one of Cornith’s academies of philosophy, for which the city was famous.

When he was around 14, Christian fell ill during an epidemic that had hit the port of Cornith. He was kept isolated and in bed for some months, his mother doubting if he would ever recover. But in time he started reading again, and one day he woke up to a feeling that ‘the fog had lifted’. He started frantically reading again, and made copies of some of Idomenes’ books, by writing in a minute script on such paper as he could find. He also added his own comments.

When he was fully recovered, Christian progressed to being an agent in the trading business. He learnt how to reach deals, and how the city’s systems for securely storing goods and money worked.

However a big change soon hit Cornith. A tyrannical ruler staged a coup. The new policy was one of strict class distinctions (this had been advocated by one of the academies). Servants, especially from the ‘old people’, were definitely an underclass, and any that showed too much knowledge were liable to be executed in what was known as a ‘cull of helots’.

So Idomenes smuggled Christian (still aged only 17) out of the city on a boat to Germania, with an introduction to one of his trading partners named Herman, who was interested in Christian acting as a tutor to his two sons.

Christian stayed with Herman’s family for around 12 years. Some of the local people recognised him as having partial Germanian ethnicity, and his language skills improved quickly. As well as tutoring more young sons, he was also able to assist in trading work. He was also able to write versions of his papers in the local language. One advantage was that the paper available in Germania was better than in Cornith.

However as the years passed, he became a victim of envy by some Germanians, and he was eventually persuaded by two of his students to move to their outlying province in the east of Germania, peopled by two tribes, the Anglians and the Saxonians.

Here he became widely respected not only as a tutor for young people of good families, but also as an adviser on trade, government and personal behaviour. In between making visits to many different towns and cities in the province, he managed to build a house and raise a family, and return to his philosophical interests.

He produced new versions of those notes he had brought from Graecaria, and incorporated a lot of ideas that he had not previously managed to write down. With the help of collaborators he had trained, he produced versions in both the Anglian language and in his native Greek. His collaborators also laboriously made multiple copies for others who showed interest. He became somewhat of a local hero.

Copies of the Greek version of these notes found their way back to Cornith, where further political disruption had taken place. An army from a neighbouring city had sacked Cornith, but had moved on to other conquests and allowed Cornith to rebuild itself.

Eugenes had become one of the magistrates responsible for the reconstruction of the city. However opposing factions on the council were badly impeding any progress. Eugenes decided to try and persuade Christian to return to Cornith as a consultant to the council, and after some soul-searching, he agreed to return. His older children decided to stay put, but his youngest daughter and his wife did join him in moving to Cornith. By this time he had reached the age of 50.

The most pressing problems that had to be faced were to do with economics and inter-personal relationships. There was a critical need to develop a set of laws and guidelines for good conduct that many different parties could accept. Christian based his recommendations on his writings.

Christian’s influence was extremely successful, and despite his importance, Christian managed to keep a relatively low profile until has last five years. When he died, people in Cornith realised his incredible value – as did the Anglians and Saxonians.

This was then how Christian’s religion began on the planet Gaia. His thinking gradually displaced both the pantheon of the Graecarians and the monotheistic ‘God as Tyrant’ view of certain others.

However Graecaria experienced further periods of decline, and the Anglians and Saxonians were not influential enough within Germania to influence the larger and more powerful tribes there. In fact it was not until seafaring merchants carried the word to Gnosce and Romania, two of the most powerful nations on the planet, that Christianity began to appear as a truly international idea. It took a further 400 years for Christian’s religion to emerge as a unifying force for a critical mass of nations on the planet.

* BCD = Before Christian’s Death. Dates on the planet Gaia today are measured from the date of Christian’s death. Prior to that many different calendars were used, many being based on the year of each state’s current ruler’s reign. Only states with continuous written histories could determine absolute BCD dates. Different calendars persisted for several ACD centuries until missionaries had spread Christian’s ideas to most parts of the planet.

(Editor’s note: this chapter represents some of Christian’s early thoughts, though modified in places by his later experiences. Although much of it may appear to modern readers as naïve, it helps show the route along which Christian’s thinking developed.)

A – Why and how did Life Begin?

1. As to how it all came to happen that we humans find ourselves on this patch of earth, which we share with animals and plants, and which is surrounded by a boundless sea with its own animals and plants, the people of each nation tell us different stories.
2. In my own country, people traditionally tell of a time of endless night, until Love created Light and the daytime. Gaia, who gave her name to our planet, was the first woman. Her children are a race of superhuman ‘gods’ who represent the elements and who continue to control the planet’s destiny. (Editor: this sounds like a prehistoric TV soap opera.)
3. One foreign sailor I met told me that in his country they believed that our world is just one piece of rock like all the stars we see in the sky at night. An enormous battle between two giants broke the universe up into many pieces; our ancestors were the offspring of those giants.
4. Another foreign sailor said that his people believed that it was not two warring giants, but two competing elements, energy and matter, which interact in mysterious ways to generate all living things.
5. People in some of our neighbouring nations believe in a single super-human god who designed and created everything, rather like a potter or shipbuilder. Some of these folk say that this god left everything to a mixture of natural laws and chance; but others that he continues to manage everything that happens (Editor: rather like an army general.)
6. Of one thing I am certain, they cannot all be correct. Even our philosophy schools, which reject all superstitions and talk of supernatural beings, cannot agree on how everything came to be. (Editor: even today, though science may tell us that the material universe started with a ‘big bang’, the means by which life started is still a matter of conjecture.)
7. So all we can safely say is “we don’t know”; and maybe we will never know.
8. Such a conclusion may not be good enough for many people. Most of us are not happy with not knowing. We need something to tell our children when they ask us for an explanation.
9. This may explain why we have all these stories. But to my mind it does not really matter which story we tell.
10. It would seem an advantage, though, if most people in one nation or city believe in the same story.
11. I still meet many people who say “What’s the point of thinking about it? We should just get on with living. That’s quite enough challenge.” But such people are usually the busy adults – not children and not old people.

B – Observing the Land we Live on

1. How our world started may be impossible to answer with certainty; the way it works is surely more important. With observation, we can build up useful knowledge that we can pass on to each other and to future generations.
2. People in every nation learn about the cycles of day and night, of movement of the moons and stars, of the ebb and flow of tides, the seasons of the year, and of the birth, reproduction and death of animals, including humans.
3. Some nations go beyond this, and believe in cycles of rebirth of the spirits of dying humans and animals into new bodies. Some also believe in an after-life beyond death, or some other form of immortality.
4. My own suspicion is that stories that say that we will be rewarded or punished in a future life are just a device of priests and rulers to scare or persuade us into following their rules. They realize that without such stories, they have little influence on us.
5. People in all nations can observe growth in animals and crops – as in all living things – and that all living things depend on water, whether that comes from rain, channels, watering or plants that store water.
6. We all also understand the need to eat, drink and breathe – as well as to excrete.
7. If we encounter rivers, we can see that they carry down many things besides water, both living things and passive matter such as stones, sand and silt.
8. This leads some people to ask “If the stones, sand and silt come from higher up the river, will not the mountains and hills eventually be flattened and the whole land become a flat plain?”
9. By the same thinking, was there a time when the hills and mountains were even higher than now?
10. In our own country we experience earthquakes which shake and destroy our buildings. In some places the land has dropped into the sea, and in other places the land has been lifted up out of the sea.
11. Sailors from other nations report of seeing mountains that throw up fiery rocks into the air, and disgorge streams of hot earth that form new land, or flow into the sea.
12. Other nations have seen their harbours silted up by the material carried down by their rivers.
13. It seems, therefore, that there is also a cycle by which the land itself is built up and destroyed.
14. Some philosophers have theorized that the land somehow floats on the sea. But if one drops a stone from the land into the sea, it always drops to the bottom.
15. Whatever story we adopt, it seems that change is the one constant truth.

C – Humans and Animals

1. People of all nations cannot but observe that of all the animals we share the world with, some are much more like humans than others.
2. Many animals have backbones like us humans, with sometimes more and sometimes fewer small bones and ribs.
3. Most animals besides humans seem to move on four legs, with their backbones parallel to the ground, or to the tree branches they climb on.
4. In some countries there are animals that walk on two legs like us, some with tails and some without. Foreign sailors sometimes bring them as companions on their voyages.
5. One story says that humans only appeared when two types of tailless bipeds began to interbreed; these produced a new race that was able to remember more of what happens, judge better between alternative actions, and use a much wider range of signs with which to collaborate with others of their race.
6. I like this story, but as no author actually observed the change happening, it must remain as just a story.
7. If the story is true, then it must have happened in the centre of the mainland that most nations live on. This is because the humans at the extreme sunrise and sunset ends of the mainland showed, until recently, the biggest differences in appearance and language.

D – Regularity in Nature

1. Some philosophers have said that in the world we live in, things happen by completely random chance. We cannot be sure of anything; so we ought just to take things as they come.
2. While there is an element of unpredictability in just about everything, there is also a fair amount of regularity.
3. Even if we cannot be sure that anything will turn out exactly as we predict, there are plenty of things that we can almost totally rely on, and others that we can make a fairly reliable guess about.
4. It seems crazy not to assume that the sun will rise tomorrow, that tides will ebb and flow, and the seasons will come round more or less as normal.
5. Our astronomers can predict quite well the timing of movements of the moons and stars, and can even forecast eclipses.
6. In nature, we can observe many regular patterns. The cells of bees’ nests are perfect hexagons, and many flowers have their petals in spirals of 5 for each cycle. We can find crystals in some rocks that have regular shapes such as cubes or tetrahedra.
7. A stone that slides on smooth ice can continue to slide at a certain speed for a long time.
8. Even the patterns of life and death in living things have regular patterns; we are born, we grow, we breathe, eat and drink; we sleep, we grow old, and eventually we die.
9. Things of the mind have less regularity, but we can regard the existence of logic as a form of regularity.
10. Within mathematics, of course, regularity is everything, but humans have invented mathematics as an analogy for the world we all observe. The world often works in the same way as our mathematics tells us, but often it deviates from what we would expect. Inevitably, our mathematics only addresses part of the total story.
11. In geometry we have magic numbers like π and φ, and combinations like ‘3, 4 and 5’ or ‘5, 12 and 13’ such that triangles whose sides have these lengths always have one right angle.
12. Certain things are only predictable with a large degree of uncertainty, such as the coming of rain or the heat of the day.
13. Some other things in the world are almost impossible to predict, such as winds and earthquakes.

E – Nature is both Physical and Spiritual

1. Nature, with all the regularities and uncertainties, opportunities and dangers, pleasures and pains that it gives us as we interact with it, is nevertheless good.
2. We ourselves can only control so much of our environment, whether that is natural or man-made.
3. It is good for us to act in the same direction as nature does, and to ‘go with the flow’, both as individuals and as societies.
4. Part of nature is not tangible physical matter but a forceful spirit that inspires us, whether to love, to cooperate, to admire, to wonder or to take initiatives.
5. However opposing spirits have grown up, not only as remnants of our animal natures, but also antagonisms caused by our minds’ tendency to separate things into categories. It seems part of our human nature that we favour some categories and dislike others.
6. Typically, we like the categories that are familiar and fit in with our routine, but hate those that are unfamiliar and require us to change.
7. The opposing spirits surface, both in individuals and groups, as hate, envy, greed, prejudice and blame.
8. So much of what we think is coloured by the sign systems which we humans have built up over many generations. Our language is the biggest influence on how we think about things, but our living environment, whether physical, societal or cultural, is also significant.

F – Humans’ Place in the World

1. Each of us starts to think about our place in the world by looking at it from our own viewpoint.
2. We are aware that we see, hear, smell, touch and taste things.
3. We learn names for these things from our parents and others who teach us.
4. We regard things as real if other humans talk about the same things in the same way; we use common names for them.
5. We are also aware that we have feelings and emotions – we feel them, but cannot touch them; nor can we perceive them with any of the senses we use to interact with the world outside us.
6. We can verify with other humans that they have similar experiences.
7. We have a sense that some things are in the past, and are ‘over and done with’; while other things are happening now, but may have started in the past.
8. We also spend time thinking about the future, things that may be happening now but we expect to continue; as well as new happenings that have not yet started.
9. We learn to recognize relationships between one thing and another; again we look for verification from other humans.
10. We are, in effect, ‘thrown’ into our surroundings; we did not choose to be here.
11. The challenge for each of us is to choose a good and practicable path for the life into which we are thrown, however long or short that may be.
12. ‘Good’ means ‘in tune with the way our environment works; and that includes our relationship to other humans, to other living things, and to everything else that we experience.
13. We have to accept that our surroundings impose on us a lot of uncertainty, risk, pain and disappointment, as well as happiness and freedom from care and worry.
14. We should also accept that we will sometimes be in competition with other humans, either as individuals or in groups.
15. But in many situations, cooperation will be better for everyone involved.
16. Each of us has, whether strongly or weakly, an urge to self-expression.
17. Individual humans are very variable both in the natural quickness of their minds and in their ability to learn and remember.
18. However much we think we know, it is more than likely that there is a lot more that we do not know.
19. One certainty is that everything, sooner or later, faster or slower, changes; one cannot breathe the same air twice.
20. It is unwise to say that one action, event or situation (which we may call A) ‘causes’ some result (which we may call B). Almost always, a result B has many causes, and one action, event or situation A can influence many separate results.
21. A human individual, and even a group of humans, only has a minor influence on how things turn out.
22. The best we can often do is not to make things worse.

G – The Planet and Its Resources

1. The world that we live on, as far as travellers and astronomers can tell us, is shaped like an enormous ball, which we call the planet Gaia.
2. Most people live on one large land mass, which we call the continent. A few nations have migrated to islands; some are small, but others are of considerable size, and some are situated as much as a month’s boat journey from the continent.
3. Scientists estimate that we have only seen about a half of our planet. The ocean seems to cover most, if not all, of the rest of the planet.
4. However the ocean is a great resource, both for humans and for some animals including fishes and sea birds.
5. The ocean provides much of our food, in the fish we can catch and the edible seaweeds we can harvest.
6. The ocean also provides shells, which some nations use as tokens of exchange and others as tokens for electing representatives to councils.
7. Some shells contain pearls, which are popular as jewels and adornments.
8. Fish can also be caught in rivers and lakes, where the water is fresh and not salty.
9. Fresh water is necessary to both humans and animals for drinking.
10. Water, whether fresh or salty, is needed for washing. Humans need to wash both their bodies and their clothes; some animals too wash their bodies in water, but others in the sand or dust.
11. Most humans we know of live near water, but some tribes roam the deserts and mountains. The mountain snows provide a source of water for some. Others have to dig wells to reach water in the ground.
12. Mountains and deserts cover much of our continent, though not so much of the islands.
13. The remainder of the land is either forest or grassland; some of this land is prepared for the raising of domestic animals or for ploughing and growing of crops.
14. Many people live on this prepared land, though not as many as in the large coastal cities.
15. It is in the city dwellers interest to maintain the farmland, as their food supplies are otherwise insufficient.
16. The animals we breed on the farmland provide us with milk, meat and hides. We also keep birds which provide us with eggs and meat. We also keep bees from which we can gather honey.
17. The crops we grow provide us with grains from which we can make bread, and vegetables which we can boil and eat. We can grow trees to provide fruit.
18. We can also grow herbs to provide us with flavours for our other foods that have goodness but not so much good taste.
19. Some crops can provide fibres with which we can make clothes; we can also make clothes from the woolly skins of some animals. Some worms also make fibres and we can farm them.
20. The forests provide us with wood for building and making things; the trees that drop their leaves can provide fertiliser for our crops, as can the droppings of farm animals.
21. The wood from trees can also be burnt, thus providing us with heat to cook and to keep people warm in cold months.
22. Certain trees also provide us with nuts that we can eat.
23. On the ground between trees there are fungi at various times of the year. Some are good to eat, but some are poisonous.
24. Which things one can eat and which one should not is important knowledge; but it has often been acquired at the cost of someone’s death.
25. Many hillsides show stones that we can extract, cut and use; their main uses are for building and grinding grains. How to cut stones to the shape needed is an important skill.
26. Buildings built in stone are better protected against fire, but are more dangerous in earthquakes than those built from wood. However they are better than buildings built with dried or baked mud.
27. In hills and mountains we can sometimes find minerals. The most important mineral is salt, which is vital to humans and therefore often very expensive. However some cities are built near to salt flats, where salt is dried by the sun and can be harvested.
28. Another type of mineral is coal, which burns well and provides heat as wood does.
29. Some minerals can be made into metals, such as bronze and iron, from which we can make tools, weapons and nails to join pieces of wood. Refining metals requires wood or coal to be burnt; this requires very great knowledge and skill.
30. In a few places, gold, silver and precious stones can be found. These are highly sought after as a good and compact means of exchange in trading. Precious stones can also be made into jewels.
31. Whatever physical resources we obtain, it often happens that they are not needed immediately, and need to be stored safely. Thus storage houses are an important resource. If the resources are very valuable and could be easily stolen or carried away, then strong locked buildings are needed, possibly with armed guards.
32. In the case of many types of food, the quality can deteriorate. Means of preserving food such as salting, boiling or keeping in ice houses is desirable, if possible.
33. The winds provide us with a great source of power, mostly used to drive the grinding wheels that turn grains into flour for bread.
34. Windmills are common in windy locations around the edges of hills. In valleys, however, mills are driven by running water.
35. Many people plough their lands and grind their grains with the help of domesticated animals such as horses or oxen.

H – The Beginnings of Civilization

1. I have to guess, because our written records do not reliably say, how humans started to build up thoughts about the purpose of our life and how we should face it.
2. For sure, it must have been the need to cooperate and share with other humans that prompted us to try to develop a consensus of such thoughts.
3. When the world was thinly populated, and all humans had time for was survival, an adult’s thoughts were limited to asking “How shall I feed myself and my family, how shall I keep them and myself safe?”
4. I suppose that humans started thinking when things that we did by instinct did not go smoothly.
5. We might be hungry, thirsty, or cold; we might be in pain, have no energy, carry an injury or disability, and might have to depend on someone else for our survival.
6. Someone close to us might die, or a woman might give birth.
7. We might be threatened by bad weather, earthquakes, or floods.
8. We might be threatened by wild animals, or other humans.
9. When faced with such situations, our first question might be “How shall we cope?”
10. After this, we might ask “Why has this happened?” Maybe if we understood how things work, we might make a better job of coping.
11. Because our first knowledge was about the behaviour of other people, we imagined that whatever made natural physical things happen were people like ourselves, but smarter ‘super-humans’.
12. And they didn’t die like we did – our forbears told us that the same natural things have been happening for generations.
13. It seems to have been when we learnt how to grow crops that we found it better to live in larger groups and each do the things we were best at.
14. But living in larger groups meant we had to have more agreements on how we should all behave.
15. If things worked well, we could pass on the story of what we did to the next generation. If they did not, we would have to learn some lessons, think of another way of doing things, and suggest these ideas to our sons and daughters.
16. Some of our people grow old, and are not so able to do physical work; but then they will have more time to think things out.
17. Left to reflect alone on their lives, every old person might think differently. And younger people might not agree with their ideas anyway. But in practice, people exchange their ideas, and so human experience of what works well – and what does not – gradually increases.
18. When reason arrived in our civilization, those who used it could never again be content with unquestioningly accepting traditional patterns of thought.

I – The Problem of Competition between Groups of Humans

1. As the world became fuller and fuller with humans, groups often came into contact with other groups.
2. Sometimes these other groups were related, and had at some earlier time split from each other.
3. In these cases they might manage to communicate with each other, possibly through similar spoken language.
4. If two groups could not reach agreement, there might be fighting, and this would be bad for both groups.
5. But sometimes, one group would reckon themselves to be stronger than the other, and take them over. They might kill their opponents’ fighting men, but take the women and children.
6. Without some control, such as disease, famine and war, the population of any tribe would be liable to keep on increasing.
7. Sooner or later there might come a point where there was not enough food to feed a tribe in its own lands. The tribe might look to expand its lands, and this might mean encroaching on the territory of another tribe.
8. A tribe might find itself with too many young men to marry the available women, or to do the work necessary to feed the tribe. Groups of young men would then become restless, and take to fighting neighbouring tribes.
9. A tribe that was attacked by a neighbour might be able to resist the attackers; but if not, it might choose to migrate away from the attackers. Unless there was spare land, such migration would then mean attacking another tribe, and pushing that tribe to migrate in its turn.
10. In some parts of the continent, such as my own part of Graecaria, there is nowhere further to go; we live at the end of the land.
11. Some enterprising tribes managed to build boats large enough to sail the oceans; thus the Germanians migrated north to their own newly-colonized island.
12. The Romanians sailed west and found themselves at the far eastern end of the continent.
13. Some other tribes sailed to the east and set up colonies on islands; these became their new homes and they abandoned the continent for ever.
14. However for those who remained on the continent, especially in the centre, wars were inevitable.
15. Many lives were lost, and homes and fields destroyed. Diseases came with the invading armies and decimated the tribes that had no resistance.
16. Wars were also caused by individual leaders who built themselves up as heroes and sought to rule over their neighbours for reasons of pride and prestige.
17. Wars have been fought in the name of religion; one group has believed that their gods are the only true ones, and priests have encouraged subjugation of other groups who do not follow their religion, and forcing of non-believers to change their faith or be killed.
18. Wars have also been fought over captives, especially over wives who were carried off.
19. But most wars in recent times, especially those between the Greek cities, have been caused by envy of the prosperity of their neighbours.
20. Usually, no one city is strong enough to completely conquer any other city; so it is usual for two cities to form an alliance and attack the envied city from two directions.
21. Wars can benefit those nations or cities who have the best metals, iron or bronze, or who sell good arms to the warring groups.
22. It is an advantage to a group to have large reserves of gold or other money, with which to pay mercenaries to fight on the group’s behalf.

J – Trade

1. Those cities and nations that built up trade with their neighbours, rather than fought them in wars, are much more prosperous and happy than those that remained isolated, or concentrated on war.
2. Almost all cities and nations are richer in some resources, but poorer in others.
3. For centuries, neighbouring tribes have bartered resources that they have plenty of, for what another tribe has more of and that the first tribe is short of.
4. Resources that are traded between the Greeks, the Germanians, the Romanians, and other peoples include metals, wood, salt, dried meat, fish and fruit, wine, leather and leather goods, woven and knitted clothes, precious stones and jewellery.
5. Over the last few generations, the use of gold and silver coins and other tokens has become common as a means of exchange. This helps keep trade going when the timing of availability and demand for goods does not coincide.
6. Because of the desirability of having these coins and tokens, a trading city has to keep strong treasury buildings with many guards.
7. In recent years, people who trade regularly and trust each other have started to use paper contracts. The terms of the agreement are written on two parts of a sheet of paper, which is then torn in an irregular tear and one side given to each trader.
8. Defaulting on one party’s side of the bargain is punishable, and the trust is broken.
9. It is also necessary when trading to maintain storehouses in which to keep resources waiting to be sold or shipped.
10. Factories may also be required to dry food, or to package fragile objects against damage on a sea journey.
11. Some nations keep supplies of ice in which they keep food and other items that would otherwise spoil.
12. It pays a nation that is successful in trade to use some of its resources to support neighbours who have been less successful, and where possible to encourage alliances.

K – Government

1. While some philosophers idealize the supposed happy and carefree life of farming people before civilization and cities appeared, it is more sensible to recognise that some level of government is necessary.
2. Villages and small towns often manage with a small group of elders who are naturally respected by all the people.
3. But with cities and nations, there are too many people and groups with competing wishes and plans.
4. With large cities or nations, a single council is not usually enough. There are separate councils, all linked to an overall main council, to control things like trade, morality and justice, and defence.
5. However the most successful cities are those where a lot is left to the initiative of the individual families and people.
6. Where governments are too obsessed with ruling, people lose motivation.

L – The Urge to Develop

1. In all the cities and nations that I have visited, and those whose traders I have met with, it is clear that all have an ongoing drive for improvement of their conditions of living, not just for themselves but for all their people.
2. Individuals certainly have a natural urge to improve things for themselves, their families and for those around them.
3. An anecdotal measure of whether or not things are improving is whether or not individuals are living longer.
4. In my thirty years in Germania, I saw rapid improvements in the houses they lived in and their physical health.
5. I believe that these advances were largely due to the big increase in trade, and also their ability to learn from news about other nations.
6. However I could not say the same about my own country; frequent changes in the constitution and raids by envious neighbours have reduced the standard of living.
7. But on the good side, on my return I found many more people than before ready to talk about ideas for renewal and progress.
8. Sadly, the outlying country area where I was born seemed to have hardly changed at all. It was ignored by the raiders, but remained poor, unhealthy and ignorant.

M – The Persistent Threat of Degeneration into Dark Ages

1. In most cities in my country, and in those I have lived or stayed in overseas, people have told me stories about former times. In some cases life was much better, but in others it was much worse.
2. When good times were followed by bad times, there was sometimes an obvious cause, such as fire, flood, drought, famine, epidemic, earthquake or attack by an enemy.
3. In other cases the decline was more gradual; the rulers were successful for a time, but then harvests became poorer, rival cities competed better and ordinary people became more resentful at the way they were being treated.
4. In a few cases a sequence of good rulers was followed by progressively worse rulers; some tyrannical, some too proud of themselves to admit to not knowing but afraid to seek advice, and some just incompetent.
5. Sometimes the state became isolated from its neighbours, convinced in its own rightness, suspicious of any outside ideas and reliant on old thinking that obstructed any moves towards change or improvement.
6. I call all such times Dark Ages. They are dark times for everyone, whether rulers, leaders, traders and ordinary people.
7. In Dark Ages, civilization often goes backwards and progress that was made earlier is lost. It can take decades to escape from such situations.
8. Just as individuals ought to be prepared for difficult times, wise rulers should expect ups and downs for their cities and nations, and have plans in mind to avoid the worst effects of decline.
9. Some rulers respond to decline by imposing stricter authority over all their citizens. This is usually a bad idea; in times of difficulty it could be ordinary citizens who are most motivated to think of new ideas to halt the decline or ease the bad times.
10. Other rulers assume that placating the mass of their population with free handouts and lavish amusements (‘bread and circuses’) will prevent bad times. But history suggests that this leads to a decline of enterprise and good thinking, loss of motivation, and erosion of preparedness for military service.
11. A wise ruler will, in times of difficulty, bring together a council of citizens with different skills. He will also do everything he can to motivate all citizens to work together.
12. A wise ruler may also seek alliances with neighbouring cities. But it is dangerous to become too dependent on another city or nation.
13. On practical matters, a wise ruler will improve systems for storing and sharing food; and will initiate public works such as rebuilding, with better consideration of risks of fire, flood and epidemic. Buildings in earthquake-prone or flood-prone areas can be re-sited. If resources are available, new public buildings and roads can be started.
14. Where possible, idle people should be encouraged to improve their skills.
15. The people who usually suffer most in Dark Ages are the poor and the slaves. It would be better to set slaves free to find their way back to their home country.
16. The threat of Dark Ages should always act as a reminder to rulers that good times do not continue for ever.

Chapter 2 – The Human Condition

A – The Two-Tier Human: Instincts and Reflection

1. This chapter summarises my knowledge and ideas about ordinary people, rather than leaders, authorities, upper-class citizens, philosophers, priests and money lenders.
2. It starts with what affects each individual person; then looks at what happens when people interact; then considers what goes on in families, groups and crowds; and finally considers the whole issue of human knowledge.
3. The human condition is a mixture of two things: our instinctive capabilities and our reflective capabilities.
4. In some situations, a person’s behaviour is almost all instinctive and involves minimal reflection; in other cases the person may be clearly keeping their instincts under control and acting in a thoughtful and reflective way.
5. The human condition ranges from the emotions, where instincts rule; and knowledge, where reflection is the main component.

B – Emotion

1. Emotion is something one feels in oneself, but detects or interprets in other people.
2. I divide emotion into several classes, starting with the most basic and ending with emotions that we acquire, either from our culture or by building on top of our more basic emotions.
3. My first group I call pre-emotions. They are urges that come from our body. I include pain and pleasure, hunger and thirst, and the urge to mate.
4. The second group I call ‘emotions for survival’. The main ones are fear, disgust, anger and desire. We should probably also include feeling sick, over-fed or over-drunk. If we did not have these, we would be at a disadvantage when threatened; they help us avoid trouble. We should perhaps also regard happiness and sadness as belonging to this level.
5. The third group of emotions are more refined than those in the second group. However they come without too much concern for ourselves; we just feel them. These are:  interest, anxiety, frustration, consternation, resentment, contempt, gratitude, sympathy, and affection. The last includes simple forms of love, but not love-as-charity (‘agape’).
6. The fourth group are yet further refined, and are very much tied in with our own self-esteem. Examples are alienation, hatred, outrage, shame, guilt, pride, envy, jealousy, grief, compassion, resignation, admiration, wonder, humility and amusement.
7. The fifth and last group contains the most refined emotions. Here we have hope, nostalgia, love (in the sense of charity or agape), oneness with nature, and a sense of release (for example from oppressive attachments, or from guilt). These all seem to depend heavily on a person’s culture.
8. I do not count faith as an emotion; I regard it as an attitude which a person adopts from a combination of emotion (especially hope) and reflection. It may or may not be justified on further reflection. It is associated with the concept of trust which is discussed later.
9. A good life requires a balance between expressing one’s emotions and keeping them under control. Showing no emotion is as bad as displaying them as if one were naked.
10. Much of a child’s upbringing involves education of its emotions.
11. When we meet other people, what becomes important is how we react to both our emotions and their emotions.
12. In certain areas of life, like trade, it becomes important not to give away too much emotion, as this can seriously affect the outcomes of our activities.
13. Controlling emotions does not necessarily mean suppressing them; sometimes it is best to let them show. But exaggerating one’s emotions can lead other people to regard you as a fraud.
14. Discovering what are the hidden sources of your feelings can be liberating, and can put you more at one with yourself.
15. Many people have a pessimistic streak, and are reluctant to grab opportunities, brave the risks and accept the outcomes. The exceptions tend to become the heroes.
16. Emotional training is something which many people I have met in trade or government have an urgent need of. Even sailors, and people in the army, could benefit.
17. Just as many humans have adapted our diet from one appropriate to hunting to one suited to a more settled city life, we need to adapt our emotions to living in larger and more tightly-packed living areas.
18. Our emotions are often a ‘give-away’ to other people who observe us; it shows in our body language, face and eyes. So emotional training is like training for competitive games – it needs to cover both body and mind.
19. Acting in drama is not credible without the actors being able to convince their audience that the emotions they are displaying are genuine.
20. Soldiers have to put on a brave face and stance when facing the enemy, however nervous they are feeling at the risk of death or injury.
21. Mothers have to put on a happy face to encourage an unhappy baby.
22. To control how we cope with our emotions, being focussed on the Spirit of Good can be a help.
23. If we feel that our best approach is to appear open and amenable, our minds’ focus should be on receiving the signs of our surroundings, including other people.
24. If we feel that it is important for us to resist a threat, then our minds should concentrate on resolve and firmness.
25. We can continue this pattern of finding the right focus, to address cases where we feel sympathy, sadness, wonder, delight, curiosity, or the need to submit.

C – Motivation

1. Our motivation comes from the emotions that spur us into acting.  Whatever we say or write also counts as part of ‘acting’.
2. Motivation involves having goals, in other words the situations towards which we put our effort into reaching.
3. As we learn more about the world, we bring our reflective thinking into the development of our motivation and goals.
4. We realize that there are short-term goals and long-term goals. We learn that it is easy to spoil our long-term success by spending too much effort chasing short-term goals.
5. A very short term goal might be to maximise how happy I am going to feel in a moment or two from now; a long term goal might be how my family or nation might manage in ten, a hundred or more years’ time.
6. Just like emotions, my motivation can exist at several levels from the most basic to the most refined.
7. At the first and most basic level are the goals that my body wants. These are uppermost with children, and with the many people we meet who still have a ‘gimme’ attitude.
8. Next up the scale are the goals of safety; we want to reduce the risks to which we are exposed.
9. Next are the goals of being accepted – and even loved – by other people. This often goes along with the emotion of happiness.
10. Next are the goals of self-esteem; to feel happy with ourselves. This might include ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, or being able to tell other people how we have ‘scored’ something.
11. Finally there are the goals of self-acceptance; to actually fulfil ourselves by what we do.
12. If we can reflect sensibly on what our goals are, we can find good ways to control our emotions.
13. If we encounter a happening that triggers emotions in us, we can ask if it is relevant to our goals, and if so, whether it is good or bad for them.
14. If a happening is bad, we should ask whether it is bad for our life (the most important), our status, our beliefs, our self-esteem or just our possessions (the least important).
15. If it is bad we may be tempted to concern ourselves with who is to blame; or if it is good, who deserves credit. But this can deflect us from a timely and useful reaction.
16. The most important thing is, how do we react to a happening? If the happening is good, we might be inclined to rejoice or brag; otherwise we might put up strong resistance, stop to help, make a joke, do something else to distract us from the bad emotions, or run like hell.
17. Sometimes we might have to readjust our goals; perhaps they are now unattainable.
18. What are not such good ideas are to deny that it has happened, to indulge in wishful hope that it will all go away; or pretend to be totally detached from what is going on.

D – Inter-personal Interaction

1. In this section I talk first about reflecting on our own personal interactions; second about how we can arm ourselves to become resilient in almost all interactions; and third, how to steer the interaction so as to get the best results for ourselves and the persons we are interacting with.
2. To achieve any of these ends, it is important to recognize what our own motivations are, and to determine, as best we can, what are the other person’s.
3. After this, it is vital to understand what sort of game is being played, and whether it is purely a game of words or involves some further interaction that is additional to words. An example where there is further interaction is that of negotiating a trading deal; it leads to creation of a physical contract, delivery of some goods and payment of some money.
4. Some common games that involve words are: negotiating a deal (formally or informally); asking for information; addressing a number of people at the same time; giving an instruction; offering an apology; boasting how good or clever one is; discussing with someone generally sympathetic what to do next; exchanging views with someone whose opinions are quite different; a put-down, trying to make the other person feel small; flattery; a storytelling; and a complaint.
5. Examples of interaction games that do not use words are: serving (doing a job for someone); touching (by striking, stroking, biting and so on); crying out; waving arms; making hand and finger signs; adopting a significant body stance; making a noise (musical or otherwise); and emitting a smell.
6. It helps to know whether emotions (both theirs and ours) are being controlled, left to appear naturally, or overemphasized. Sometimes facial ticks or forced laughter can indicate that emotions are being suppressed.
7. We may be able to recognize the other person’s style of interaction; they may be assertive, confrontational, challenging, provocative, hysterical, attempting dominance, keeping their distance, maintaining cheerfulness, joking, acting with artificial calmness, keeping a relaxed pace, whispering, or whingeing.
8. Of course we may find it useful to adopt such styles ourselves, or to align our style with the other person’s, or deliberately adopt a contrasting style.
9. There are many tactics and tools used in interactions, especially linguistic (word-based) ones. Many are used in bargaining situations. Humour is a very common tool.
10. Bad tactics include attempting personal offence, deception, artificial posing, lying, deception, and nit-picking. It is good to avoid these tactics ourselves, but to watch out for them in others.
11. There are also good general strategies, such as consideration, concern, resolve, patience, bringing out the best in the other person.
12. There are also different forms of reaction to what another person has said or done. Examples are grovelling, half-hearted agreement, refusal, laughing out of court, dismissal, absolute contradiction, physical punching, sympathetic hand touch, or saying ‘I hear what you say’.
13. A key skill to acquire, unless we are already inclined to act like a submissive doormat, is to know when to ‘back off’ from being too confrontational.
14. In interactions that are likely to be repeated, we often need to demonstrate that we are not ‘pushovers’, or that we have the grit to recover from bad situations. And of course there is the issue of trust.
15. Trust is not something that we just have or do not have in another person. It is a continuing process. It has to be built up and maintained.
16. This is the same with personal friendship; we have to build it up and maintain it.
17. Finally it is important to foresee how an interaction is going to finish. Are we going to decide or agree on something? Is one or other person going to ‘win’? Can we just end by having a laugh? Should we ‘agree to disagree’? Or are we into some degree of conflict?

E – Conflict

1. Conflict between humans is not unnatural. There will often be competition for the same resources. It is not a good idea to expect to be able to avoid conflict at all costs.
2. A truce is by definition an agreement that is only temporary.
3. Festering sores in a human relationship are worse than those that we do not attend to promptly.
4. Fate, the ‘judge’ of violent conflict, only rules in favour of what is powerful, not what is fair and just.
5. In a conflict which cannot easily be resolved, it is good to seek an arbitrator. The arbitrator has to say to both sides engaged in conflict “You are not going to achieve all your desires. You will be better off scaling them down.”
6. It is difficult to scale down expectations when the conflict is between nations, especially if languages are different and communications are poor.
7. Conflict can still be destructive without a physical war. There can be trade embargos, denial of resources – not to mention loss of trust.
8. In wars, sieges are sometimes a desirable interlude. They can tie up warriors from doing much more violent things, and they can encourage a city to prepare itself to be self-sufficient.

F – The Influence of Families

9. It has often been said that whereas we can choose our friends, we cannot choose our family; at least until we choose a wife or husband, and we may then acquire yet another family.
10. Relations between members of the same family have some similarities with trade; there are debts incurred which must be repaid in some way.
11. As we get older, we have to find ways of resolving the awkward choice between concern for and interaction with whoever matters most at the time, and the calls of one’s own flesh and blood.
12. Over time, the nature of the bond between family members changes. In infancy it is physical dependency; in childhood it is education and example as well as being provided for; as an adult it is love, good will and support.
13. If relationships are not handled well, family bonds can lapse into resentment and distancing.
14. Some cities send all their young boys away from their families to be trained as soldiers. This may be good if the city’s main occupation is making war, but does not work for a prosperous peacetime.
15. The cities that do this have often conquered their neighbours, but when they have passed on to other things they have reaped little long-term benefit, and the neighbours learn how to challenge them successfully.

G – The Influence of Crowds

1. A crowd carries a certain amount of power by virtue of its togetherness.
2. The good influence of a crowd is its committed resolve to a common cause, and its resilience to attackers who can only affect small numbers of members on the edges.
3. In a crowd, there is always pressure not to appear different from the majority.
4. The bad influence is that crowds encourage extreme behaviour, reckless oratory, intolerance, mass hysteria and riots.
5. People often throw their lot in with a crowd with the idea that they can somehow escape, or at least reduce, their personal responsibility for whatever is done in the name of the crowd.
6. Leaders have to be aware of crowd dynamics, even if the crowd’s view is in the wrong. A crowd can physically prevent, or at least delay, a leader’s plans.

H – Stories

1. Everything I have written is a story – my story. Other people may tell a different story about the same things.
2. If my story is worth anything it is for three good reasons: a) I have ‘stood on the shoulders’ of wise men and women who have gone before me; b) I have compared several different stories and selected the best parts from each; and c) I have had the good fortune to talk with people from several nations, and have lived among two quite different cultures.
3. My story should be judged on whether or not it is a practical view to hold, not just for sages and rulers, but for anyone who thinks seriously about what is the best path to take in life.
4. Of some stories, we can judge whether or not they are ‘true’, by how closely they align with what we can observe, or what honest and wise people can remember having observed.
5. Some other stories are better regarded as being ‘accepted’ tradition, or as second-hand stories that have passed through intermediate story-tellers.
6. History is an example of this last type of story. It is less about true correspondence to what really happened, and more about what a nation – or its leader – wants everyone to believe.
7. The history that we get to read or hear is told by the winners of wars, or by old people with time to reflect and reminisce. Most of what really happened is forgotten, either by chance or by someone’s design.
8. Many other stories do not pretend to reflect any actual events, but they contain some value for listeners. Our great dramas of tragedy, and the fables of the storytellers, are of this kind. Many of our stories are about humans whose hubris led to their come-uppance.
9. There are also stories which are told only for entertainment, nostalgia or group bonding.
10. Many stories, including history, do not remain the same for ever. They evolve to resonate with the culture of the times and the circumstances.

I – The Nature of Knowledge

(Editor’s note: These next three sections were originally titled ‘Gnosis and Related Ideas’. They started as Christian’s ‘Lifting of the fog’.)

1. When people talk about knowledge, or ‘gnosis’, what they usually mean is our collection of stories; things we remember from what we have personally experienced, and from what we have read or been told.
2. However those stories that do not relate to any practical life situations, or which may mislead us, we do not count as knowledge but as “just stories”.
3. Before we look further at ‘gnosis’ knowledge, we should recognize that underneath are three layers of a more basic sort of knowledge, which we can call our ‘background knowledge’.
4. At the lowest level, humans – like all animals – are born with some knowledge which they do not need to acquire. The baby knows to suck at its mother’s breast, the eye knows to blink, the leg knows to kick when the knee is tapped; the mind knows how to spot patterns.
5. Then there is knowledge that we need more quickly than we can retrieve from our memory and with it work out what to do in each situation; we have to train ourselves to act fast. Much of this knowledge seems to reside in our hands, arms and legs.
6. Thirdly, and just beneath ‘gnosis’, there is the language we use without consciously thinking, the way our culture divides up the world, and the background we pick up from observing our parents, families and neighbours.
7. We use our language as the basis of our ‘gnosis’ knowledge. The stories we read or hear can be remembered in written language, and we can help our own memory by writing down the stories of our own experiences, for example by keeping diaries or making notes.
8. As well as each individual’s personal knowledge, we can consider the combined knowledge of our family, our city, our nation and the whole of the human race.
9. Since the experience of every person, family, city and nation is different, there can always be differences between the stories of each individual.
10. Sometimes these differences can be resolved, either by establishing that one story is more reliable, more accurate, or more useful than another; or by finding a new story that can encompass the best aspects of both.
11. All our knowledge is provisional; we do not know for sure that it will not mislead us. With more information, we might come to know better. But we have to take chances, as time to act is usually a constraint.
12. Knowledge may mean ‘knowing how’, ‘knowing why’, ‘knowing where’, ‘knowing when’, ‘knowing which’ or ‘knowing what’.
13. ‘Knowing how’ is to know a process, the sequence in which one must do things, the tools one can use and the material one needs, for an action to be performed successfully.
14. ‘Knowing why’ may mean either of two things. One is to know purposes - ‘what are we doing this for?’ The other is to know causes - ‘what makes this happen?’ We need to recognize the difference.
15. ‘Knowing why’ is part of giving an explanation of something that has happened, is happening, or may happen in future. ‘Knowing why’ something happened in the past may often be much the same as ‘knowing how’ it happened.
16. ‘Knowing where’ and ‘knowing when’ can also apply to the past, the present and the future.
17. ‘Knowing which’ means recognizing one out of many; a person from a crowd, an animal from a flock, or an object from a pile. It can mean recognizing the correct path from several that meet at a junction; or the best action to take when there is a choice.
18. ‘Knowing what’ can mean many things, such as knowing what is right or good; knowing what an experience of pain or pleasure is like; knowing what needs to be done; knowing what is going on; knowing what something is made of; knowing what the chance of success in a venture is; knowing what the accuracy of a forecast is; knowing what another person’s opinion or intention is; knowing a song; and so on.
19. The quality of our knowledge depends on the quality of our perception through our senses, and on the quality of our interpretation of what we perceive. Ideally, everyone ought to be trained in these skills.
20. All knowledge implies a measure of confidence. If I say “I don’t know”, I have no confidence in my knowledge. If I say “As far as I know” I have some, but admit I don’t have full confidence.
21. However, if I say “I am sure”, or “I am convinced”, I may be full of confidence, but possibly mistaken. So all knowledge carries a variable degree of accuracy.
22. To improve our own knowledge on a particular topic, we need to be methodical. We have to bring together as many different viewpoints as we can find, even the folk sayings. We have to watch how words are being used. We have to resolve any apparent contradictions, and choose the account that has most practical benefit.
23. An important factor in deciding which of a number of versions of knowledge has the most practical benefit is how easily it can be explained to the people that have to address practical situations using that knowledge.

J – Consensus, Doxy and Common Knowledge

24. Since we do not start life with very much knowledge, each of us, as a child, goes through a two-channel learning process to acquire it. One channel is to ‘try it and see what happens’; the other is to watch, or ask, someone else. We have to interleave these two channels.
25. For example, we try to throw a stone so that it skims on the water, but it doesn’t work for us. We see someone else do it by spinning the stone and keeping it low. We try again and succeed.
26. Because each individual mind is physically separate, our individual knowledge could be independent of everyone else’s. But in fact we share our knowledge by communicating.
27. Eventually we share knowledge quite widely, and we come to belong to a wide circle of people who agree on the structure of things, like what is ‘real’, and what is ‘true’. This is what we mean by a ‘consensus’ – in Greek, ‘synainesy’.
28. As children, we ‘subscribe’ to the consensus of our parents, family and neighbours; it is so much more efficient to do so than create a new one.
29. It is not surprising that there is no single consensus for all humans, since consensus happens much by chance.
30. The biggest division in consensus is language. This is because different races learnt speech in widely different places, without contact with other races. Later still, even people who once spoke the same language moved to different areas, and developed their own dialects.
31. Different circumstances also lead to different consensuses. Some people live near the sea, others in forests. Some people are colour-blind.
32. Second to language, religion is the other big source of division of consensus. Some religious monotheists have told me “God decided to reveal himself differently to different races”, but I think this is not a useful story.
33. Whereas consensus is arrived at through free will, doxy is consensus enforced by a particular group, often a religious group. If it is not actually enforced, disagreeing with it is discouraged.
34. Consensus is not limited to ‘how things are’, but may also include ‘what shall we do about it?’
35. When people talk about ‘common knowledge’, they often mean ‘folklore’. Folklore includes consensuses which quite often turn out to be wrong; in other words they lead to contradictions.
36. An example is that people once believed that the planet is like a flat sheet; and that all the stars and other planets are situated ‘above’ the sky.

K – Things that are not the same as Knowledge

1.  ‘Belief’ is not quite the same as knowledge; it is another type of story. It means something which we may assume, but without firm evidence or ‘knowing for sure’. We can believe something, partly on the basis of what we know, partly on the basis of what other people have told us, and partly on the doxy of a group in which we are members.
2. Belief is common in religions, where its purpose is to bind people into a community that has similar beliefs. The community’s doxy may be accompanied by threats to those who do not conform.
3. There are several other concepts, all of which are related to knowledge, but are not quite the same. Examples are theory (‘episteme’), facts (‘data’), science, truth, reason (‘logos’), justification, will (‘thelema’), wisdom (‘sophia’), intelligence (‘eidesy’) and understanding (‘synesis’).
4. A theory is a type of story, which we propose for examination and discussion, rather than assert as ‘true’. We may propose a theory based on reflection on our own experience, or knowledge acquired from others, to explain things that happen in general experience.
5. It is not knowledge in itself, but acts like a midwife to help us achieve new knowledge which is not immediately apparent to us.
6. We can build theories on top of other theories to continue this process.
7. In this way, people in our academies have built logical arguments, according to which, if certain initial assumptions are accepted, the knowledge is no longer regarded as ‘provisional’ and is treated as ‘certain’.
8. But in my view, such knowledge is still better regarded as ‘provisional’, as its application to practical problems is still not absolutely certain.
9. Theories are more provisional than ‘gnosis’ knowledge. They are proposed as a challenge, like the heads in a fairground that people throw sticks at to win a prize.
10. In practice, we mix ‘gnosis’ and ‘episteme’ all the time, often carelessly.
11. In common speaking, people often say things like “these are the facts (‘data’), you can’t argue with them”. But these ‘facts’ usually depend on someone’s observation, and possibly also someone’s interpretation as well.
12. The word ‘data’ is used in two ways in our science academies. To the geometers, it means the observations and assumptions which new theories are proposed to explain. To the experimenters, it means the observations that are made to justify or disprove their theories.
13. Science itself is really a story about how new knowledge is acquired using theories and experiments. It is the story of a method, rather than of the results of applying that method.
14. Truth is a word much used in rhetoric, but its everyday use in relation to knowledge is very loose. It can be used to imply correspondence between a theory or belief and some observed data. But it can also have connotations such as ‘reliable’, ‘believable’ or even ‘valuable’.
15. Reason (‘logos’) is a set of mental tools used not just by scientists and philosophers, but by most ordinary people. The use of these tools is itself an area of knowledge.
16. Examples of rules of reason are 1) if statement A implies statement B, and statement A is true, then statement B is true; and 2) if statement A implies statement B, and statement B implies statement C, then statement A implies statement C.
17. Justification is similar to reason, and refers to the arguments that are used to verify a theory or belief.
18. Will (‘thelema’) refers to the element of purpose in acquiring knowledge.
19. Although ‘will’ motivates the quest for knowledge, there is always a danger that knowledge will be tainted by the ‘will to believe’, which seems a natural tendency in many people.
20. Wisdom (‘sophia’) means more than just having a large quantity of knowledge. It involves knowing which knowledge is important, which is relevant to the situation at hand, and how to apply it. It also involves recognizing when we do not know, and when someone is attempting to deceive us.
21. To achieve wisdom, a person needs to understand the five constraints of logic, aesthetics, motivation, resources and politics, as detailed in the Pentagon, which is described later.
22. Intelligence (‘eidesy’) can have three meanings. The first is a human’s ability to make good interpretations of what he or she perceives; the second is to detect patterns – and exceptions to patterns – in what is observed; the third is to be able to remember details of something observed, heard or read for long enough to use it when needed.
23. Understanding (‘synesis’) is the ability to grasp the intended meaning of what is read, heard or observed. This may require a person to ‘follow the logic’ of a story that they have been told; or even to try it out in practice.
24. When I start asking questions about what someone else has just said to me, they often ask me “Why can’t you just accept what I say?” I tell them “What you say may well be right, but I still like to work things out for myself. There is a lot of meaning in the words you have used.”
25. A story from a good authority can help towards reliable knowledge. But it may not be enough; even the best authority has only provisional knowledge.
26. I prefer to seek a wider consensus, from people I ask or from books I choose to read, rather than to rely on one person, however great an authority, telling me.
27. Often, it helps to consider the opinions of people who do not agree with what most people are saying. Have we really any good justification for saying they are wrong?
28. I try to remember the purpose for which I am looking knowledge, even if this is just to store it up for situations I think I might get into in the future.
29. Some knowledge can be useless; sometimes it is mistaken, sometimes it is just incomplete or inaccurate; sometimes it is too definite and ignores the chance effects of factors that have not been taken into account; and sometimes it is a deliberate lie or misrepresentation from a person or group that is pushing towards some goal and wants us to accept their story in order to achieve it.
30. As the sophists and teachers of rhetoric have shown us, language is a fertile field in which to persuade and deceive.
31. Each one of us presumes to know more than we do know. We may not have had enough personal experience; there may be many things which we have not had the chance to perceive; the stories we read may be inaccurate or untrue; and our ability to interpret may be unreliable.
32. Many people say that taking on board too much knowledge is a waste of effort. We might be better, they say, just getting down and doing it (whatever we are required to do). If we do not know how, we can just watch somebody else doing it.
33. I have some sympathy with this view, but it depends on the challenges that we are facing. In many cases, it is true that the only knowledge we need can be gained by imitation and practice, as in learning to sing a simple song. But to operate successfully in a market, more is needed; to be a general in a war, or to rule over a city or a nation, needs much more.

L – Reality, Materiality, Abstraction and Fiction

1. The philosophy schools and the science academies spend much time arguing about what is ‘real’ and what is not.
2. To me, ‘reality’ is just a word that we have come to use in our languages, but giving it a single consistent definition is beyond our capability.
3. Some philosophy schools seem to look at the problem from the top, and others from the bottom.
4. The view from the top is that the only reality is a single universal mind. We – and everything else we encounter – are just part of that mind. Whatever we perceive is not there as a separate thing, but a mental image of some ideal.
5. However self-consistent this view may be, its problem is that it is too difficult - and therefore meaningless – for almost everyone I have ever met.
6. I prefer a bottom up view, which meets more of the constraints of pragmatics, even if it leaves many logical objections unanswered.
7. Whatever I perceive starts out as being ‘real for me’. But this can soon become inadequate as I meet and deal with other humans. Without interaction, too much depends on my individual interpretation.
8. So I seek confirmation and validation of my interpretation from other people or sources; from my elders and teachers, and from the best authorities or theories that I have access to. Many of my perceptions will turn out to be similar to those of other people, and have already acquired names or signs in our languages. A good example of something about which we can discuss its reality – or otherwise – is a rainbow. Is it really ‘there’, or is it an optical illusion?
9. Of course it is possible that large numbers of people who have the same interpretation can all be wrong. It was not so many years ago that most people thought that the sun goes round our planet, rather than vice versa.
10. This leaves ‘reality’ as rather similar to ‘knowledge’ – it is provisional.
11. Many of the things we talk about cannot be seen, touched or otherwise perceived. Does this then mean that they are not real?
12. Simple examples are gods, spirits and ideas. We can possibly represent them as images and in stories, but then it is these images that are the reality, rather than what is behind them.
13. Other tricky abstractions are things like ‘trust’, ‘honesty’, ‘duty’, ‘love’, ‘hate’, ‘war’, ‘trade’, ‘art’, ‘learning’, and ‘procedure’. Certainly everyone can talk about them. They are often best seen as composite things – they are a combination of many smaller things, possibly stories, assembled together in a structure.
14. There are debates about whether or not scientific knowledge, such as is gained by using scientific methods, is real.
15. Some say that scientific knowledge cannot be real, because it is real to no one person; it has been derived by distancing itself from the view of any person. It is artificially ‘objective’.
16. Others argue that it is not de-personalized, but just re-aligned to ‘any person’s view’.
17. Some philosophers argue that regarding reality as ‘subjective’ leaves it open to being distorted by those with the most power and most ability to present their opinions.
18. Some religious sects regard painstaking investigation and experimentation as the wrong way to approach reality. Instead, they say, we should spend time in contemplation; then we will obtain a vision of the overarching reality.
19. Other religious sects claim that the true story of everything has been written for all time in their holy books, so we do not need to contemplate. We should simply accept their priests’ word; we do not need to observe and experiment.
20. Magicians too appeal to supernatural causes to explain their magic. But a little thought will reveal that this is a fiction, and that they are appealing to our ‘wish to believe’.
21. Most of the pharmacists we see in our marketplaces claim that the effectiveness of their potions is real, but my suspicion is that even they themselves do not believe it, and just like magicians are appealing to our wishful thinking.
22. Our playwrights and storytellers have created their own stories, but they do not pretend to claim that their stories represent reality – they are there to offer us useful meaning, through the vicarious experience we get by following their story.

M – Meaning

1. Meaning (‘semasia’) is usually thought of as the idea which one person intends to convey to a second person, or group of persons, when talking or writing.
2. But in my opinion, what is more important is whatever the hearers or readers interpret. Each person creates their own meaning from what they hear, read or observe. And this meaning, in turn, motivates some action – which may mean doing something physically, saying or writing something, or deciding to keep silent or be inactive.
3. The same point also applies to art and music; of course the meanings created from the same display by two individuals can be very different, and may be very difficult to explain in language.
4. Meaning can be just as easily created from fictional stories as from stories that claim to be knowledge.
5. The gap between the meaning intended by a speaker and that created by listeners may be smaller when gestures accompany the language used.
6. Facial expressions and body poses of the speaker, whether deliberate or not, influence the message constructed by the listener.
7. This applies just as much when humans address animals, animals address humans, and animals address other animals.
8. The gap between the meaning intended by a writer and that created by readers may be smaller when diagrams accompany the language used.
9. The style of language used by a writer can by itself affect the meaning created by a reader.
10. In most situations of human-to-human communication, and animal-to-human as well, it is obviously good – sometimes vital – for the receiver of a communication to get a good approximation to what the sender intended.
11. It helps to understand the things that may have led to a sender’s message arriving in a certain form of words and colour of expression.
12. Such things include the sender’s lack of self-control, a need for sympathy, a wish to trade, an urge to mate, a desire to intimidate, a threat of annihilation and a wish to persuade.
13. We should also be aware of these and other things that affect ourselves as receivers, and thus threaten our ability to take the correct intended meaning of the communications we receive.
14. We should be able to recognize messages we receive that are attempting to appeal to our emotions directly, hoping to bypass our thought and judgment.
15. Both as senders and receivers, the basic story that we adopt in relation to our lives – our life-philosophy – affects the meanings we create.  Our life-philosophies are a mix of what our culture or doxy teaches us, and what we as individuals invent.
16. Our culture, and what we can actually express in our communications, are both constrained by the language we have been brought up in.
17. We ought to recognize that we may err by looking too hard for meaning in what we observe. There are often several alternative meanings that we could construct, depending on our concerns at the time. We may end up by forcing the meaning we prefer onto our situation.
18. There may be more meaning in poetry and metaphor than in stories that claim to be knowledge.

Chapter 3 - Philosophers and Priests

A – Stories of Gods, Heroes and Magic

1. Philosophy began when people, who already used language for communicating the essentials of everyday life, started to discuss the nature and meaning of their lives.
2. The leaders in this thinking were those who lived to an old age, and so were faced with the fact that they would die soon.
3. Over the years, it became normal for elders to pass on their understanding to the next generation. The best way to do this was through exciting stories, stories that the young would be less likely to forget.
4. Many of these stories, which in spite of all our philosophy are still told today, involve superhuman heroes, supernatural gods living on mountain tops, and fabulous animals that can fly and breathe fire.
5. The stories and sagas of the Germanians, who have very little philosophy, provide a very large part of their knowledge; however their training in the arts of agriculture and war is equal to that of the Greeks.
6. Many of their stories tell of magical deeds, the like of which no-one has seen happen in their own lives.
7. Such tales of magic are exciting for children, but are not believed by many adults. However the Gods are still worshipped and prayed to by the majority.
8. The gods of both the Greeks and the Germanians and, we believe, of other nations, include goddesses.
9. The specialities of the goddesses are wisdom, fertility, the arts, marriage and carnal love; whereas the male gods represent power, war, technology, the sun, the underworld, the sea and the sky.
10. It seems likely that the super-human heroes in these stories, even if as adults we do not believe in their magic, are based on humans that did once live.
11. The courage of these heroes is still an inspiration for many of our young people.
12. However most heroes in the stories are men, and very few were women; this has been used to elevate the status of men, but to lower that of women.
13. People pray to the gods; sometimes their wishes are achieved; but on just as many occasions things turn out badly.
14. In cases where disaster strikes, people begin to wonder whether they have failed to act correctly towards some or all of the gods; or whether their gods are in fact not as powerful as they had believed.

B – The Search for Universal Cosmological Principles

1. When people started to travel in ships to trade or to make war, they realized the importance of starting their journey at a good time.
2. This meant that it was important to be able to predict not only the movement of the moons and the seasons of the year, but also the tides, currents and winds on the seas. (Editor: Interplanetary readers should be aware that Gaia has two moons)
3. Although predicting tides is difficult, our early philosophers were able to master this; in time, they could also predict transits of the moons and eclipses.
4. They also observed the stars and divided the year into twelve months based on the movements of the moons.
5. By presuming that the planet was spherical, and measuring the land distance between places where the sun was directly overhead at the different times of the year, they estimated the planet’s size.
6. Later, by following the southern coast of the continent in the direction of the currents, sailors were able to circumnavigate the planet in about two years.
7. Our early philosophers keenly debated the nature and structure of matter and mind. They knew that matter could be divided up into smaller and smaller pieces and still be matter.
8. They theorized that there would eventually be atoms, either of liquid or solid matter, that could not be divided further.
9. However they struggled with the observation that water can freeze to a solid, or be boiled away into vapour; and they were puzzled about what sort of things fire and heat were.
10. They also observed that iron also rusted, wood burnt, people and animals grew old, and living matter decomposed.
11. They realized that nothing stays the same for ever. It moves, flows, changes form, decomposes and disappears.
12. Philosophers also wrestled with the apparent chains of cause and effect. For example a human lights a fire; the fire causes burning of wood; and water in a pan on a fire heats and boils.
13. They found the nature of mind a much more difficult question. Soldiers whose head was injured in battle sometimes lost memory, but they could still do many things with their hands.
14. They talked about concepts of spirit (‘pneuma’) and soul (‘psyche’), but philosophers knew little about what they really were, or even if there was any difference.

C – The Search for what Humans Can or Can’t Know or Do

1. As well as seeking explanations for how Nature works, philosophers ask about the nature of people and the ‘human spirit’.
2. When looking for explanations for whatever happens in the world, people ask the question ‘why?’ (πώς). But as was discussed earlier, this can have two different meanings.
3. Firstly, ‘why’ could mean ‘what is the purpose?’ With humans, we can talk about our goals. Many animals too have a will, such as to eat, drink, rest and reproduce. But for other animals, plants and non-living matter we can only answer ‘because that is how nature appears to work’.
4. Secondly, ‘why’ can mean ‘what is the cause?’ With inanimate things, we might answer ‘because of what those things are made of’; or, ‘because of their structure’; or ‘because that is how they work, given the conditions’. For humans, we think we should be able to construct a chain of cause and effect; but we do not always understand how our own minds work, let alone anyone else’s.
5. People like to think that knowledge and truth are straightforward matters; either something is so, or it is not so. Surely, we think, it is just a matter of observation and logical deduction, and we can soon arrive at the truth.
6. In our search for knowledge about the world, we start out like people who watch a puppet show; we cannot see the mechanism by which the show is displayed. In a puppet show we can find out by looking behind the stage, but for the real world it is not so easy.
7. To understand adequately how the world works requires more than just a few stories we can tell to our children by word of mouth. We have to progressively develop our knowledge, which gradually becomes contained in our writings and books.
8. The same is true of history as well as science. We need to remember history in order to learn from it, and as generations pass, history too needs to be written in books. Even if this written history is not always the truth, it is usually better than no history at all.
9. The Germanians do not have history books; everything is passed on by word of mouth. So mistakes of the past are often repeated.
10. Some of the Germanian sagas talk about repeating cycles of history; at the end of each cycle, even the gods are destroyed and the whole civilization starts anew.
11. This is probably explained by the frequent raiding and destruction of their cities, which was common until they migrated to their current homeland.

D – Language and Its Problems

1. Our philosophers originally thought that the Greek language was just something given by the gods. But misunderstandings between Greek-speaking cities show that separate groups create distinct dialects, and perhaps this is only the latest chapter in a long evolution of language.
2. I, and others who have traded with foreigners, know that the differences in language are great in speech and even greater in writing.
3. Having lived in a nation with a different language, I had to quickly learn enough for everyday living; whereas children take years to do this.
4. I regard language as just a system of signals we use with our voices and mouths, just as soldiers and sailors use arm signals, and some tribes use smoke symbols.
5. Once we live in a language, the language partly controls us; it affects what we can say and what we can know.
6. As our knowledge expands we create new words, not only for new types of observable matter or event, but for ideas of the mind like constitution (‘syntagma’).
7. Even after a word becomes commonly used, not everyone interprets its meaning in the same way. The school of the Peristylians uses ‘apatheia’ to mean a good quality of not caring too much in case one encounters misfortune or disaster; rival schools use the word to mean a bad quality of not caring enough when care is needed.
8. Other words that have had this problem are courage (‘tharros’) or constancy (‘stathera’).

E - The Greek Philosophy Schools

1. Across the various Greek-speaking cities, there have been many philosophical schools. Many of these have at some time been popular in the city of Cornith.
2. There are eight well-known schools; over the years there have been many other fashions which have come and gone; some schools have declined, merged or closed.
3. The eight described here are: the Arithmeticians; the Rhetoricians; the Academy of Ideals; the Lyceum; the Kepoics or ‘Garden’; the Peristylians; the Sceptics and the Cynics.
4. These are different from the more practical technical schools which specialize in Medicine, Astronomy, Architecture, Geometry, and Machines.
5. The Arithmeticians extended our ability to count on our fingers into a system which they started to apply to observations of Nature; they discovered many regularities. They found several ‘magic’ numbers, such as π, and φ the ‘golden ratio’.
6. However their enthusiasm often prevailed over good sense, and they became a mystical sect, with rules and beliefs, not all of which were useful.
7. The Rhetoricians improved the art of speaking or writing as a means of persuading other people to follow their recommended course of action. They also taught other useful skills.
8. They too went to extremes, claiming that their techniques could be applied even to subjects they knew nothing about. But many of their listeners and readers could not detect this, so they were successful for many decades.
9. The Academy of Ideals, founded by Crito, built up an impressive explanation of the nature and structure of human knowledge. This was based on the idea that every thing that humans can observe or talk about is a ‘copy’ or version of a particular ‘entity type’ or abstract ‘ideal’, which we cannot observe.
10. The Academy provided a coherent view of knowledge, mostly about human behaviour and politics. However it was rather elitist, and favoured a conservative, hierarchically structured society rather than a more democratic one.
11. The Lyceum was a breakaway from the Academy. Its entity types or categories were developed ‘bottom up’, by recognizing similarities between observed instances. This contrasts with the Academy, where they are developed ‘top down’ from abstract Ideals. The Lyceum covered a wider range of both philosophical and technical knowledge areas than the Academy. It encouraged proper logic, and preached that the goal of humans is to live a virtuous life both in public and private.
12. However the Lyceum, too, was elitist, and open only to leisured upper class students. Its slogan of ‘keeping everything in balance’ ignored the deep crises and grief that many people experience, and the effect that this has on their reactions.
13. The Kepoics advocate an overall life-purpose of pleasure in moderation, without greed. They encourage members to rise above dependency on the traditional gods. They are notable for allowing women and even slaves to be involved.
14. The problem with the Kepoics’ approach is that they recommend that members isolate themselves from everyday life, trade and politics. They are criticized for not accepting the challenges of life; if everyone was a Kepoic the city’s economy would collapse.
15. The Peristylians have built on the Lyceum’s ideas, but have extended them in both the quality of their logic and in their acceptance of whatever difficulties life brings. People should amend their desires and will to be in harmony with Nature. They regard all Nature as constituting a single ‘god’. The school is relatively classless, and cosmopolitan.
16. However their idea that a person can be free from suffering (‘apatheia’) by subordinating their desires could lead to too easy an acceptance of ‘fate’, and to not making efforts to improve matters. Despite this, many Peristylians are involved in politics.
17. The Sceptics adopt a keen questioning attitude, demanding evidence before they accept any knowledge claimed by others. If knowledge is uncertain, they advocate suspending judgment. For them, moral values are purely arbitrary; they think the Peristylians are too dogmatic.
18. Their approach carries the danger that decisions are delayed, and thus progress cannot be made.
19. The Cynics are more extreme than the Sceptics. They think that people cannot have certain knowledge about anything, and so seeking knowledge is a waste of time. False judgments lead to bad outcomes. They reject all desires, whether for wealth, power, fame or sex.

F - Limitations of the Philosophers’ Path

1. While the achievements of the philosophers have been commendable, many of the schools are more notable for what they fail to address, rather than for what they actually say.
2. They have valuable things to say about the process by which logic can lead to expanded knowledge; but have less to say about aesthetics, human motivation, economics and some other pragmatic issues.
3. Philosophers often create their meaning by suppressing, excluding or marginalizing certain people, especially women and other philosophers.
4. Although they set great store on logic, they often fail to achieve clarity and readability. They also under-rate practicality.
5. They only pass their knowledge to a few citizens, in contrast to priests, who are in contact with a wider range of people, and who often provide help to those in need.
6. However by using logic, philosophers act as a counterweight to the priests, by ruling out some religious ideas which can be shown to make no sense or lead to contradictions.

G – Evolution of Religions

1. Well before the first philosophers appeared, tribal elders were looking for explanations of why our situation as humans is as we find it, and why the world is like it is.
2. There being no science or logic, and numbers being limited to counting on the fingers, the easiest explanation was to imagine that gods, beings with characteristics similar to humans but immensely more knowledgeable and powerful, have created everything in the world and are controlling all events.
3. The simple explanation for good events and bad events is that these are the result of the pleasure or displeasure (or anger) of the gods concerned.
4. The earliest gods were those of local natural features, such as rivers, mountains and certain trees.
5. Other tribes worshipped certain animals, such as hawks, crocodiles or hippopotami.
6. Many families and tribes still worship their ancestors and ‘household’ gods.
7. A tribe’s – and later a nation’s – gods represent such things as power, war, technology, the sun, the underworld, the sea and the sky.
8. There are often also a set of goddesses representing ideals such as wisdom, fertility, the arts, marriage and carnal love.
9. In certain nations on our planet, a single god is worshipped, who created the universe and who is the ultimate ruler; and with whom the nation made a contract not to worship any other gods, in return for the god’s special consideration towards their nation.
10. Even in nations that worship many gods, the idea of a single ‘international’ ruling god has enjoyed some popularity.
11. However for many people, such a god seems too much like a tyrant or dictator; many of the Greek city states have painful memories of living under tyrants without any way of getting rid of them when they ruled badly.
12. A recent trend has been the idea of a more personal god, one that people can talk with as an unseen individual friend, rather than a remote father, judge or autocrat.
13. This idea has gained popularity among young people in the more democratic Greek cities. However there is a problem when people ask their ‘friend’ to favour their interests against the interests of their competitors – who may presumably be petitioning the same friend.
14. I regard all religion as a metaphor. Humans find it difficult, if not impossible, to talk in accurate terms about the many influences on their lives. A metaphor provides people with a way of overcoming this difficulty.
15. The particular metaphor that people use, as we have seen above, can vary over place and time. It is also under continuing pressure to evolve, in response to the gradual advance of more reliable knowledge.

H - Common Practices in Supernaturalist Religions

1. I refer to all the gods described above as ‘supernatural’ and the religions as ‘supernaturalist’.
2. While the concept of the ‘supernatural’ is welcomed by some, and accepted by others, there are many who find the existence of supernatural powers difficult to accept.
3. There are many citizens who, although they profess belief in supernatural gods, do so only to avoid being persecuted by the majority if they were to express doubt.
4. Most supernatural gods seem to be anthropomorphic; they are superhuman figures, pictured and effectively designed by humans. It seems as if they have been made to resemble real-world autocratic rulers who require obedience and deference, often requiring prostration and a supplicant attitude.
5. In comparison with the philosophers, the cosmology of supernaturalist religions is explained by very fanciful stories; these stories may have value for adherents who are not interested in scientific explanations; but they should never pretend to be scientific.
6. In supernaturalist religions there is usually belief in miracles, things that the gods can do that no ordinary human being could.
7. Wise older men, who are often regarded as ‘priests’, perform rituals – to hopefully please the gods.
8. Rituals commonly include sacrifice – usually killing of animals – to the gods. It is said that in some nations, even humans are sacrificed to appease gods that are deemed to be angry because misfortune has struck their nation.
9. Supernaturalist religions often address images of their gods. These images are of basically human form, although some have distorted features such as many heads or enlarged body parts. Some religions also worship images of animals, such as giant lizards.
10. Aesthetic devices are commonly used in rituals. Examples are paintings, statues, glass, lights, colours and incense.
11. People who are strongly influenced by supernatural religions often indulge in self-denial practices, asceticism, separatism, or even total withdrawal from the normal world. Some of these practices are also followed in some philosophical schools.
12. Hermits, people who withdraw for religious reasons, may well be reflective people who think best away from the city and other humans. But they should not expect the rest of the citizens to support their lifestyle unless they do bring some value back to the societies they have left.
13. Given the natural human anxiety about death, many religions believe in some form of immortality; they talk about an afterlife in either a heaven or a hell, or re-incarnation in a new body.
14. Many of these religions also use special religious language; some use an older form of the local language with certain special words and common phrases; others use a different ‘holy’ language.
15. Although the dialects of the Germanians vary considerably from one end of the country to the other, in religious rituals they all use an ancient form of their original common language.

I – Priests, Shamans and Hierarchies

1. The purpose of priests is supposedly to provide a bridge between humans and gods.
2. The original word ‘priest’ in Greek derives from the word ‘presbyter’; this literally means an old man, which is appropriate since religious ideas usually come from the older men in a society.
3. Today we use the word ‘hieros’, which implies a priest who is part of a hierarchy.
4. In an organized society, priests or other religious leaders are expected to lead their followers in good thinking; but they also have a role in encouraging conformity, in order to keep coherence of the tribe, city or nation.
5. Priests have influence by convincing the people that they are able to speak to the gods, and that they know the correct and best way to invoke their assistance.
6. Few ordinary people question this; and if things do not turn out well, priests can always find reasons for it, blaming ordinary people for ‘sinning’, or failure to perform their religious duties correctly. They may say that the gods were offended by what certain citizens did; or that the citizens who followed the priests’ advice did not carry it out precisely enough.
7. As well as being messengers of the gods, priests often console followers who are suffering, and arrange help for them where possible.
8. An advantage to priests who belong to a hierarchy is that they can look upwards to seniors who can resolve difficult questions or judgments.
9. However some nations only have freelance priests or shamans, usually one for each village; these shamans do not belong to any hierarchy. In primitive countries each shaman has their own special approach, and their followers have no right to appeal against their rulings.
10. In Germania and some other nations, there is no special priestly caste; the older members of ruling families perform the necessary rituals.
11. Some religions have large, impressive temples to their gods, like those in our Greek cities. However to keep such temples limited only to uses determined by the priests alone, seems wasteful. Limited use should only apply to small shrines.
12. However it would seem fair to prohibit, within the temples, activities such as fighting.

J - Limitations of the Priests’ Path

1. The path of the priests is constrained by the wish of the priests themselves to retain influence and denigrate rival viewpoints.
2. There is often little motivation for priests to update their stories; as a result, their thinking and pronouncements may be unsuitable when there are changes in a culture or a civilization.
3. Priests are sometimes too involved in their own rituals, and fail to notice the needs of the rest of the world.
4. Many priests have just as many human failings as everyone else.
5. Priests in a hierarchy have too much invested in their own hierarchy, and they may be obliged to say certain things inconsistent with their own better judgment.
6. Many citizens, and especially leaders, are suspicious of the influence of priests. Ordinary people are often more respectful of prophets than priests. The prophets’ role is to provide a more reflective insight and warn of risks and dangers.
7. Just as with usurers, it is bad to let priests govern a city or nation.
8. Priests can however keep excessively rationalist philosophers in check, by pointing out aspects – usually those concerned with human emotions and spirit, or with the actual health of a society – that the philosophers are not adequately taking into account.

K - God as the Totality of Nature, and the Spirit of Good

1. Just as the supernaturalist religions have been evolving towards a single anthropomorphic god, so some of the naturalistic religions have come to worship the totality of nature as a ‘god’ but not an anthropomorphic one.
2. Leaders of such religions argue that having an anthropomorphic god that is separate from Nature limits that god; in their view a god should pervade the whole of nature and creation, or it is not the best god that we can envisage.
3. It seems obvious that the influences on our human lives are not limited to our physical environment. We are affected by emotions, not only our own, over which we often have little control, but also the emotions of others.
4. Naturalistic religions also talk about spirits such as friendship, mutual love, compassion, generosity, and team spirit.
5. They also recognize darker spirits such as anger, jealousy, greed, thirst for revenge and mass hysteria. While some religions ascribe these to ‘sin’, for which each individual should feel guilt and a desire for ‘redemption’, a better metaphor is that these are animal instincts, which we share with the lower animals. What we humans need to do is not to deny them, but keep them under control.
6. The metaphor of a non-anthropomorphic god of nature can be enhanced by being combined with the Spirit of Good.
7. The Spirit of Good represents the direction in which our constantly changing world naturally develops, not only in physical terms but also in human goodwill.
8. The Spirit of Good seems to be associated with gradually increasing sophistication, not just in human thinking but also in the complexity of our natural environment.
9. Increased sophistication in human thinking should lead in turn to the human race more effectively adapting to our physical environment.
10. Such a view of religion may be more abstract in conception than the anthropomorphic view. But it is less liable to being superseded by new scientific knowledge.
11. There are many people in the world who may not yet be sophisticated enough to adopt this metaphor. It should be the duty of those who can to help people to climb up the step needed to reach this valuable vision.
12. It could be explained that although the model of an anthropomorphic God may be still attractive and helpful, the metaphor of nature with the Spirit of Good is closer to the way the world works.

Chapter 4 - The Pentagon

(Click here for the diagram)

A – The Five Aspects and the Core

1. The five sides of the Pentagon represent five aspects of good individual and social life.
2. While the proposed grouping into 5 aspects is of my choosing (Editor: Christian may have been a closet Arithmetician), it is based on many years of reflection on several different philosophies and religions in a number of nations.
3. The five aspects, reading anti-clockwise from the top right, are: Quality and Aesthetics; Reason and Logic; Economy and Resources; Society and Manageability; and Individual Motivation.
4. The first two aspects, at the top of the Pentagon, are termed the ‘Fundamentals’; the three aspects lower down are referred to as the ‘Pragmatics’.
5. In the centre of the Pentagon is the Core, which has an inner and an outer part.
6. The inner part is the Spirit of Good, which I regard as the ultimate source of motivation for all the good things that happen in our universe.
7. Being a spirit, it is not easy to describe or define. I regard this spirit as unchanging. It drives the evolution of both living and non-living forms in our world and in the wider universe.
8. To us humans, the spirit offers itself to us as a way to be at one with the direction of the world’s evolution.
9. The outer part of the core has three elements: the ‘Logos’, the ‘Mythos’ and the ‘Examined Life’.
10. The Logos represents the development of human knowledge, through theories, hypotheses and questions.
11. The Logos is not static, but subject to continual change, as humans are able to extend their powers of observation, work with tools, and test hypotheses.
12. The Mythos is the sum of all the metaphors that have been used to enable humans to grasp the nature of the Spirit of Good.
13. The Mythos consists of stories that inspire, not instruct.
14. The Mythos too is not unchangeable; the first humans may once have all shared a single set of metaphors; but with the dispersion of the races and tribes, many new myths were born.
15. Myths can compete; and as the Logos expands, old myths can lose their value and be replaced by new ones.
16. The boundary between Logos and Mythos is not strict. Some myths can be endorsed by observation, while some older, superseded knowledge may be adopted as useful myth.
17. History is an example of a mixture between Logos and Mythos. But so are the stories of society and science.
18. There is no recommended version of Mythos in these scriptures. Each culture’s version of the Mythos will have its own heroes, saints – and if it wishes, gods.
19. The Good (or Examined) Life is described in the next section.
20. Beyond the borders of the Pentagon are the conceptual dark clouds that represent estrangement from the Spirit of Good.

B – The Examined Life

1. The essential message is that each of us should take responsibility for our own life and that of those that depend on us. We must find our own meaning. We can seek advice, but should not blindly accept what we are told.
2. We should be suspicious of simple, ready-made folk wisdom, especially if it does not seem to relate well to the particular situation we find ourselves in at a point in time.
3. It is fine to follow a religion, but many religions have little to say about pragmatic issues of the life many of us live today. If that religion has a God, that God should include all of nature and human activity.
4. It is good to listen to those people who have a different view to the majority.
5. We should feel entitled to change our mind as we learn more.
6. A useful metaphor is shown in the diagram of the Pentagon. On the far right of the diagram, we start with a ‘will’ to do something in our world, and may make plans, possibly with other humans such as our family or social group; this ‘will’ enters the Pentagon along the blue arrow.
7. On the far left, the dice represent ‘chance’ (since we cannot be sure how our actions will turn out) and ‘risk’ (that the result may be unfavourable or disastrous). These enter the Pentagon along the red arrow.  The dice are just metaphors for the fact that the world evolves in ways that are usually only partly predictable, and often totally unpredictable, by us.
8. The implication for our lives is that we have to learn to accept what happens, and train our emotions to ride the ups and the downs.
9. We need to learn how to judge when we can act and make a positive improvement to situations, and when we should let things be.
10. We should at all times do our best not to make things worse.
11. We should recognize that a key part of the Spirit of Good is to be considerate and loving to all the other humans around us, because in the long run this works more in tune with the world.
12. We should accept that pity and compassion are part of our nature.
13. The examined life means that we should, every now and then, reflect on how we are coping, both practically and in our minds.
14. We need to consider how we are behaving towards others, not just our family but our fellow citizens; and we should not omit consideration for other animals and living things.
15. The examined life does not primarily mean adherence to a specific social code of morality. This is not the place for a large set of dos and don’ts.
16. Good moral judgment should be regarded as a personal responsibility.
17. Precise rules for behaviour may need to be different in different nations and different situations.
18. Many new situations arise that have never been encountered before; these may be caused by changes in society or technology. Moral rules need to be frequently updated.
19. However there are many guidelines which can safely be regarded as universal. Some of these are given following the description of the five sides – or aspects – of the Pentagon, which appear below.

C – The Aspect of Quality and Aesthetics

1. Quality is what appears to us in the moment before intellectualization. It can also be regarded as the purest form of reality.
2. In this moment, I forget that I am the ‘subject’ and that everything else, including people and ideas, are ‘objects’. Things have simply all come together at this point.
3. ‘Subject-and-object’ is in any case a metaphor, tightly bound with our languages; but it is a metaphor that both Mythos and Logos make use of.
4. Quality is the primary stimulus which leads us to make our models of the world we experience.
5. Aesthetic value is a form of Quality. However this only means the effect the aesthetic item has on us, not the words of a language in which we try to talk about it.
6. In paintings, sculpture or architecture, at the moment of quality we perceive only the total effect that the item makes on us. In poetry, drama, dancing and music, we are carried along.
7. If we can sing and dance ourselves, Quality is even more to the fore.
8. Just being in the natural world is also a great source of Quality, especially if we can ourselves move between the plants, animals, hills, mountains, deserts and shores; even the sea, sky and weather can inspire us.
9. Aesthetic value is highest if it can inspire us, give us a sense of wonder, and lead us towards new insights about the world and our life in it.
10. Quality can also be experienced when we are engrossed in the flow of doing something we really enjoy doing, including sport, hobbies, making things – including art or music.
11. Quality appears also in love, close friendship, kindness, or being in a wonderful building or garden.
12. Some people can experience Quality through visions, or glimpses of a God. But this is not something that we should expect of everyone.
13. Beyond the borders of this side of the Pentagon lie the ugly, the plain, the mundane, the disgusting, the meaningless, cacophonous noises, trite phrases, and boring repetition.
14. There is also hate, envy, cruelty, unconcern, carelessness, and intolerance.
15. There is also cultural snobbishness and the superior attitude that ‘we’ are more attuned to Quality than other people.
16. Appreciation of artistic quality can become intellectualized, be riddled with clichés, and bound up with cultural value systems that can quickly go out of date.
17. Through human failings, stories about quality, aesthetics and gods can become ossified and illogically defended by hierarchies.

D – The Aspect of Reason and Logic

1. There are two purposes of the Aspect of Reason and Logic. The first is the development of knowledge according to the Spirit of Good, which includes taking account of the natural regularities of the world.
2. The second is to provide a filter to ensure that assertions claiming to be knowledge, but which defy logic and lead to contradictions, are screened out.
3. A primary justification for the development of human knowledge is to enable us to improve the quality of our lives.
4. The patterns we have learnt, and the culture we have been brought up in, act as the first filter and organiser of our experiences.
5. The language we use – not just the words but the turns of phrase – is a further filter.
6. Reflection and reason are then brought in to help us develop explanations and forecasts.
7. The aspect of Reason and Logic includes the calculation and consideration of risk.
8. It enables us to manage things that initially appear too complex, or counter-intuitive.
9. The process of classification of observed or imagined things into categories or ‘entity types’ belongs in this aspect.
10. The taxonomy that appears later in these scriptures is an example of categorization, and describes physical and abstract entity types, and includes processes.
11. Paradoxes and mysteries may be presented, which need to be resolved either by choosing an optimum interpretation, or deciding that more than one interpretation is valid.
12. Hypotheses and theories are developed here, although the motivation for these may derive from other aspects.
13. Observation and experiment are performed to test theories and hypotheses.
14. Old theories may be revised or replaced.
15. Knowledge is summarized and presented in forms suitable for reading and examination.
16. Beyond the borders of this side of the Pentagon lies contradiction, illogicality, vagueness and implausibility or unclearness of assumptions.
17. There is also pedantry, the insistence that no progress can be made until absolutely all areas of doubt are resolved.
18. There is also positivism, the insistence that any statement for which a test of its truth or otherwise cannot be offered, is meaningless.
19. Through human failings, theories can ossify and be retained long after they have ceased to have value.
20. Lastly there are dangers of error, over-complexity and incomprehensibility.

E – The Aspect of Economy and Resources

1. In this pragmatic aspect, the issue is to ensure that the resources being used in activities are sufficient, of adequate quality, balanced and husbanded for the longer term.
2. Resources to be considered include metals, wood, other materials, water (drinking and washing), ships, land transport, storage space, people, housing, drains, waste disposal and money.
3. The goal should be gradual improvement in human living standards, with benefits spread widely.
4. Families, villages, cities and states need to ensure that by taking one action with regard to resources, they do not create contingent problems in regard to some other resources.
5. Beyond the borders of this side of the Pentagon lie uneconomic projects, financial crises, famines, waste and greed.
6. Waters can become polluted by sewage and other poisonous material; the air can be polluted by the smoke from fires.
7. Resources can become exhausted by over-use; forests have been cut down to provide wood for ships and for fires, and not replaced.
8. If we take too much of a resource now, it becomes scarce when we or others need it later.
9. This problem and other factors may also lead to the risk of the falling off of quality of life in a city or nation.
10. Inequality over how resources are shared can also lead to a dysfunctional society, with lack of motivation for the disadvantaged groups. It can also lead to wars between states.

F – The Aspect of Society and Manageability

1. In this pragmatic aspect, the need is to ensure that the effect of any events or proposed plans on groups of people can be well managed. Examples of such groups are armies, navies, merchant ships’ crews, ports, cities, tribes and nations.
2. The goal of such management can be either stability, or progress toward a better state of affairs.
3. Events which can affect such groups include building projects, law changes, new taxes, floods, fires, earthquakes and wars.
4. The concern here is not so much with each individual, but whether the conditions are such that individuals can and will work together.
5. This aspect includes the creation and updating of codes of conduct, which are laws and moral standards that are necessary for continuation of a good society.
6. There may need to be laws and standards that apply to each village or city; to a tribe or nation; to an army, navy or trading company; to a games competition; to a religious sect or philosophical school; and to a government.
7. Transparent systems should be adopted for commerce, government, security and the process of justice itself.
8. All individual persons should regard themselves as having a contract to respect the rules of the groups to which they belong.
9. However it is the responsibility of leaders and authorities to ensure that the rules are fair and that they are enforced fairly.  There should not be groups who enjoy exemption or special privileges.
10. The rules should ideally be stable, and for the benefit of all; and not too intrusive into people’s individual freedom.
11. Rules may need to be changed to reflect changing circumstances. Any changes to rules are invalid if the consent of both the governed and the authorities is not considered.
12. Disregard for rules or standards is generally to be regarded as a crime.
13. Bending of rules, whether by individuals or authorities, is also potentially a crime.
14. Beyond the borders of this side of the Pentagon lie chaos, anarchy, schism, inequity, injustice, and alienation.
15. There is also utopianism and fundamentalist political collectivism, where the individual’s interests are deemed to matter very little.
16. At the opposite extreme there can be excessive relativism, where any one view is just as good as any other.
17. There is also tyranny and dictatorship; also intolerance, such as may be imposed by too strongly organized religion.
18. Other undesirable situations include bribery and corruption, vendettas, and internal wars between classes or parties.
19. There is also the danger of micromanagement or a nanny state, where the city or nation’s government intervenes too closely and at too low a level in things best left to sort themselves out.

G – The Aspect of Individual Motivation

1. In this pragmatic aspect, the issue is whether or not individual persons will be sufficiently motivated to put in effort to achieve things.
2. The ultimate goal is to bring people’s wills together voluntarily, in order to create plans for production or progress that have people’s wholehearted support.
3. Examples of goals to which individual motivation might be applied are building a house, saving money in case of unforeseen emergencies, volunteering to help victims of a natural disaster, or showing tolerance to a minority or some other identifiably ‘different’ group.
4. Good motivation arises through good health, enthusiasm, understanding, benevolence, a spirit of fair play, consideration for others, a relaxed manner, resilience and good humour.
5. Motivation may be lifted in many ways, often involving emotions such as fear or compassion; but also through desire to improve a person’s own life situation.
6. Personal motivation should however be kept in perspective. Failure to achieve one’s goals may lead to disappointment and de-motivation; while one person’s success may lead to de-motivation in others.
7. Beyond the borders of this side of the Pentagon lie apathy, aimlessness, idleness, depression and confusion. These are usually worsened by failures in the other two pragmatic aspects.
8. At the same time, if people are too highly motivated, they may become pushy and inconsiderate, indulge in bullying or persecution, become fanatic, or fail to respect people who hold different views.

H – More about Quality

1. Quality, or ‘goodness’, is an elusive concept. In our ordinary conversation, we are not sure what mix of ‘loveliness’, ‘truth’, ‘fairness’, ‘perfection’, or ‘being generally well regarded’ should constitute it.
2. Some people also like to include things like wonder, magic, or inspiration
3. The philosophers rate mostly highly those things which are intellectually good, while the priests espouse things that are spiritually good.
4. The Lyceum philosophers tried to combine all constituents of Quality into a single concept which they called virtue (‘arete’).
5. Quality is present neither in the material world alone, nor in the intellectual mind alone.
6. Quality involves both the person who experiences or feels it, and whatever triggers the feeling or experience.
7. Quality is something which, before we rationalize what is happening, triggers us to recognize the duality of observer and observed.
8. Some art, in which the function is not primarily to reproduce a view of something physical, comes nearer to pure Quality than does science, logic or religious practices.
9. Scientists select which entities or processes to concentrate their observation on, but on what basis do they decide to select these particular facts from the many available? They need to have an instinct for what has higher Quality, or is more valuable.
10. In most aspects of Quality, there is no strict ‘yes it is’ or ‘no it isn’t’.
11. We humans invent our own responses to Quality, and this is what gives rise to our languages and to our other models with which we describe our world.
12. If we are not careful, we let our models over-rule our appreciation of Quality.
13. We can mistake upholding a morality that our culture has developed, for the essentials of Quality.
14. As a famous philosopher once said, “Our culture is an intellectual glass lens through which we interpret experience.
15. What a baby or an animal notices is just differences or movements. Being without a well-developed ‘glass lens’, they are nearer to Quality.
16. ‘Substances’ and ‘Natural Laws’ are just stable patterns of Quality.
17. But Quality is not all stable; things are always combining in new ways; new substances develop from old ones.
18. So Quality is tied up with the natural evolution of the planet and the universe.
19. Pure mathematics and logic, however, do not depend on Quality. They are our model of certain regularities of the world we observe.
20. This is why the top of the Pentagon has two separate sides.

I – Guidelines for a Good Life

1. The first guideline is ‘always act in a way that you would like others to act towards you’ – which clearly means ‘do not behave to them in ways you would not like them to behave to you’.
2. Always take responsibility for your own actions, and do not adopt the practice of making excuses, blaming others, or building yourself up as a victim.
3. Do not let yourself be defined by other people, or act just to fit in with how they see you or want you to be.
4. Allow yourself to find your own faith; don’t blindly take yours off the peg. If you have to dissimulate to avoid persecution, do so without guilt.
5. Be open to immediate, pre-thinking experiences.
6. Avoid hate, cruelty, violence, prejudice, envy, revenge, and self-righteousness.
7. Learn to control your anger and disappointments.
8. Espouse personal dignity and individuality for all.
9. Don’t get too bound up with your own wants and desires. Instead, say “I’d like this, but if it doesn’t happen, I can take it.”
10. Don’t assume a right to trample on other people.
11. Be open to the other people around you. Adopt an air of happiness, helpfulness and awareness.
12. Don’t be afraid to say, politely, if you think someone near you is acting in a bad way.
13. Give support to the people around you who need help, but wean them away from expecting help.
14. Be prepared to live with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk - and of course your eventual death.
15. Never treat other people as an object to be used.
16. Avoid apathy and detachment from matters than affect you, your family and friends, your community and all humanity.
17. Be aware that there is a lot that you don’t know, and that even science cannot answer all questions.
18. Regard your own opinions lightly; never be too proud to abandon them in favour of better ideas.
19. Never give the impression of being absolutely fixed in your plans and opinions. Even when you do not wish to give an impression of uncertainty, it pays to be open to new ideas, at least in your own mind.
20. For myself, I do not feel bad if I argue along one line on one day, but after I hear a different view I argue along different lines the next day.
21. We should all have goals, but they should not be absolutely unalterable. None of us has perfect knowledge or perfect understanding – there is no such thing anyhow.
22. Don’t say “This is how I am and I’m not going to change”. There is room for improvement in everybody.
23. Don’t try too hard. The best results come from leading a relaxed life for most of the time, moving up to a higher effort level only when necessary.
24. Try to find friends with whom you can share both mutual enjoyment and reflection on each other’s lives; but avoid over-commitment to small cliques.
25. People often make friends, but they don’t realize that without maintenance, friendships erode over time. If you wish to keep friends over the years, you need to maintain regular contact and re-establishment of the bond.
26. Remember, these are guidelines, not commandments.

J – Good Values for the Individual

1. The first value, one which I personally rate very highly, is what I call Grit. It means not letting troubles and difficulties get you down; instead resolving to fight what you can change, and accept what you can’t.
2. Of course it requires good judgment to tell the difference, and no-one can expect to always get it right.
3. Grit is not quite the same as the Peristylians’ Stoicism, which emphasizes acceptance more than fighting back.
4. Another essential quality for an individual is Thoughtfulness. It means getting into the habit of thinking beyond the immediate impression of how things appear to you in the moment.
5. Thoughtfulness has to consider possible future outcomes.
6. Thoughtfulness requires the ability to put oneself in the place of other people, trying to see things from their point of view, and hence imagining how they may react to whatever you say or do. Again, it is not possible to always get this right, but you should try.
7. Closely associated with thoughtfulness is Respect. This means that you don’t only respect your superiors or elders, but anyone you come into contact with – especially those who bear you no ill will or are actually thinking kindly towards you.
8. Of course you must also respect your enemies; they may be able to do you harm.
9. I also recommend a quality of quiet Assertiveness. It is not a good idea to live life like a doormat, upon which everyone else treads or wipes their feet.
10. You may not always – or even many times at all – be in a position to push your own wishes or ideas. But even if you have to concede, it is best to make it clear to the other people, with whom you are negotiating, what you think the deal is.
11. Not everyone finds it easy to be assertive. In my view, the key is to know your own mind, recognize your situation, and be upfront with people – always within the bounds of respect.
12. Of course other people may be pushy towards you, or even disrespectful. If you are assertive, others may be equally or more assertive towards you.
13. A good quality in this regard is what I call ‘Give and Take’. You should try to avoid quickly taking offence at something someone says or does. If you initially feel offended, you should politely ask for a clarification of the other person’s intent, rather than display anger.
14. You should not be over-protective of your own pride and self-esteem.
15. It always helps to maintain Good Humour. There is very often a funny side to whatever happens. A shared joke can dissipate hostility. But a joke against someone can make things worse.
16. I regard Engagement as another important individual quality. I mean that you should give your attention to the matter in hand, and not do things half-heartedly.
17. The key here, I believe, is caring about the result, which should be related to your own motivations and those with whom you are dealing.
18. It is sometimes very difficult to maintain engagement, especially if there are distractions. Everyone needs to learn how to politely discourage interruptions, even when they come from friends and allies.
19. Reliability is a very important value; it means that if you decide to do something, whether under your own initiative or at another person’s request, you do your very best to complete the work successfully.
20. Of course, things can always go wrong, and it can be awkward expecting other people to allow for what caused the difficulties; no-one likes to hear a string of excuses.
21. To my mind, if you can’t cope with a big failure, you should have in mind a back-up plan – or even several such plans.
22. Finally, a successful individual makes him or herself Available, by not always appearing too busy. This means leaving some room in your life for other people.

K – Good Values for a Society

1. The general principle for maintaining a good society, whether in a family, village, tribe, city or nation, should be espousal of the Spirit of Good as embodied in the Pentagon.
2. This requires that all adults should seek an insight into the Spirit, and that children should be brought up to discover themselves in relation to the Spirit.
3. Because many citizens and visitors may come from differing backgrounds and cultures, the understanding of the Spirit can vary in many ways.
4. But for a stable society in one city or nation, it is best if one path is established as paramount, and that the minority respects the majority’s path.
5. This paramount path helps to achieve cohesion in the society. It helps to avoid misunderstandings or misinterpretation of what is said or done by one citizen to another. Also, the laws of the society can be applied consistently.
6. However the majority should, within reason, always display a degree of tolerance to members of minorities. But members of the minorities must equally not claim that their path is right and the majority is wrong.
7. However they should be allowed to advance their ideas as potential improvements to the majority’s path.
8. In all things, a society should stand against discrimination of people who are different in some way, whether through infirmity, age, facial appearance and so on. The society should be strongly opposed to branding – as “all the same” – everyone who belongs to some identifiably different race or culture.
9. Humans are different for many reasons. We should not regard ‘our’ society as superior to those of our neighbours. They are fighting much the same everyday battles as we are.
10. One big threat to good living in a society is when a person or group feels that they have been unfairly or unjustly treated. Customary rules, laws and a justice system can help limit such a threat. But it is also up to each member of a society to keep a sense of what is fair to all, not just themselves.
11. In particular, people in a society need to learn how to reach a balance between their own interests and those of other people. Very often, this can be achieved by being prepared to share. The society’s rules should be framed so that individuals have some incentive to share.
12. By the same token, there should be discouragement of the practice of taking resources without paying one’s due or contributing in return. Having to maintain one’s reputation in a neighbourhood is one way of discouraging such freeloading.
13. Cities and nations differ a lot in how they regard women. In some societies, women are little more than property, and must take a totally subservient role to their brothers, fathers, husbands and even sons.
14. From my experience, I know that many women are just as capable as men in most things, with the possible exception of lifting heavy weights, fast running and fighting wars.
15. A successful society does not undervalue its women; all individuals should be judged by what they are capable of, and not by the category they are assigned to.
16. Much the same should apply to servants and slaves. Each should be valued by the work they can do and the contribution they make.
17. Cities vary greatly in their treatment of slaves. The best cities limit slavery to those enemy persons captured in a war who have fought against them; and even these are granted freedom after a few years.
18. The best cities also have good ways of treating criminals and prisoners. While there may be pressing reasons to execute certain criminals, there should be two primary considerations: first, protection of the public against further crime; and second, redress of the wrongs the criminal has caused to other members of the society.
19. Severe penalties do not seem to deter habitual criminals; they are often prepared to take the risk. And penalties rarely deter those who commit a crime when starving, extremely angry or mentally disturbed.
20. No good society should be satisfied with keeping things just as they are, and certainly not as they were in the past. Most people’s view of the past is coloured by nostalgia rather than objective reflection.
21. There should, ideally, always be a sense of direction in a society at any level. It should ask “how can we make things better” – better meaning in the direction of the Spirit of Good.
22. The key to both maintaining the standards of a society – and improving them – lies in education.
23. Education is both a means of preventing regression into a Dark Age, and a means of advancing to a better society.
24. Education is not just for children. There are always more things that even adults can usefully learn.
25. Education should not be a matter of forcing one’s own ideas, or society’s current traditions or knowledge, down the throats of children or adult learners. The idea should be to encourage them to want learn for themselves, and then give them the means and encouragement to do so.
26. The best society is one where knowledge is spread across many classes of people.

L – Dealing with Conflict

1. It is foolish to take the view that conflict can always be avoided. Conflict, like competition, is inherent in people living near to each other and having to share resources, whether these are material things or abstract things like power or influence.
2. A society’s rules for competition can go some way towards limiting outbreaks of conflict.
3. A number of things can cause competition to descend into more serious forms of antipathy, for example hunger, poverty, desperation, greed, jealousy, envy, fanaticism, or just feeling threatened.
4. Conflict can also arise out of one person or one group’s opportunism. They seize a chance to grab more resources or power from seemingly weak opponents.
5. Conflict can also occur when parties commit themselves too far in a bargaining situation. They may rule out any compromise, or over-sell expectations to the people they lead.
6. Conflict has many degrees; even a simple argument can be regarded as a conflict; however this is very different to a duel to the death. There should be principles of escalation, such that at each stage one can decide either to escalate into a more intense form of conflict – or pull back into a less intense version.
7. Almost all conflicts offer the chance of gain to both sides, but often at a heavy cost of escalating or continuing the conflict, whether in materials, property or life. [1900: or of legal fees]
8. The first step to avoid conflict worsening is to somehow bring the opposing parties together. They may be able to see that opponents are humans just like themselves. If there is a spirit of ‘we can sort this out’, without expensive or destructive losses to both sides, there is a chance of easing the conflict.
9. If the parties cannot talk constructively between themselves, the next good idea is to bring in moderator. The moderator can hear both sides, and present each side’s opinions in a less offensive form to the other side. The moderator can also suggest possible routes for compromise.
10. If no compromise can be found, the warring parties may agree to voluntarily submit to the decision of an independent arbitrator. This may work when a judge is called to arbitrate between families, but it rarely works in conflicts between cities and nations.
11. In a sufficiently well-organized society, a judge or ruler may have the power to impose an arbitrator on conflicting parties.
12. Conflict can sometimes consist, not of physical fights or battles, but by one party depriving the other of certain resources, or by applying sanctions such as refusing to buy their opponents’ goods, not to allow their traders credit, or to allow another city or state’s citizens to reside freely in their ports and cities.
13. Some conflicts consist largely of propaganda – of name-calling, or of stirring up hatred. However this is often the prelude to physical conflict, because it is not easy to pull back from hateful rhetoric.
14. Two cities or nations can fight a limited war, for example over a specific piece of territory, over a particular form of trade, or against a particular aggressive move by their opponents.
15. All-out war occurs where each side has the aim of completely subduing the other, without any limits, and without consideration of the expense and loss in lives and property. This is usually a disaster, not only for the losers, but for the victors as well.
16. Our cities have always had a tradition of competitive sports, as instanced by the holding of the games every four years. In some villages and sectors of cities, gangs of youths fight mock battles over small prizes or even a leather goatskin. Some of these games are fought on horseback.
17. These games have two good purposes; one is that they at least partly satisfy the urges of some young men for conflict and physical fighting; the other is that they serve to train these young men for real fighting, though short of using real arms.
18. In our world today, no city or nation can afford to be without an available reservoir of men able to bear arms, even if only to defend their city or nation. This, like any other skill, requires education.

A – Resources

1. Most of the work by which we enable ourselves to live and prosper has to be done by the hands of humans. So having healthy people who can do work is a vital resource for any nation.
2. Simple strength by itself is only of use for the work of lifting and carrying, and even then, someone needs to organise that work.
3. Knowledge and skill are necessary for most useful work, even for tending crops and animals. A nation of unskilled people will not be successful.
4. Knowledge and skill usually require information; we need to obtain it and remember it. Our memories are limited in size, but may be extended through written books and having specialist experts.
5. Another key resource is trust. We need to be able to trust our experts and our written books of knowledge. We also need to be able to make agreements with each other about what each of us will do when we are cooperating, and trust that the other person will do what they have agreed to do, and do it properly.
6. Trust is not something that stays constant. It is a process, by which we build up trust in others, learn who to trust and who not to trust, and become trustworthy and reliable ourselves.
7. Much as with trust, a successful society needs to develop goodwill between its citizens. This comes from learning to be considerate of other people, to understand their preferences and fears; these may be similar to one’s own, but may be different.
8. Affection is something a little more than just goodwill; each of us needs people we actually care for, and who care for us. The scope of our affection cannot be as wide as for our goodwill. Affection should start within families, and spread to neighbours. For young adults, it needs to extend to potential partners with whom they plan to raise their families.
9. The types of resources needed for a good life and good society are: food and water; safe places to sleep; clothing and clothing materials; materials for building and tools; storage facilities; heat, light and power, knowledge, skill and information; and trust, goodwill and affection.

B – Economics

1. The first lesson of economics is scarcity. There is never enough of any resource to satisfy all those who want it.
2. It is very difficult for any single person to be totally self-sufficient in satisfying all his or her resource needs. It is even more difficult for those who live in cities. It is impossible for small children; mothers in childbirth; and very old, sick or disabled people.
3. Those in a family able to work have to provide for those in their family who cannot work; for some unable to work, the village, community or city has to provide.
4. Virtually everybody has to trade their own work, or resources they have to spare, for the resources they need but do not have.
5. In the case of physical goods, markets are the means of exchanging goods between those who have them to spare and are ready to sell, and those who need them and can pay or offer goods in exchange.
6. In a sense, markets also exist for resources that are not physical, such as power, work, knowledge, skill, and information.
7. If you only have so much to sell or money to buy things with, you have to choose which things, out of all the things you might want, are your priorities.
8. If you have enough money, and several sellers can provide what you need, you are able to choose, on bases such as price or quality. So choice is again part of the equation.
9. When price and quality are similar, some traders prefer to buy consistently from one seller in order to increase trust; this is not without some value to both.
10. A buyer has to weigh up the negative value of not having what he or she cannot afford.
11. The price at which resources change hands is largely set by the balance of supply and demand. Things that become scarcer go up in price; so do things for which there is great demand.
12. Prices drop when there is a glut of the resource, or where few buyers want it.
13. For some resources however, the need is so vital that people have to buy even if prices go up; salt is an example.
14. To make an individual deal, a buyer and a seller have to come to some agreement. Prices are often not fixed, so that there has to be bargaining. The buyer has to know how much he or she is prepared to pay, and the seller has to know how much he or she is prepared to sell for. If their expectations do not overlap, there is no deal. Otherwise, the two sides have to find a point where both are equally satisfied or dissatisfied.
15. As an example, you pay a drachma for a can of milk because you would rather have the milk than your drachma. The seller sells it at that price because they would rather have your drachma than keep the milk. Both parties are satisfied with the deal, or it would never have taken place. Both of you emerge from the transaction feeling that you have made a good exchange, your needs have been provided for.
16. From the buyer’s point of view, price is not the main issue; that issue is the resource’s utility – what is it worth to his or her life, as compared with keeping the money or the resources to be exchanged. Similar considerations apply to a seller also.
17. If the resources being sought are not available or are too expensive, there may be substitute products or resources available; this can affect the trading activity.
18. For many people buying and selling, the risk of a bad deal, or bad events following a deal, excessively colour their attitude to making a deal.
19. The problem of risk applies particularly when deals are made for something which is to happen in the future; ships can sink, cargo may be lost or damaged, pirates may attack.
20. Although many wise people speak against it, borrowing and lending are a common feature of trading. Borrowing is possible through offering as a security certain resources that borrower has, but the lender may claim, if the loan is not repaid. This practice is often associated with trading for future resources.
21. From the point of view of a trading city and its markets, monopolies (where one person or group completely controls a resource) are undesirable. Oligopolies are not much better. A better regime is when there are numerous competitors and the market is open to new entrants.
22. Any new entrant expects to have to undergo some expense in entering a market; they may have to pay fees to the city as well as the cost of their stalls or buildings.
23. There can be a problem when one trader has spent money developing a new technology for producing or storing certain goods. There should be a time period in which that trader has the sole right to use that technology, but then the knowledge should be available to all in that market.
24. But there can be nothing to stop competitors seeing the new product and trying to find their own technology for reproducing it.
25. Trading cities are often badly affected by epidemics, and sometimes they are sacked by envious neighbours. But after each disaster, the surviving merchants often have money to invest and the surviving workers can sell their labour. So they can quickly recover.
26. Economics has nothing to say about philosophy or what people’s values in life should be, anymore than it has to say about music or literature.

C – Competition

1. Competition is a natural feature of communal life. No amount of legislation will stop it. If people are prevented from competing for goods, services, money and property, they will continue to compete for status, attention, or whatever else is in short supply.
2. Competition, whether between individuals or between groups, can encourage efficient use of resources and reduction of wasteful effort, because things created  with less effort or less raw material can generally be offered at a lower price.
3. However competition can also give rise to unproductive effort being spent in advertising, or denigrating the products of competitors.
4. It can also lead to derogatory name-calling, invention of spurious claims, and excessive belief in unrealistic stories one creates oneself about the merits of one’s own products against a competitor’s.
5. There is also a risk that some competitors who ‘corner’ a market will become very much richer than other competitors, who may become envious or even destitute.
6. However concern for the fate of unsuccessful competitors should never be the main consideration. They should become motivated to improve their competitive position, or change their strategy.
7. A successful city or nation encourages competition with fairness and respect for all competitors.
8. Markets should not be barred to new entrants. Monopolies are not a good thing for a society.
9. Interference with markets, such as the use of subsidies, bribery, and selective taxes should be limited.
10. Apart from this, laws on competition should be kept to a minimum, because they distort or defy the healthy processes of competition.
11. For the buyer who is offered competitive products, price is only one of many criteria for making a choice. It is not like a race between runners, or a discus-throwing competition, where time or distance is the sole criterion.
12. Effectiveness, ability to last, ruggedness, and trustworthiness of the competitor are also relevant.
13. Choice is something which it is nice to have, but for many buyers and in many situations it may be a luxury.
14. There are two categories of people in any state of competition: those who want a resource and those who have control of that resource, but may want customers.
15. However, there are some resources that are ‘free for all’, like air or sea water; and others which are relatively uncontrolled, like timber in a forest, pasture on a wide plain, or minerals in the ground.
16. It is not always material goods that are competed for; we can compete for information, status, reputation, prestige, power – and other people’s labour, advice, service, attention or love.

D – Principles of Fair Trading

1. Although a free market is the most efficient, it can lead to unfairness if practiced without limits or rules.
2. As is well understood, trust – as a process, not just a static resource – is essential. But markets often have untrustworthy traders. There has to be supervision, enforcement of deals once made, and retribution for those who offend.
3. The benefits that one person or group receives are inevitably dependent on their bargaining position - what they can offer or threaten compared with others. Some traders exceed good practice when bargaining, by making excessive threats, possibly of physical force. Such behaviour should be regarded as an offence.
4. Traders who do not have information are at a disadvantage – especially when other people deliberately hide the information. Hiding information, or spreading misinformation, should also be an offence.
5. Also at a disadvantage are those who become too dependent on other traders; such as those who always buy from the same seller, or vice versa. But it is their responsibility to ensure that their dependency and the risk that goes with it are spread.
6. Some unwise traders regard how things turn out as being a matter of luck; but a wise trader envisages a range of possible outcomes, some of which are more likely than others.
7. It should be a principle that deals should not be made at the expense of individuals or groups that were not involved in the deal; there should be no ‘ganging up’ against them.
8. There are a number of things that market or city authorities can do to ensure the success of their market; but all these have good and bad effects, which need to be monitored.
9. Many cities impose licences to traders for being allowed to participate, or to import or export. This is reasonable as the licence fees help pay for the cost of supervising the markets. However the fees may discourage new entrants.
10. Customs duties are commonly imposed, sometimes to cover costs, but sometimes to protect local suppliers of certain products. However these duties can make goods unrealistically expensive.
11. Some cities impose rules for a minimum local content in goods sold in markets; however this is very difficult to enforce.
12. Some other cities impose import quotas on how much can be imported from a particular outside or foreign nation. Again this is expensive to administer, and may antagonise foreign nations or their cities.
13. An extreme form of action is to impose an embargo on goods coming from, or going to, another city nation. This may be justified for goods made using new technology, or for weapons of war; but is provocative if applied to other goods.
14. Other devices that have been used in different ports to control trade are subsidies, export guarantees and currency rules and restrictions. But these too can upset the fairness of trading.
15. To keep a market going over the longer term, trust must be built up, and a spirit of goodwill fostered.

E – Supporting Free Trade

1. Trading and markets are a form of structure that has enabled most human societies to develop to where they stand today.  However some have welcomed this, while others have preferred to isolate themselves and preserve their old traditions.
2. Some societies are yet to have even thought of trading beyond their boundaries. These are generally the poorest and most backward societies.
3. A trading nation like my own can never return to its old ways. Once we sailed the seas, engaged in commerce, founded colonies and used money, our cities grew and we were part of a wider world.
4. Four things are critical to the success of free trade: money, records, storage and a treasury.
5. Not all trading can be done by simple bartering of one type of resource for another. Some intermediate form of exchange is needed. In trading nations, this is usually money in the form of metal coins that can be stored and exchanged for any resource.
6. All successful markets have a good means of recording all the important deals that are done, especially when execution of the deal is to take place in the future. However this does not mean making a record of every can of milk bought.
7. Old civilizations used marks made on clay tablets; the Greek cities use writing on paper made from reeds, which are torn in two and one half given to each party. Only the correct fragments will match when the documents are brought together.
8. Because of the frequent time delays between goods being received, being sold, and being despatched to buyers, storage facilities are necessary. These may be provided by a port or market; the costs being be met by levies on trading activity or by payment for the storage space a trader occupies for each day.
9. Critical to people’s trust of markets is the safe holding of both money and trading records. Advanced trading cities have treasuries where these can be safely deposited, and armed guards to protect the treasuries from thieves or raiders.

F – Relations with other States and Nations

1. Other states and nations are both potential enemies and potential allies; they are also potential trading partners.
2. However carefully we deal with other states, we can never be totally sure that they will not attack us unexpectedly.
3. There may be enemy tribes that we have never encountered before, who will opportunistically raid us.
4. It seems that a state should always be prepared to defend itself from attack, in proportion to its best estimates of the risks of such attacks.
5. If one’s state adjoins the sea, then a navy is necessary as well as an army.
6. A defence force has to face the possibility of advances in armaments and speed of ships or land transport.
7. Negotiations with known potential enemies should seek agreements for only gradual escalation of any aggressive acts, and for reducing the possibility of sudden attacks.
8. A state that is at peace should retain a small peacetime defence force, with a backup of reservists who are trained in basic skills.
9. But too large a de-mobilized army can be a danger; such armies have been known to usurp the power of the government of the day.
10. It is best to assign some regulars and reservists to manage and work on civic projects, such as public buildings, roads or port facilities.
11. Alliances with other states can include trade, but military treaties should only be defensive.
12. Closer ties with another state should always be based on equal partnerships. But the location of joint meetings needs to be carefully alternated.

G – Alternative Forms of Government

1. From talking to traders and travellers from both our own and foreign cities, it seems that there are many different ways of governing a city or nation. Some have ruling families, others have elected kings, tyrants, military rulers, or democratic councils.
2. In many cases, the same city or nation has experienced several of these, even within one generation.
3. Tyrants claim that any nation is a rabble led by an elite. However while there will probably always be an upper class and an underclass, prosperity and stability are better when more people form a middle class.
4. Hereditary rulers may work well in some states, but their power should never be unlimited. They should not have a divine right to rule in whatever way suits them.
5. Some philosophers have dreamt of an ideal constitution for a nation, with a ‘philosopher-king’. But many people suspect that such a utopia is impractical and unrelated to ordinary life and trade.
6. Belief in a political utopia leads to a dangerous dogmatic attachment. Some cities that have tried it have gone into decline, because once many sacrifices have already been made, the leader will not admit that these were all in vain. Therefore he continues with his dogmatic ideas.
7. Usurers may be a necessary profession, but they should not be left to form the government; otherwise all aspects of life become subordinate to the borrowing and lending of money.
8. Some Greek cities have tried the idea of democracy, where citizens vote for who they want to be their representatives. But there have always been arguments over who should be allowed to vote.
9. Democracy is not a good idea if it turns out to be the same as the rule of the mass uneducated.

H – The Practice of Government

1. Being a member of a government excites a lust for power that is subject to emotional drives, to narcissism, fantasies of omniscience and other sources of folly.
2. People in governments like to maintain the myth that they are infallible, in order to discourage opposition or criticism.
3. The best governments have a vociferous but loyal opposition. If no opposition exists naturally, a government should appoint a panel of ‘antitheticians’ whose job it is to find the flaws in the government’s proposals.
4. Good governments groom a ‘kindergarten’ of young men, who are potential councillors in a future government, or who can be nominated as replacements when a sitting councillor retires. This ‘kindergarten’ should also be encouraged to think new ideas for the future.
5. A government needs to include both specialists, who are the best people in their specialty, and generalists, who can see the picture across the specialties and ‘knock heads together’.
6. Having boundaries between specialties that are too strict runs the risk of delay, disagreement and additional cost of negotiation between the specialties.
7. Every reorganization or major change in government or constitution runs the risk of destroying channels of cooperation and trust.
8. Members of governments ought to suppress their own agendas, but not be afraid to speak out when they need to.
9. The best government for a nation in peace may not be the best when it is at war, in a crisis, in a time of major change, or when many groups are at loggerheads.
10. Government power and influence can creep too far into the lives of individuals.
11. Those most affected by the decisions of a government should have some say in them. Not all parties may agree, and there may be pressing problems that over-ride what they would like, but these people should at least be heard.
12. The balance of the state’s treasury will inevitably be a constraint on any government, but it should not over-ride all other considerations.
13. How a nation manages to change its governments is more critical than whatever government it actually has.

I – Citizenship

1. If a democracy is to succeed, it has to recognize the existence of many classes of citizens. But it should allow mobility between the classes, and not regard them as castes that are determined for all time.
2. In most of the Greek cities, there are old families, soldiers, sailors, professional and trades people, immigrants from the countryside (‘helots’), slaves (prisoners of recent wars) and citizens of other states with whom there is a treaty or trade agreement (who are called ‘metics’).
3. In our city’s current constitution, we have three classes of citizenship.
4. To be in the first class, a person must demonstrate a commitment to the state, be trained for defence, to have a fair standard of reading and writing in the Greek language, and to have a clean criminal record.
5. To be in the second class, a person must speak the language well, be available for defence or directed work, be clean of crime and other misdemeanours, and have been supported by a first class citizen. It is an advantage to first class citizens to sponsor good new second class ones.
6. The third class is the provisional status for local immigrants, farmers and freed slaves who choose to stay in the city. Anyone in the third can apply to move to second class status, with sponsorship.
7. Below this, in an unclassified category, are recent criminals, slaves still in service and unidentified foreigners.
8. Third class citizens have one vote, and second class have two votes.
9. In earlier years, first class citizens had 5 votes; for a time this was reduced to 4, and now it is 3.
10. Women can achieve third class with a literacy test, and second class with an additional public service test.
11. Young men who reach the age of 18, or who have served in an army or navy, are admitted to the third class.
12. Metics who stay for more than a year can also apply to be third class citizens, but not higher.
13. No government can stay in power for more than 10 years without being re-elected.
14. A retiring member of the state’s governing council can appoint his successor.
15. Elections are also held for local councillors, at least every 2 years. Local councils each nominate one member to attend state deputies’ meetings, at which the state council has members attending.
16. There can also be referenda on topics of everyone’s concern, but not on the declaration of war, which is delegated to a military leader nominated by the state council.
17. Referenda on ostracism of a government official or councillor are restricted to the votes of first and second class citizens.

J – Morality and Ethics

1. Morality is something that many people become passionate about. If a person feels that they, or their family or friends, have been unfairly treated, their reason may ‘go out of the window’.
2. Morals often become standards which people come to believe that other people, but not necessarily they themselves, ought to follow.
3. A society’s code of morals forms by consensus, much like its knowledge. It is not credible to derive it from an external source, or by using logic.
4. However over time we learn which behaviours lead to trouble and dissention. Stories can assist our learning in this regard.
5. Societies in different places and in different times can require different balances in their moral codes. A nation in a time of war, a nomadic tribe and a trading city are very different environments.
6. Moralities that are advertised as generally applicable may in fact be dangerous and destructive to the human spirit. The best we can hope for is a set of shared values, an overlapping consensus on ethical issues.
7. Rather than aiming for unanimity in ethics, we should work out, between ourselves, good guidelines that meet all the five principles of the Pentagon for our situation.
8. It’s wrong to think that a strict set of dos and don'ts is all that is necessary for a good life and a good society. We need to be responsive to the peculiarities of each situation.
9. Conflicts may arise between different moral rules, as with different rules of law; we need to be able to review and try to resolve these situations.
10. For example, judging whether a foetus is a human is not the same as judging whether or not our world is a sphere.
11. People may lie for many reasons; often it is to avoid the pain of challenge and its consequences. Other times it may be to spare another person from anguish.
12. However the existence of a wide range of moral beliefs does not mean that they are all equally valid.
13. Human beings, no matter how civilized, tend to be moral sheep. We tend to follow without question the moral lead provided by those around us. We blindly go with the flow.
14. However a society is more coherent if everyone signs up to certain basic, fundamentally similar moral principles.
15. One downside of morality is that, all too often, it leads to the practice of posing as more morally correct than one’s neighbour.
16. If we do not manage to follow a society’s codes of conduct most of the time, we are social and moral illiterates; we are not members of the society at all, we are like resident aliens.
17. Individuals are morally responsible, so must accept the consequences, including punishment.

K –Justice and Application of Laws

1. It is important for any society to have security. If members are threatened or attacked, physically or with hateful words, the society is going to be set against itself, and its quality will be poor.
2. To achieve security, rules and countermeasures need to be set, explained and adhered to.
3. The state may decide what is legally right or wrong, but the law is not the same as morality.
4. If laws prohibit too many things, it will discourage the good as well as the evil.
5. Law courts should allow observers so that justice can be seen to be done.
6. Any nation’s justice system should have a reflective overseer who should monitor the carrying out of the law.
7. It is almost impossible, even in the best-run state, to have perfect justice, where good is rewarded and wrongdoing is punished.
8. In any case, most punishment only fortifies the alienation of the offender.
9. In punishment, the first action should be to give a warning; then to limit the offender’s privileges; then to restrict his freedom of action. But if damage is inflicted, the offender should always be required to give restitution.
10. The best punishment for offending leaders may be ostracism and exile; but for other people, the pillory or public disgrace is more appropriate.
11. The death penalty should be avoided where possible; it often creates martyrs.
12. No nation should continue with the same laws and traditions indefinitely.
13. The fact that all men are not equal does not justify inequality before the law.
14. People can sometimes get more pleasure from punishing offenders, than they can by simply living within the law themselves and being cooperative with their fellow citizens.

L – Health

1. If a city or nation is racked by disease, it will never thrive.
2. While we do not know what causes most diseases, we know that many come from distant places, through ships, ports and traders.
3. We also know that diseases can quickly spread through families and crowded parts of cities.
4. Some herbs can help relieve some diseases, but we usually have to let a disease run its course.
5. We can help slow the spread of disease by keeping our bodies and our food clean. If in doubt, we should wash all food in running water.
6. We should bathe ourselves frequently in running water, or in lakes or the sea.
7. We should rinse our mouths out every day, ideally with salt water.
8. If someone has a skin disease, it is best to keep them separate and leave food and water for them to pick up.
9. Some people become disfigured by a disease, just as soldiers become wounded, and citizens are injured by horses, wagons and falls on the hills. They should be treated with consideration and not left to beg or die.

M – Avenues for Helping Fellow Citizens

1. A successful society should offer incentives or recognition to those who serve it in some way, even if those who serve expect no reward.
2. There are many professions which serve the people, but are rewarded for their work.
3. There are also many whose work goes unrewarded; their contribution is often just as valuable.
4. A good society needs to be aware of which of its citizens need help.
5. One way to do this is through neighbourhood watch groups, such as exist in some of our cities.
6. The watch groups should not limit their concern to property, but should be aware of the circumstances of the people in their neighbourhood.
7. These groups need a small core of concerned people who can organize others to act when needed.
8. The members of the core should recommend people who contribute significant service for recognition by the city or state.
9. In times of war and famine, operating a system of food aid is the most important service.
10. Following wars, and in the epidemics that often follow them, a service can be offered to help dress wounds, provide medicinal herbs or otherwise care for the sick and disabled.
11. Another form of help is to operate a store for re-use of clothes and useful objects no longer needed by one family, and which may be of use to another family.
12. A further form of help is to operate a crèche for infants whose parents are needed to work on jobs where they cannot mind their children.

N – Social and Cultural Balance

1. If a social structure is one of total submission to authority, whether overt authority or the anonymous authority of the market and public opinion, it is not a mature one.
2. We often assume that our leader knows what is best, and gives orders accordingly. We may have to obey, but we can still think he is mistaken.
3. Stability and maturity in a civilization cannot be achieved when most of the population is unaware of the extent to which they are being manipulated by their leaders.
4. Society must be organized in such a way that man's social, loving nature is not separated from his existence in everyday society.
5. The principles of a good society should be a balance between necessity and happiness.

O – Bad Leaders

1. Whether we have tyrants, demagogues, committees with a spokesman, or anonymous military juntas, the persons in the positions of power can squander their power in many ways.
2. Even a benevolent ruler can impose authority by censorship, rhetoric, repetitive propaganda, encouraging social pressure to conform, spreading confusion and fear of outsiders, and appeals to tribalism.
3. It is all too easy for powerful rulers to enforce their authority, not just by reward and punishment, but by instilling fear of: exile, isolation, persecution, cruelty, torture and execution.
4. Bad leaders try to give the impression that everything is fine and going forward. Almost inevitably, people realize that this is untrue, and such optimism rarely lasts.
5. Bad leaders even delude themselves that everything is going along smoothly, when in fact they are on a knife-edge of descent into violent change. They come to believe their own propaganda.
6. Tyrants take the view that the tenets of religion, although not true, are a most expedient and indispensable political device. They prefer their subjects to forego their filter of reason.
7. Tyrants will in general select as successors those who obey, who believe, who respond to their influence. But in doing this, they are bound to select mediocrities. They exclude – or eliminate – those who revolt, who doubt, who dare to resist their influence.
8. One good thing one can say in favour of the Sceptics and Cynics is that they can make us suspicious of charismatic gurus, inflammatory political leaders, and all those who claim a hotline to the moral truth.

P – Good Leaders

1. A good leader admits when times are tough, or the way forward is uncertain. A frank appraisal of a difficult situation can inspire more confidence than bland optimism.
2. A good leader can take a view that arches across many individual and special considerations.
3. A good leader does not shrink from facing conflict; he expects that some conflict may always happen.
4. A good leader fights hypocrisy and endeavours to avoid it in his own actions and words.
5. A good leader is a natural mediator.
6. A good leader is personable and approachable to those he immediately deals with.
7. A good leader is responsive to the needs of a particular moment.
8. A good leader knows when it is time to bow out, and not stay on until ostracized.
9. A good leader listens as much as he speaks.
10. A good leader seeks to find out more relevant background to a situation.
11. A good leader shows courage and defiance when speaking.
12. A good leader takes time to discuss, analyse, propose, consider alternatives, and decide on the best information available.
13. It is a good idea for a leader to admit occasional mistakes. If a leader tries to pretend to be perfect, he loses credibility.
14. A key challenge for any State is selecting its future leaders. The current leader is not always the best person to make the choice.

Q – Rhetoric

1. It is not just a leader, but anyone who takes an active role in society, that needs to be able to speak persuasively and effectively. They have two choices of how to speak: like demagogues, or like orators.
2. A demagogue is someone who sets out to impose his view on the listeners.
3. Even ordinary people can speak like demagogues. One can hear demagogues in any tavern, and within many families too.
4. The basic strategy of a demagogue is “simplify, then exaggerate”.
5. The main tricks of demagogues are presumption, omission, repetition, emotional attack and ambiguity.
6. A demagogue often glorifies 'us' and vilifies 'them'.
7. Demagogues are often asking us for willing suspension of disbelief.
8. Demagogues are common in warlike nations and cities. They invent a constant supply of threats and villains - sometimes real, but often exaggerated or simply invented.
9. What distinguishes the orator is that he or she is involved in a dialogue with the listeners, even when doing most of the talking.
10. An orator is sensitive to feedback from the body language of the listeners.
11. An orator’s goal is for the listeners to think things out for themselves, taking into account the good reasons the orator has offered.
12. An orator aims to bring his (or her) listeners together, not in forced agreement or common hatred, but in tolerance of an inevitable range of prior interests and inclinations.
13. An orator tries to avoid derogatory remarks about people not present.

Chapter 6 - A Taxonomy of Meaning

A – Rationale for this Taxonomy

1. Whenever I have met people from a different nation, my first difficulty, once we have learnt enough of each other’s language to ask simple questions like ‘What is this called?’, ‘What is this used for?’ or ‘What do you want in exchange for it?’ is to understand the way they categorize their experience of the world.
2. As a simple example, in some languages a ‘dog’ and a ‘wolf’ are different animals, but to others ‘wolves’ are just ‘wild dogs’. Or, some people regard withholding facts or stretching the truth as lying, while others do not.
3. Whatever problems one can get into when talking about physical objects that one can see and point to, it is ten times worse when one tries to talk about intangible things, like beliefs, opinions, feelings, values and qualities.
4. In my time in outlying cities, I was often involved in helping councils overcome endless disagreements that stopped any progress being made to improve things in the city.
5. Just to participate in any discussions, I had to learn many fine distinctions in meaning that were usually particular to each city.
6. However the problems that needed to be resolved were often more or less the same. I wondered if I could develop a structure of meaning that could be used across several languages.
7. This would need to be at a higher level than a simple dictionary that lists the nearest equivalent words in two particular languages.
8. I have not seen any other taxonomy quite like this one, so I hope by offering it I may provide some help to people who sometimes wonder, when in discussions with other people, whether they are all talking about the same things. Please refer to the diagram (click here) when reading the following sections.

B – Entities, Categories, Relationships and Branches of the Taxonomy

1. By the word ‘Entity’ I mean ‘a thing we talk about’. Entities are not limited to ‘living’ beings. A stone, a cooking recipe, and even an opinion, are all regarded as Entities.
2. We need to distinguish an ‘Entity’ from a ‘Category’, which means a grouping of similar things. Synonyms for ‘Category’ are ‘Class’ and ‘Entity Type’; I try to avoid using these terms, as it is easy to confuse them with other meanings.
3. Most Categories have ‘super-categories’ and ‘sub-categories’; for example the Category ‘dogs’ has super-categories ‘quadrupeds’ and ‘mammals’, and sub-categories like ‘sheepdogs’ and ‘dachshunds’.
4. It may sound confusing, but every Category is in fact also an Entity, because ‘we can talk about it’. But it is an Abstract Concept, which we will come to later.
5. The Idealist school of philosophers takes the view that there is an external reality ‘out there’. They say that the taxonomy of categories, in which each Category is represented by an ‘Ideal’, already exists, and we ought to be able to discover this taxonomy.
6. My experience in different countries leads me to reject this view. Instead, I only talk about a bottom-up consensus of our judgments about what categories the things we talk about belong to.
7. Within one nation, those judgments may become a ‘doxy’, if books are written which clearly state the qualifications for belonging to a certain category.
8. The taxonomy I am offering here is based on my interpretation of the views of a range of people both at home and abroad, as well as my own preconceptions. So I have to recognize that this taxonomy is to that extent a subjective one.
9. In future years it is virtually certain that we may acquire new knowledge, and have new experiences, which require changes to this taxonomy. I hope others after me will amend and update what is written here.
10. In this taxonomy the three primary branches of Entities are Physical Things, Processes and Abstract Concepts.
11. As well as ‘Categories’ as mentioned earlier, another sub-category ‘Abstract Concepts’ is ‘Relationships’.
12. Relationships are special because only a limited amount of the meaning that we humans create comes from the Categories that Entities are placed in. Much more meaning comes from how one Entity relates to other, different, Entities. For example, I, as an Entity in the ‘Humans’ category, was once bitten by a dog, whose name I did not know, in the ‘Dogs’ category.
13. The system of super-category and sub-category relationships might be thought to form a hierarchy or inverted tree. But many categories have more than one super-category, and so category relationships most often form a network, as do all other types of relationship.

C – Physical Things

1. Physical Things are those things that we can see, touch, hear, smell or taste. They have particular instances, like ‘my dog’; and categories, like ‘dogs in general’.
2. Most physical things, like a dog, a stone, a table, or a nose, I call ‘Bounded Objects’; we could, at least theoretically, wrap them in a cloth. Of course we might have to detach them from whatever they are attached to in order to wrap them up.
3. Even a tree is a bounded object; it would just take a very large cloth to wrap it.
4. Many bounded objects, especially manufactured ones, consist of a collection of Parts. I will talk about Parts later.
5. A special sub-branch of bounded objects is what I call ‘Marks’. A Mark can be artificial or natural. Artificial marks, usually man-made, consist either of some marking material (like ink or paint) placed on paper or some other object, or a cavity etched in that object.
6. Natural marks are usually temporary, like a high tide mark on a beach. A few are long-lasting example, for example many rocks have marks or cracks.
7. Some Physical Objects are Unbounded, in the sense that they do not have a clear physical boundary. One example is a mass of water, or of land.
8. Some objects may be both Bounded and Unbounded, depending from the viewpoint taken. An ocean, lake or river might be thought to be unbounded by a sailor, but not to a geographer. The wine in the cup you are just about to drink from looks bounded, but not if it is spilt.
9. There are many further sub-branches of Bounded and Unbounded Objects; some are shown in the two left hand columns of the diagram.
10. A third branch of Physical Objects is what I call Generic Substances. These are the substances which most other physical objects are ‘made of’. Water is an example. Most physical objects are ‘made of’ a combination, or mixture, of several of these substances.
11. The main sub-categories of Generic Substances are Solids, Liquids and Gases. Solids may be rigid, like metals, stones, or wood; plastic, like clay or rubber; or pourable, like sand or grain.
12. A fourth branch of Physical Objects is what I call Generic Media. We cannot point to these things themselves, only to their possible source; but we can feel their effect. There are only six examples that we currently know about: light, sound, smell, heat, electric shock and force (which includes gravity and magnetism). They are carriers of meaning from one Physical Object to another.

D – Processes

1. A Process is something active that, either individually or by consensus, we say ‘happens’. It usually happens over a time, although it might appear to us as instantaneous.
2. Processes too have instances, like ‘this earthquake’; and categories, like ‘earthquakes in general’. Processes can happen naturally, or they can be initiated by a human or animal.
3. As well as things that are happening now, we include here activities that happened in the past, are planned to happen in the future, ‘might’ happen and even ‘might have’ happened.
4. Processes can be bounded in time, like boiling a kettle, performing a nautical manoeuvre, presenting a play, or an earthquake; or they can continue indefinitely, like a personal habit, a code of laws, a government, the weather, or geological erosion.
5. Natural Processes are divided, in this taxonomy, into Movement, Flow, Natural displays, Life activities and Changes to inanimate things. Life processes here include those processes that involve humans by virtue of their being natural animals. Further sub-categories are shown in the diagram.
6. Human Processes are ones that are initiated with the involvement of the brain. The asterisk in the diagram indicates that some animals, for example dogs, can also initiate some of these processes.
7. Human Processes are divided, in this taxonomy, into Experiencing, Mental work, Physical work and Human displays. The many sub-categories of mental and physical work are shown in the diagram.
8. Experiencing – or ‘perception’ – is further divided into Sensing and Undergoing. Sensing is strictly ‘pre-conscious’, and is directed to some Display, whether human, animal or natural, intentional or unintentional. Many physical human or animal processes – for example the bodily exercising of raising two fingers, staring or shaking the head – can be Displays.
9. Undergoing is not very different; it is used here to mean processes that happen to us from inanimate sources rather than displays, like being struck by lightning, knocked over, stung by nettles, hit by flying glass and so on.
10. Human displays appear to us, as receivers, as ‘streams’ of Generic Media, mainly light and sound, but possibly physical force. These streams show changing patterns, for example of light and shade, different colours, loud and soft, different tones and so on. They carry information – either explicitly or implicitly.
11. For humans and intelligent animals, Experiencing (Sensing or Undergoing) processes can also be regarded as ‘life transformations’, because they can cause changes in state, of the body or the mind, of an individual who is affected by a display.
12. Whatever ‘Meaning’ a receiver makes of the sensations he, she or it gets from sensing Displays or undergoing Experiences is dependent on that person or animal’s ‘Interpretation’. Meaning does not belong in this part of the taxonomy, but is regarded as a Mental Construct.

E – Abstract Concepts

1. Abstract Concepts are things that we talk about but that are neither physical things nor processes, but to which we still give a name. Again we may have instances, like ‘my question now’ and categories, like ‘all questions of a particular type’.
2. Abstract Concepts have three major branches, namely Categories (or Classes), Mental Constructs and Relationships.
3. As we have already seen, we use Categories as a way of dividing up all the entities we are aware of into types. This taxonomy is itself a hierarchy of Categories and Sub-categories.
4. A Category relates to a set of individual things (Abstract, Physical or Processes) which have some common feature. ‘Dogs’ is an example. A Category is assumed to have a number of ‘members’ which qualify according to the definition of the Category.
5. Mental Constructs are defined as ‘things we think’ or ‘thoughts we have’. The main sub-branches are Feelings, Judgments, Imaginings, Desires, Questions and Stories.
6. Feelings include both physical feelings and mental emotions. They are essentially private, although we may share them with others through body language or words.
7. Judgments include things like Measurements, Assessments, Meanings, Recommendations and Doxies. They are the results of Interpretation and Reasoning Processes, driven by either an individual person or a consensual group.
8. Assessments are the result of recognizing certain experiences as significant events, and summarizing them into what may be called ‘States of Affairs’.
9. Meanings are a more personal form of Assessments; they are interpretations of ‘what my experience means to me’. This may be either instinctive or reasoned, or somewhere in between.
10. Recommendations are ideas of what are good courses of future action. Doxies are recommendations of what are good structures of thinking.
11. All Judgments may be more or less accurate, and more or less confident.
12. As with Feelings, Judgments may result in Display processes, such as explaining, asserting, recommending or ruling, using words, or to Writings.
13. Imaginings include Ideas, Opinions, Theories, Hypotheses, Models, Potential Outcomes and Future States of Affairs. They are the results of Hypothesizing and Reasoning Processes, driven usually by an individual person, but sometimes through a team.
14. The person or team does not regard their Imaginings as ‘fact’ or ‘law’, but may be prepared to put them up, for the sake of discussion, as an ‘Aunt Sally’ or ‘Straw Man’.
15. By ‘Models’ we mean mental models or idealized systems, either to simplify and explain what we can observe, or to indicate how things can be arranged, with human involvement, in future.
16. Potential Outcomes and Future States of Affairs are much the same as each other. They can be characterized as ‘how things might turn out’. They are important in most Reasoning Processes that lead to Judgments, as several different outcomes usually need to be considered.
17. As with Judgments, Imaginings may result in Display processes, where the originators may present proposals, hypotheses or designs; or may lead to Writings, such as this chapter.
18. Desires represent a person’s or a group’s goals, yearnings and purposes, with their urges to achieve them. They include what can be called ‘desired future states of affairs’.
19. Questions represent human uncertainty, doubt, or a realization of a lack of understanding about the same sorts of things that Judgments are made about. They may lead to Displays which carry a request for information from another human.
20. Stories are just compositions of one or more of the other Mental Constructs above. Not only fictional stories, but many scientific theories, are made up mainly of Imaginings. However certain Stories, such as reports on observed Processes, contain a higher proportion of Judgments.
21. ‘Information’ is a subjective term for elements of Stories that are potentially shareable and in some way ‘useful’ for a purpose. A person may have Information in their own memory, but they may or may not wish to share it.
22. In all the Mental Constructs above, we are not talking about written characters on a page, sounds in speech, or gestures. These are regarded as Physical Information – which are Physical Things (Writings, or Structures of Marks) – when recorded, and Display Processes when recited or displayed.
23. It is a debatable point whether imagined or potential – rather than actual (consensually accepted) – Objects and Processes should be classified under Mental Constructs or with the Objects or Processes they are Imaginings of. This taxonomy attempts to keep that dualism in mind.
24. The final major branch of Abstract Concepts is that of Relationships. These are concerned with the way in which one entity is related to another in some way.
25. The existence of any Relationship is subject to its being asserted (which is a form of Judgment) or imagined (a form of Imagining). A Relationship may also come into being and cease to exist, or be imaginary or projected.
26. Humans may judge that a Relationship exists, or imagine it, desire it or question it. A relationship carries Meaning, and can be part of a Story.
27. This taxonomy distinguishes twelve categories of Relationship. The number 12 is arbitrary, and is part of ‘my story’. These are described in section G below.

F – Attributes, Values and Roles

1. ‘Attributes’ are Categories of Judgments about Entities. They are features of one entity that we can use to determine its sameness to - or difference from - another entity. For physical objects attributes could be height, width, depth, colour, weight, and temperature; for processes they could be duration, start and end time, regular or irregular, active or interrupted; and for abstract concepts the could be clarity, relevance, and credibility.
2. ‘Values’ are numbers, codes or sequences of words; they represent a judgment that someone makes about a certain Attribute for a particular Entity. Examples are ‘3 metres’ or ‘red’.
3. ‘Name’ is a special attribute which may apply to some types of entity where there is a need to identify and distinguish one particular entity from other entities with similar attribute values.
4. ‘Role’ is an attribute of an Entity that is in a Utility relationship with a particular purpose or process. For example, a hammer has the ‘Role’ of ‘beating down’ nails or metal surfaces.
5. ‘Role’ is common as an attribute of Relationship entity types – see section H below.
6. Confidence and Accuracy are attributes of a Value; these may be qualitative (involving words), or quantitative, such as ‘with 95% confidence’ or ‘plus or minus 5%’
7. Probability – or Risk - is an Attribute of ‘Future State of Affairs’ or ‘Potential Outcomes’.
8. Probability can apply to the judgment of Values (see 2 above). If there is uncertainty about the value of an attribute of an entity, there may be different probabilities associated with the different possible values. For example, if we are talking about tomorrow’s weather, we might say ‘rain’ is one chance in 4, while ‘no rain’ is 3 chances in 4.

G - A More Detailed Taxonomy of Relationships

1. ‘Arrangement’ means the relative position or sequence, or some other defined system of arrangement, between one thing and another. If the things are included in a structure (see I5 below), there will be Arrangement relationships between some of them.  Examples are relative position in time, space or logical sequence; forms of physical connection; family ties; relative positions in organizational reporting structures; and social relations. On can also have dynamic arrangements, such as in planetary orbits, or dancing in pairs or formation.
2. ‘Classification’ means the relationship either between an individual entity and a category to which it belongs, or between a sub-category and a parent category. If A is a sub-category of B, then any individual entity in category A also belongs to category B. An individual entity may, of course, belong simultaneously to many categories; the act of classifying things inherently involves Judgment – ‘does it belong or doesn’t it?’ Categories also often overlap.
3. ‘Distinguishing’ means the relationship of sameness, similarity or difference between one individual thing (physical or abstract) and another. The sameness or difference could lie in any attribute, for example position, shape, size, function, or time. Two entities being compared could also be the same thing. There can also be variable levels of certainty in judging sameness, for example ‘seems different’.
4. ‘Interaction’ means the relationship of communication between one entity and another. In the case of two humans it includes a wide range of forms, including cooperation, trust, compassion, competition and transaction. The entities involved could include non-human but sentient animals, and even some non-animal entities; for example the weather interacts with the ocean currents (both are processes).
5. ‘Logic’ covers the relationship between one Judgment or Imagining, and another Judgment or Imagining. Examples are logical deductions, justifications, explanations, predictions, solutions, and suggestions.
6. ‘Motivation’ means the relationship between a Meaning created by a human individual (or consensual group) from emotions and experiences, and an Imagining that provides a way forward from that Meaning. Examples of such Imaginings are purposes, and wished-for – or maybe unwanted - future states of affairs. Examples of Motivation relationships include dreaming, imagining, envisaging, fearing, and committing. There may be multi-stage chains of motivation.
7. ‘Partitioning’ means the relationship between an individual part and the whole, which is typically a Collection, a Sequence or a Structure. Examples are membership of a group, sub-assemblies of a machine, ingredients of a mixture, sub-activities of a process, lemmas in a mathematical proof, stages in a project, and divisions of an academic discipline.
8. ‘Representation’ means the relationship between on the one hand a Sign, a description, a picture or some other set of symbols; and on the other, whatever entity those symbols may be representing. Examples are a name, a form of words, a painting or drawing, a statue, a translation, a metaphor or parable, a measurement, a memory and a model.
9. ‘Sensation’ means the relationship between immediate human emotions and Experiences (or other external triggers) and a Meaning taken by the human. Sensations are received through the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. We can also include here animal brain states or other observable physical effects; a ‘sensation’ could be felt by a machine that some cities have to give early warning of earthquakes. Examples are construing, or interpreting.
10. ‘Transformation’ means the relationship between things as they were and things as they are after a change. In many cases, a Process is involved. Examples include producing (from a collection of ingredients, by a process, using some tools), copying, deriving, transforming, mixing, consuming, moving, and transferring. Attributes of the entities involved may be changed, e.g. form, physical position, ownership, possession etc.
11. ‘Utility’ means the relationship between entities (e.g. persons, animals, ingredients, medicines (or any other physical substances), tools, methods, processes or concepts) and a purpose to which those entities could be put – or a Process in which they could be used. Possible relationship names are ‘useful for’, ‘capable of’, ‘designed for’, ‘employed to’, and ‘potential for’. Also covered here are relationships of substitution between alternatives entities that could both serve the purpose. Utility may include as an attribute a Role which a particular entity plays or could play in the overall purpose or Process.
12. ‘Volition’ means the relationship between a person (or group) and a proposed or ongoing course of action (an imagined or actual process). Examples are planning, budgeting, controlling and assessing limitations and risks.

H – Main and Subsidiary Roles in Relationships

1. A Relationship exists between two separate entities, which we might call A and B. We can ‘read’ a relationship in either direction: how A relates to B and how B relates to A. For example A might be ‘father of’ B, while B is ‘son of’ A.
2. In some cases, a relationship can exist between A and itself, but these are rare exceptions.
3. Often, further entities, besides A and B, are in some way involved in a relationship, especially where the Relationship is one that involves some form of activity. These entities are regarded – as if in a drama - as having ‘subsidiary’ Roles in the relationship.
4. These subsidiary roles, which are described below, are Medium, Collaborating Agent, Beneficiary, Instrument, Method, Name, Place, Time, Context, Belief and Author.
5. ‘Medium’, or ‘Intermediate Mechanism’ means whatever helps the Relationship to work. Examples are a means of communication or delivery, an adhesive material, a standard of measurement, or – when abstract entities are related – conditions or commitments.
6. ‘Collaborating Agent’ means whoever initiates, is involved in or takes responsibility for what is going on in the Relationship. This ‘whoever’ could include machines – or even gods or other supernatural agents.
7. ‘Beneficiary’ or ‘End Objective’ means whatever the Relationship exists for. That might include human or animal beneficiaries (physical), or purposes, desires and goals (abstract).
8. ‘Instrument’ means some tool that is required.
9. ‘Method’ (or ‘Procedure’) means a prescribed Process that is followed to generate or maintain the Relationship.
10. ‘Name’ means a name for a particular Relationship. Since the Relationship is itself an abstract entity, it may itself be involved in further relationships.
11. ‘Place’ means a location, or range of locations, in which the Relationship applies or is valid.
12. ‘Time’ means a period during which the Relationship applies or is valid. The period may have a start and an end, or be everlasting.
13. ‘Context’ means a range of topics of thought, within which a Relationship is considered as applying. Examples of Contexts are Astronomy, Ethics and Religion. A Context is a Mental Construct, being a collection of Theories and Stories.
14. ‘Belief’ means a particular set of assumptions, often part of a Theory or Story, and hence within a Context, which influences the assertion, imagining or questioning of a Relationship.
15. ‘Author’ means the human individual (or group) that asserts a Relationship.

I – More on Composition Relationships

1. ‘Composition’ means the process of putting together the ‘Whole’ entity in a Partitioning relationship (sometimes called a ‘Whole-Part’ relationship) from the ‘Parts’. Examples are the characters in a word, the words in a sentence, the coins in a collection, the theories in a topic, the parts in a machine, or the stages in a cooking recipe.
2. Collections are the simplest form of composition. There is no interest in the order or arrangement of the parts, let alone how they fit together. Examples are the people in a crowd, the pebbles on a sea shore, the coins in a purse, and the ideas in an ordinary human’s head.
3. Sequences are compositions where we are interested in the logical order in which members of the collection are to be considered. Of course we could have two different sequences of the same set of members; for example a set of soldiers by how tall they are, or how old they are, or their names.
4. We can also have a two-dimensional arrangement, for example a phalanx of soldiers arranged in a square, or the pieces on a chess board.
5. More usually however, a composition is a more complex Structure, in which member entities are arranged in various ways, and there are sub-structures assembled into larger structures. A good example is a house. If a roof beam breaks, we need to know what it rests on, what else has to be removed, and so on.
6. Parts may also have to fit together, or be joined and kept in position, for example by accurately-carved ends, nails or cement.
7. Composition applies to Processes as well as Physical Objects. Some compound processes are simple sequences, where one task simply follows another. However in other cases we can split a compound process into two parallel sub-processes. In house building, for example, a carpenter can prepare the roof beams while a mason erects the stones for the wall.
8. Composition can also apply to some forms of Abstract Entities. A composition of Judgments ought to follow a logical structure, and be non-contradictory.
9. A composition of Judgments and Imaginings, when combined, may lead logically to Future States of Affairs.
10. A set of Questions may, or may not, need a sensible sequence in which to ask them.
11. As already noted, a Story is generally a composition of other Mental Constructs, and even a fictional story or drama ought to have a credible plot.
12. Information, being a form of Story, requires Structure for it to be useful.
13. A ruler or government agent may receive many pieces of unstructured information, and it is in putting these into a useful Structure that is their biggest challenge.
14. Desires, even for one individual, tend to form an unstructured sort of collection. For a council, however, it is a major challenge to reconcile different Desires and to structure them together into a feasible set of Goals. Different Desires are often related through Motivation relationships.
15. With Relationships, it often happens that the same two entities are related in several different ways. The same human may be related to the same dog by ownership, taking for a walk, and getting bitten by. These different relationships sometimes get merged in an unordered fashion or ‘rag bag’, but this does not lead to clear thinking.

J – Relevance to Human Interaction and Collaboration

1. In any civilization, significant improvements – in the direction of the Spirit of Good – have to involve collaboration between humans. The humans typically have different Mental Experiences, Stories and Desires.
2. The same applies to avoiding disasters and descent into Dark Ages.
3. In all cases it is critical to find out who has a stake in the future. In practice, this has to involve negotiation with representatives of groups of humans who think similarly; one cannot speak to every single human involved.
4. There is always a danger that this may overlook some points of view.
5. There will possibly be some groups with whom one cannot easily negotiate. Although a nation can send emissaries to meet an enemy, it cannot do much if the threat comes unexpectedly, for example a raiding band of barbarians.
6. Most natural threats are also beyond negotiation; one cannot negotiate with a plague or earthquake.
7. In a civilized society, even asking another person to do something involves negotiation. Most of us cannot simply say ‘I will kill you if you do not obey’.
8. The use of the taxonomy may help to work towards a common Story, and to align the Meanings taken by as many people involved as possible.
9. My experience involves the use of diagrams, drawn with chalk on a large slate.
10. To begin with, we concentrate on the broadest overall goals. Do all parties want peace? We try to agree on what ‘Good’ means in the circumstances.
11. We write the aims we can agree on in a box at the top right of the slate.
12. We then look at the Motivation and Volition relationships to tell us where the representatives are, as we say, ‘coming from’. We draw these as further boxes, with arrows leading, possibly through intermediate stages, to the agreed overall aim.
13. We then try to create a number of imagined Stories to bridge the gaps, and ensure that these Stories have a logical structure.
14. We try to follow the consequences of these Stories in terms of both the Process to be applied to make the Story happen, and the possible Future States of Affairs that could result, each with an estimate of their probability.
15. Hopefully, we select a plan of action, and then work out how to ensure that it is supported.
16. A big stumbling block in these discussions is caused by representatives who have promised too much to their sponsors. They are reluctant to agree to anything that they would have difficulty in selling to the people whose expectations they have raised; they fear that they may be blamed and suffer penalties.
17. There will be many circumstances where an agreement on overall goals is impossible. One party may feel that it can enforce its will, whether by force of arms, trade restrictions, or sabotage. If this is the case, it is best to discover this early.
18. No civilized society can be completely sure that it will not suffer a surprise attack, whether from an enemy or nature.
19. Nor can one be completely sure in the face of broken promises after agreement has been reached. This may not be the negotiators’ fault; their sponsors may reject the agreement, or there may be a change in the circumstances of their interest group. For example, they may have lost all their crops due to bad weather or blight.
20. For that reason, some attention should always be given to ‘what happens if …’, although there will always be some unforeseeable circumstances.

The three diagrams that follow illustrate the general idea of human communication in terms of this taxonomy. The first shows the flow between a person wishing to say something and the creation of a response by a listener. The second diagram shows an example of a multi-stage communication, in this case a typical negotiation process between a buyer and a seller, envisaged as a spiral. The third shows how a meeting of people with different aims might collaborate to agree a joint plan of action.

Chapter 7 - The Conversations

Prologue

1. The council for the reconstruction of the city requested me to lead this series of conversations related to the future of government, society and culture in our state.
2. There is no requirement to come to any agreed or definite conclusion as to which ideas are ‘best’ on any topic. Rather, the council wants to ensure that different views are exchanged in a relaxed, private manner, so that it can be prepared for these different viewpoints and can therefore encompass them when issues arise in the affairs of the state.
3. My own role is to be a facilitator rather than an executive chairman. I am also acting as host to these conversations which are taking place in my family’s house; my co-host, who is helping provide hospitality, is Xanthippe, widow of my former mentor Idomenes.
4. I have invited, for each conversation topic, and in discussions with the council, a panel of six leading citizens whom, we feel confident, can between them represent the main different viewpoints in a considered manner, and can respond without excessive emotion to alternative viewpoints.
5. The council has requested that transcripts of the conversations be made for subsequent study, and to this effect we have engaged a team of scribes, who will do their best to record all the important points made.
6. As facilitator I wish to avoid any biasing of the conversations towards my own views, and therefore I am limiting my participation to keeping the discussions on track and in conformance with the general ground rules, except for making a preliminary statement about the purpose of each conversation, and for responding, if asked, for knowledge that I may have gained from my own experience.
7. The basic ground rules for each conversation, which have been agreed by the council, are as follows:
   • each protagonist will, in an order agreed at the start, present their point of view on the topic, followed first by five formal critiques along the lines of each of the five sides of the ‘pentagon’; and then, if appropriate, by informal supplementary questions and discussion;
     
   • the formal critic’s roles or ‘hats’ will circulate; the person due to be the next protagonist will address the aspect of reason and science; the next the aspect of economy and resources; the next the aspect of society and manageability; the next the aspect of individual motivation; and the last or the previous protagonist will address the aspect of quality and aesthetics;
     
   • each cycle in the discussion will be limited to forty-five minutes, and the scribes will keep all speakers to time;
     
   • normal standards of civilized behaviour will be maintained, which means no shouting, banging the table, stamping of feet, verbal abuse or name-calling, and physical threats, whether immediate or delayed.

A – Equality and Inequality

1. Christian: Since the writings of the philosopher Crito it has frequently been argued that gross inequality between humans in a society leads to that society’s decline. Crito suggested that this happens through wasteful luxury, indolence and lack of drive among the rich; and ill health, resentment and bad workmanship among the poor.
2. That said, it must be noted that Crito excluded from his ideal society not only slaves and women, but also servants, farmers and traders. Other philosophers have responded that almost everyone is effectively a servant of someone else, or of the state; and that we all live by trading something, even if that is not a physical product.
3. We all also know that the recent decline and defeat of our state was at least partly due to the over-zealous imposition of class boundaries, and the consequent resentment – and desertion – of many of the lower classes who not only made up the majority of our population – and our army – but also created the majority of our wealth.
4. The issue we ought to resolve is: How far should we go in addressing inequality? Should we tax the rich to provide facilities for the poor?
5. Our protagonists for this conversation, in the order that they will present, are: Hieronymos, a senior priest; Aristocrates, a former councillor and member of one of our oldest families; Strategos, an army general; Nauplios, a sailor with many years experience as a navigator and captain; Emporios, a merchant involved in foreign trade; and Georganas, a farmer from one of our larger country villages.
6. Hieronymos: Some religions would say that, under God or Gods, we humans all start equal as babies and finish equal as corpses. However inequality exists even among babies, depending on their parents, the wealth of the society they are born into, and their freedom or otherwise from birth defects.
7. People sometimes say of certain people “the Gods favoured him”, but in my view, that favour should be earned, by good deeds and attention to one’s religious duties.
8. I think that the state should encourage all citizens to lead good lives, rather than to amass riches, especially if that comes at the expense of other citizens.
9. A good citizen will have already shown generosity towards those who, through no fault of their own, fall on hard times. I am in favour of taxing the rich who have not yet been so generous.
10. But just as there are rich citizens who act as if they are the only people that matter, there are poor people who will waste whatever they are given. However hard we try to close the gaps between rich and poor, we will never have equality. We can only hope to lessen the inequality, and at least help the innocent children.
11. Aristocrates: In spite of my own personal feelings, I accept that what you say makes logical sense. I will leave it to others to question you on pragmatic grounds.
12. Strategos: Helping the poor may have an environmental downside, as it can lead to over-population – with most of the excess made up of people who can contribute little. It may sound harsh, but maybe we should be like the herds of wild animals – let the weak be taken by the predators – in our case, hunger and disease.
13. Nauplios: That does sounds harsh, and I would be unhappy to see our city adopt that policy. The problem I see for government would be to maintain an army of people who decide who is poor through no fault of their own, and whose poverty is of their own making. And how can we deliver support for poor children without going through their possibly wasteful parents?
14. Emporios: Handouts do not motivate the poor to make an effort to better their situation. However I admit that some may be caught in a poverty trap – they have to use all their energies just to survive.
15. Georganas: It’s distressing when I visit the city and am assailed by so many beggars. And the smell in some streets is terrible. It doesn’t fit well with all that ‘ideal state’ stuff that those philosophers go on about. Should we not define some minimum living standard in keeping with our idea of a successful city-state, and work out ways of encouraging poorer people to reach it?
16. Hieronymos: So, are there any questions or further comments on my suggestion?
17. Aristocrates: I wonder whether we should just give the deserving poor a small subsidy, and tell them to make the best of it. It would be a short-term fix, but it might just give enough impetus for a lot of our poorer families to improve their situation.
18. Strategos: After what N said, I’m worried about the burden on taxpayers that would be needed just to pay the administrators.
19. Aristocrates: So, if no-one else wants to come in, I’ll give my opinion. To tackle inequality in the longer term, we should offer education to a wider range of people.
20. Competence and commitment to our state should be the criteria for people to advance themselves and become able to share in the city’s wealth.
21. Although the old families like my own set a good example of leadership in the past, we need to get the most capable people – from whatever class – into the right positions in our society. Yes, it was a mistake to go for the extreme class divisions that we tried before.
22. However only a limited number from the population have the capacity to benefit from the level of education that we need. There will never be equality in learning, and as a result there will always be winners and losers, rich and poor.
23. Strategos: What you say makes a lot of sense. The only possible flaw I can see is that education alone may not be enough to overcome the problems of inequality we are facing.
24. Nauplios: I support your idea, but its success may be limited by resources, in particular schools, teachers and places to train and practice. And we would have to subsidize the cost of schooling as many families would be too poor.
25. Emporios: Wider education could risk breeding agitators from the lower classes who might seek to overthrow governments. Also, if we are to offer education to all children, it would mean a census of all families in the city – not to mention the countryside with its ‘perieki’. We would have to record how far each child had progressed, and judge who should go on to further stages.
26. Christian: If I can butt in briefly, I would ask “and doesn’t this include girls as well as boys?”
27. Georganas: I can see that this idea could be very motivating. However the learning would have to be practical – many children could be turned off by too much philosophy and mathematics.
28. Hieronymos: I have a worry that too much science and book learning might blind children to matters of the spirit; they might down-value kindness, compassion, poetry and art. I am also concerned that too much independent thinking could lead to loss of cultural cohesion – some people would no longer accept the basic beliefs of the city’s religion.
29. Aristocrates: Everyone has spoken, so what further issues might there be?
30. Nauplios: On H’s last point, I think that the ideal of a single set of beliefs has been eroded for some decades, especially since the philosophers and the contact many of us have had with other peoples of the planet.
31. Strategos: I’d like to ask Christian a question. You tried this approach in the cities where you worked abroad. How successful was it?
32. Christian: It brought some success, but very slowly. Those cities were starting from much further back in cultural level than Cornith. It took three years to train any teachers – before that there were only a few elders who acted rather like priests. It would take several more generations to bring the majority of young people in Undelsheim up to any passable standard.
33. Strategos: So it is my turn. My concern is how can more equality – or less inequality – help us to better defend ourselves from aggressors? We certainly failed to do this in our recent defeats.
34. Wider education can help to some extent, but an army – and a navy – also need men who are courageous, and who will respond to commands without hesitation. An attack where every man has his own idea when to get up and charge will be a disaster.
35. Some of our rival cities regard education as primarily military training. But they have never enjoyed our levels of wealth and periods of peace.
36. To address this two-fold situation, therefore, I propose a form of conscription, where every young man is required to spend at least a year as a military trainee, and to retain a rank as a reservist as a background role during peacetime.
37. I think young men could gain a lot in educational terms from their army or navy service.
38. To avoid the situation where all the rich people’s sons came in with higher rank than those from poor families, I propose that rank should be based partly on education and partly on personal qualities as assessed by the regular soldiers.
39. Nauplios: naturally, I have sympathy for this idea. Successful seafaring, whether for trading or military purposes, requires mariners with courage and respect for authority. It makes sense to me.
40. Emporios: From the resources point of view, it’s similar to the proposals for poor relief and wider education. In this case the extra resources needed would be training grounds, weapons, training ships and of course trainers. That means more taxes, on people and on commerce.
41. Georganas: Not to mention a bureaucracy to ensure everyone was fulfilling their duty!
42. Hieronymos: I think it’s a pity to have so much concentration on war, but after recent events I agree it is understandable. But will it be good for motivation? Won’t the young men forced into military service just do the minimum that they can get away with? That doesn’t lead to good motivation.
43. Aristocrates: It would be a great pity to see Cornith as a feeble imitation of our warlike neighbours. It would no longer be the city of tolerance, openness and philosophy. If the idea were adopted, we would need leaders that would keep our distinctive ethos alive.
44. Nauplios: A problem with the old regime that this ethos was too much restricted to the upper class. We need to spread the benefits more widely.
45. Emporios: I have a fear that, as with all the proposals so far, more of everyone’s life would become ordered by the state and the sense of enterprise and adventure-seeking might be lost.
46. Nauplios: OK, it’s my turn. My idea for reducing the worst inequalities that we have today is to encourage all young people to enter a trade. Becoming an accredited member of a trade would carry status in the city, regardless of the person’s origin as a servant, an immigrant from the country, a foreigner, or even a slave.
47. Trades would be controlled by guilds who would maintain standards and codes of practice. These guilds should have influence on the government of the state.
48. This idea is not totally separate from A’s idea regarding wider education, but is more practically oriented.
49. Emporios: The only objection I can see from a rational viewpoint is that this idea doesn’t address the inequality of the really poor who may be unskilled or unemployed; it may just create a middle class of tradesmen.
50. Georganas: And what about farmers? Will they qualify as a trade? Will farm owners and farm workers (some of whom are only employed seasonally) qualify equally to be guild members? However, I don’t see there being so many resource problems with this suggestion.
51. Hieronymos: From the aspect of governability, I have doubts about encouraging these guilds, as they might become focuses for opposition to the councils trying to manage the state. I admit they may have valid issues to raise, but the councils may find it very difficult to satisfy a number of different guilds and yet manage the economy successfully.
52. Aristocrates: I would add that guild leaders would need to be well educated. As far as individual motivation goes, it seems a good suggestion. Tradesmen would have the goal of high standards in their work and trade practices, and some could aspire to become guild leaders.
53. Strategos: I am sympathetic to this idea; good tradesmen will also be good soldiers. However I don’t think a state where tradesmen have power fits in well with ideas of tolerance, openness, charity and artistic expression - not to mention spiritual values. Trades are necessary, as they are for any city-state; but they should not set the tone – just like you, Christian, said about the money lenders!
54. Nauplios: I accept your point. However in response to Emporios, I would hope that we could encourage more poor people to acquire a trade. Maybe some will need to acquire several trades, because of the seasonality of much work. Maybe they can be trained as soldiers or sailors – many sailors, like myself, do come originally from poor families. Are there any other comments?
55. Emporios: So it is my turn. I want to begin by arguing that too much equality is not a good idea. However equal we all start life, we become unequal through a mixture of fortune (good or bad), physical and mental ability (high or low), effort (industrious or lazy) and decision making (wise or unwise).
56. What we want to limit is not inequality, but the bad feeling it generates among the poor and disadvantaged, whether this be envy or just de-motivation.
57. While I think wider education would help, I feel that one particular aspect of education is easily the most important, and that is to learn to make wise decisions. Since we have little control over our fortunes or our native abilities, this may be all we can do to improve our lives.
58. What we need to make good decisions is an accurate understanding of the situations in which we find ourselves. What goal are we aiming for, what is our bargaining position, what are the alternatives and what are the risks?
59. We need to learn to be realistic, and not rely on emotional hopes, wishful thinking, or assuming that everything will go on just as it always has done.
60. Georganas: That all sounds pretty logical to me, except that some of our poor people are so downtrodden that they cannot think beyond their next meal, and will risk anything to get it.
61. Hieronymos: I wonder how such a culture could be engendered in the many people who are not in the habit of doing much forward thinking – resources, if not educational then some form of publicity, would surely be needed.
62. Aristocrates: I think an improvement in ordinary people’s decision making can only be good from the point of view of running the state effectively.
63. Strategos: In the army, we expect our officers to do this sort of decision-making, but the soldiers to act when ordered. There is certainly a big motivation issue here. In peacetime, many poor people may wonder why they should bother – they think they are destined to remain poor. They may adopt the motto of some religious groups that say we should be like ‘the lilies of the field’.
64. Nauplios: From the culture and inspiration point of view, we ought to give priority to E’s question of ‘what goal are we aiming for?’ If the goal is always material, we may lose out on the artistic and spiritual side.
65. Strategos: ‘Lilies of the field’ may have been alright in some idealized Arcadia of long ago. But here we are, with our backs to the wall after an ignominious defeat.
66. Hieronymos: But I think we should be careful about becoming too goal-driven a culture.
67. Emporios: But sailing the seas and doing business with other states is also a key part of our tradition. And realistic decision-making is the key skill in those things.
68. Georganas: As I am last to put forward my suggestions, I am going to spring a surprise and put forward two off-beat ideas. I am not saying they are better than what has been proposed so far; I see them as complementary.
69. Picking up Emporios’s point that inequality is inevitable but the need is to address the bad feeling, I want to propose a programme of entertainment for ordinary people. We all know the wide interest in the Chersonesian games, but they are only held every four years. We should hold minor games every year; we would not expect all states to send teams, maybe just our neighbours. We could also have regular ball games between teams from different sectors of the city and country areas.
70. My other suggestion is to include, as part of the education of young people from the city, a month spent on a farm as guests of farmers. We farmers have been short of labour since the battles, and I think the young people would find the experience pleasant as well as mind-broadening.
71. Hieronymos: Those ideas certainly are off-beat, but interesting. I would like to include some extra religious festivals in your programme; these also bring different classes of people together. I think both your ideas make good sense.
72. Aristocrates: I can see the farm-stay idea causing a bit of a shock in some city families. But I don’t think it would take much in the way of resources to run. As for more games, we have the stadiums and they are under-used; but they need people to administer and judge.
73. Strategos: From my experience, the games need a military-style operation to run them! But the local ball games worry me more – in the past there have been riots between supporters. The events would need to be policed quite heavily. However I don’t see a problem with farm stays, although the schools would need to coordinate with the farmers in advance.
74. Nauplios: I think any form of competition is motivating, but really only for those taking part or their immediate supporters. However the lower-class partisan followers of local heroes or teams may, as S says, be motivated to fight opposing followers. Motivating young people from comfortable city families to take a positive view of working on a farm may be harder!
75. Emporios: I think that, if well managed, both ideas could contribute positively to the culture and spirit of the state. We would not expect the mass of poorer people to enthuse about art, sculpture, music, plays and poetry. They may identify with the religious rituals, so it might be good to include these.
76. Farming is not currently a big part of our culture, and maybe we could make it more economic and expand it. If some educated city youths came to the farms, they might come up with ideas for improvement. We know there are other states where farming is considered much more important.
77. Aristocrates: Well, we are at the last ‘any questions’ stage. We seem to have had a number of interesting proposals. We probably don’t have the resources to put all of them into practice immediately.
78. Xanthippe: I hope no-one objects to my intervening in your discussion, much of which I have been able to listen to. You all know that I have in the past been a member of a philosophy school, and since the recent battles have been involved in charity work with destitute families.
79. Strategos: You have our respect, and I for one would like to hear your views.
80. Xanthippe: Cornith has had a long tradition of emancipation of slaves. If we have captured slaves, we allow them to work towards their freedom within three years, subject to approval as committed members of the population. Many former slaves, by being motivated in this way, have gone on to be valuable contributors to our city.
81. Such motivation is still not open to many women. Those from rich families, such as myself, have been able to contribute in many ways, although rarely to participate in councils.
82. I have met many capable women who, when free of the critical years of child-bearing, could contribute much more than they do currently, both physically and as good decision-makers. In the better families, the advantage of making decisions jointly with their womenfolk is recognized.
83. I would like to see a programme for the gradual development of women’s skills and participation included in your deliberations. I am not proposing government by women for our city, although we know of states where this has become necessary and has not been without some success.
84. I am saying that, especially in these difficult times, we should make the best use of all the human resources we have, potential as well as immediately apparent.
85. Hieronymos: I support Xanthippe’s views here: although not as priests, the women in our society have contributed significantly to the good being done in our society.
86. As the initial speaker in this conversation, I would like to thank everyone who has participated, as well as Christian and his family and Xanthippe for their hospitality. Christian, I hope we have addressed your initial questions and made some useful contributions. I wish everyone a good evening.

B – Choosing an Effective and Lasting Constitution

1. Christian: I would like, in this next conversation, to start once again from something we can read in the writings of the philosopher Crito. He suggested that the ruler of an ideal state would be a benevolent ‘philosopher king’ drawn from the military leaders. He would be supported by a team of educated ‘guardians’ or ‘phylakes’, also from the military class but forbidden to hold any wealth.
2. These ideas may seem old-fashioned now, and perhaps Crito was simply exploring different options like we are doing today. 
3. To his credit, Crito did speak strongly against certain types of regime: tyranny, timocracy (rule by fear) and oligarchy of the rich. However he also disapproved of democracy, arguing that large numbers of voters might be swayed by demagogues who would make cheap appeals to the voters’ basest desires, without any commitment to proper government – and who might well degenerate into a tyrant.
4. Crito was a believer in strict class distinctions, and must take some of the blame for this city’s disastrous experiment of 35 years ago. We know that we cannot go back to that idea, but what should we put in its place? How do we avoid ‘ochlocracy’ – rule by the mob?
5. An associated question is how we should appoint councillors and administrators, and also military generals and admirals.
6. Regarding demagogues and how to counter their influence, we have a later conversation scheduled to discuss this, so perhaps we can restrict what we say on that subject today.
7. Our protagonists today include three whom we welcome back from the previous conversation, Aristocrates, Strategos and Emporios who will lead on the first three proposals. The new participants are Graphicrates, a civil servant; Trapezites, a banker; and Didactes, a teacher.
8. I’m sorry that Xanthippe can’t be here this evening, but I hope you will not object if either my mother or my wife overhears some of our discussion and offers a thought from a woman’s viewpoint. My wife Ingrid is the daughter of one of Undelsheim’s former councillors, and is also an ex-pupil of mine. Please excuse her less than perfect Greek – she is still learning.
9. Aristocrates: Those of you who were here at our previous conversation will not be surprised when I assert that anyone involved in the government of our state, whether as ruler, guardian, civil servant or administrator, must come from the best-educated citizens.
10. Historically these people have been drawn from the leading families, but I accept that high birth is no guarantee of wisdom, and that our government should represent all those people that it governs who have shown themselves capable of making good decisions.
11. As far as democracy goes, we should consider not only which citizens should have a say on who is voted in, but which citizens can decide who is voted out of office.
12. My preference is for those qualified to vote a government in should do so for a team consisting of a council with a nominated leader. And the qualifications needed to vote a leader or council member out would be at a higher level than those for voting a team in.
13. Strategos: This proposal sounds very reasonable, but I think it relies on our state being in a period of relative harmony and peace. When it comes to my turn, I will suggest some possible additions to cater for a wider range of situations.
14. Emporios: My main concerns are over the management of our resources and particularly our balance of trade. Many otherwise well-educated citizens do not really understand what makes our city and state viable, and its dependence on the activities of our competitors and trading partners.
15. Graphicrates: It seems that all the ‘better’ constitutions that we propose will all require more administrators, and that elections could become very difficult to manage. We ought to limit the frequency of elections, otherwise the cost of running them will be high.
16. Trapezites: A problem with all forms of democracy is the reaction of those who do not win in the voting. Will they agree to accept the majority’s preference, or will they say things like “The voting process was unfair”, “Voters were too swayed by demagogues”, or “There is no way we can go along with that policy” – and try to undermine the winning party? But on balance, I agree that having a vote is a positive form of motivation, even to those not yet enfranchised who can see how they could achieve voting status.
17. Didactes: I am in favour of an education-based democracy, so long as education is not too narrowly focussed. If it is too materialistic, governments may under-value the arts and the spiritual aspects of life.
18. Aristocrates: Has anyone any other comments? I expected more opposition!
19. Didactes: I can see a risk of military takeovers, unless the elected government has means of defending itself against these.
20. Graphicrates: Given Emporios’s point about the trade balance, will it not be necessary to publicise to all voters a true statement of that balance, and also of our strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats? It will be a challenge for administrators to prepare this, costly to publicize it, and difficult to prevent it from being biased by what the government wants to tell the people.
21. Trapezites: If we elect teams rather than individuals, what if there is a schism within the team?
22. Strategos: Those questions seem to have stunned everyone for a while, so maybe I should start the next round. I said I would address situations other than peacetime.
23. Situations that could arise – many of which we have recently experienced in Cornith, and most of which have prevailed at times in neighbouring states – are as follows.
24. We may need to fight a defensive war, if our own territory is attacked. Sometimes, we might be best advised to fight a preventive war, to de-fuse a threatening situation. I assume we will not in future start wars as a substitute for resolving our internal problems – as has been done in the past.
25. Our state may be threatened internally, for example by unrest within the lower classes, by famine or extreme poverty, or by a serious epidemic.
26. In such cases, I believe, we should switch to military rule. I accept that the commander-in-chief should initially be nominated by the elected government team. But during the emergency the commander-in-chief should have superior powers.
27. Emporios: From a trader’s perspective, I can see sense in this. However the obvious question is ‘When and how do we get back to peacetime government?’ History is full of military leaders who stay too long and become tyrants.
28. Graphicrates: Even a military regime will require administrators. Does this mean a separate bureaucracy to enforce the military laws? If so, what would it do in peacetime?
29. Trapezites: Again if we look at history, there have been states – not so much here – where there has been continuing shuffling between military and civilian rule, usually leading to general decline. There are others where the military has effectively taken over all government.
30. Didactes: And in those last-mentioned states, they have taken over education as well – the only education is military. But on individual motivation grounds, I suspect it makes sense for people to be clear whether their main motivation should be to defend the state and its traditions, or to seek the good life, adventure and culture.
31. Aristocrates: The cultures that I think a period of military rule would encourage would be those of heroes and stories about them, reflection on our state’s values for which we are fighting, and maybe a dash of martial music and parades. These are not bad things, although prone to demagoguery.
32. If we are open to general discussion now, I’d like to come back to Emporios’s question of how we get back from military to democratic rule. In history, states have given military leaders a fixed term for their dictatorship, but they often exceeded their term.
33. Perhaps military dictators should be forced at the end of each year of rule to justify continuation of their regime, and a general vote taken.
34. Didactes: The dictators might take no notice, especially if their army has usurped the functions of the civilian police.
35. Graphicrates: And the returned soldiers might refuse to resign their power and elect one of their own junior officers.
36. Strategos: We should try and ensure that we appoint a worthy person as commander, who would do the right thing.
37. Trapezites: Why not a ‘philosopher-general’? I would vote for you personally!
38. Emporios: We may have exhausted that theme, I think. I would like to return to the issue of trade balance. I would urge that one good reason for removing a leader, or indeed a whole government, is that they are bankrupting the state; in other words there is no way of paying for their policies.
39. In the past it is trade that has enabled us to build up the state and improve our public facilities.
40. Any government should be required to publish its budget, and there should be at least one independent public auditor to examine – and if necessary criticize – that budget.
41. Graphicrates: I think this is unquestionably right.
42. Trapezites: I agree, but as I am currently wearing the ‘resources hat’, I must point out that this process will add to the bureaucracy and hence cost.
43. Didactes: It does seem essential if we want good government though.
44. Aristocrates: But it is a bit of a dampener on morale – people don’t like being told ‘we can’t afford it’, especially if they have become accustomed to expecting certain facilities or benefits. Sometimes we ought to be prepared to borrow and take the risk that a good idea will eventually pay off.
45. Strategos: I don’t think ‘living beyond one’s means’ is a good culture. However cutbacks are likely to mean less support for the arts.
46. How cutbacks might affect the level of ‘goodwill to all men’ is uncertain, and might depend on the way the situation is publicised. If everyone is less well off, there may be more caring for others. Or there might be a general meanness. We might need some demagogues after all!
47. Graphicrates: I would now like to raise the question of how we appoint and remove administrators, rather than rulers. I am assuming that we have an elected, rather than an autocratic government.
48. Should the elected leaders be trusted to appoint administrators fairly? What is to stop them appointing members of their families who can then make money by demanding bribes?
49. I am also concerned about the way the administrative workload is divided. Surely it is better to appoint administrators who have specialist knowledge of their area of responsibility. It would be odd to appoint someone whose entire background was in policing to manage education.
50. I am also afraid to say that I believe it is true that administrators build empires of their own, which can keep growing.
51. Just as E proposed an independent auditor of a government’s budget, I would propose an independent auditor of the administration, who could recommend that certain administrators should be removed and numbers and powers cut.
52. Trapezites: This sounds absolutely sensible.
53. Didactes: In my opinion, administrators in general often have too much power, and would be better leaving those who specialize to make the decisions. It is not just that administrators control resources and costs; they also have the power to interfere.
54. Aristocrates: That’s all very well, but government is largely about keeping things on track. As we know, people don’t always do things properly, and there have to be means of detecting improper activity before it does too much damage.
55. I have some sympathy with you though, because those who do act properly are often unnec-essarily subjected to snooping and interference, as part of the attempt to catch the bad people.
56. Strategos: I admit there is this motivation problem with all administrations. People come to hate the administrators, who in turn feel de-motivated.
57. Maybe there is some art in administration, so that people being administered do not feel so hostile towards them.
58. Emporios: Maybe hostility would ease if fewer of us acted badly! I feel I have a tough job here trying to relate administration to aesthetics and inspiration. So I might pass on this one, except to say that if all administration was done with fun and a happy spirit it would not seem such a drag.
59. Graphicrates: If I could respond, that seems a great idea, as long as the administrators themselves do not feel undervalued.
60. Trapezites: I would now like to raise the issue of security. It is one thing to protect individuals and property from the bad people in one’s own city. But as we saw in the recent sacking of our city, a lightning raid by a predatory neighbour can take away a lot of ordinary people’s wealth.
61. As we know, the state was saved because quite a few merchants escaped in their ships and hence a lot of our wealth was out at sea – and because the bankers had stored much of their coins and valuable metals in the caves.
62. But another time the enemy might have better ships, or find the caves. I do not favour permanent military rule, but I do think we should maintain a defensive reserve army.
63. Didactes: That would be sensible, as long as this army did not exceed its powers. But what would the soldiers do when waiting for an enemy attack which might never come?
64. Aristocrates: Obviously, maintaining a reserve army would impose a cost on the state, and tie up some of our human resources. But could not the reservists also be trained to work on public works projects? Many of our buildings and temples need repairing after the recent invasion.
65. Strategos: This might prevent some generals I know writing memoirs that exaggerate their role in past battles! But the training need would be high, and some civilian builders would have to be involved.
66. However I do accept your worries that too strong a reserve force might be tempted to usurp power and dismiss an elected government.
67. Emporios: After what happened to this city, I think that having a reserve army can only give positive motivation. Maybe some young people would be keen to join the reserve if it was not ‘all fighting’, and if they could learn something about the building trade.
68. By the way, I hope the reserve force would include a naval section, given that overseas trade is so important to our economy.
69. Graphicrates: Like Emporios on the previous proposal, I am struggling to find anything to say on aesthetics and inspiration. Maybe if everyone feels a bit more secure, they would have more chance of enjoying both art and nature, and would have more time to consider the good of their fellow-humans.
70. Didactes: As the last to go, I would like to raise the issue of what I call peripheral classes in our city’s constitution. Fortunately we have put behind us the very restrictive rights to citizenship that applied in the heyday of the great philosophers and the recent oligarchic regime.
71. Two peripheral classes are in fact majorities rather than minorities. I am thinking of immigrants from our own state’s country areas and women (I am not counting children under the age of 16).
72. Among the minorities, I am including slaves, even though slavery in our city is limited and only temporary; immigrants from neighbouring states; foreign traders and ambassadors; and citizens who are disabled physically or mentally.
73. I am not advocating unqualified citizenship for all; just that we make it clear both what are their rights and duties as non-citizens, and what possible routes they have for becoming citizens.
74. Aristocrates: I think this is logical and necessary.
75. Strategos: But it means more administrators to resolve issues and apply the rules
76. Emporios: We cannot expect this issue to disappear, so any government has to deal with it.
77. Graphicrates: There tend to be waves of resentment against these people when the state’s fortunes are low. We need to remind people of the value these classes bring, and the duty of citizens to be tolerant of them, as is our tradition.
78. Trapezites: This is an important issue, as it was many of these people that deserted us when we were attacked. They felt that they owed us nothing because we had given them nothing. That doesn’t relate much to aesthetics, but maybe it does to inspiration; we humans all depend on other humans, and treating people badly brings evil back on our own heads.
79. Christian: My apologies for interrupting here, but I wonder if we could take a few moments to discuss the merits of some of the different forms of government that we have tried here, or that we know about from our neighbours.
80. Some of the forms of government that I have in mind are ruling families, benevolent despots, military juntas, military super-heroes, theocracies and democracies. Maybe we could take one each, in the same order as we spoke before.
81. Aristocrates: It’s ironic that I should get ruling families, coming from one myself! Actually, I do think ruling families, if their members are well-educated and thoughtful, can provide useful stability and continuity.
82. But even the best families can produce bad individuals, and try to hang on to power regardless.
83. Strategos: And continuity may not be what is most needed in an emergency. At least I don’t have to defend military juntas. Benevolent despots can be good as leaders, but the big question is – to whom do they hand over power, and when? In some states, such leaders pass power on to their sons; this is really no different from having ruling families.
84. Emporios: S talked about military rule earlier. If one has a junta rather than a single commander, at least one can replace one member at a time. But it’s not a form of constitution we should ever plan for.
85. Graphicrates: Military super-heroes may gain short-term popularity, but most of those recorded in history have struggled with the complexities of governing the state they have conquered. And again they eventually face a succession problem.
86. Trapezites: Theocracies are anathema as far as I am concerned. Theocracy effectively means government by a gang of priests who impose their rule by claiming that their law is the law of God.
87. I have read about states where the priests anoint the king or despot, but I think this is just a device by the despot to claim divine right – rather than competence – to rule.
88. Didactes: I personally am happy with democracy, although it is not a very well defined concept.
89. For a start, who is allowed to vote? And who do people vote for, a single leader, a team or a local representative?
90. What is to stop candidates buying votes, or hiring the ablest demagogues?
91. I have some sympathy for the idea of grades of citizenship, depending primarily on education but also taking into account commitment to our state. Higher grades could have multiple votes, and the highest have a vote in calls to remove a ruler or governing team.
92. Graphicrates: However good that idea is, it puts a big workload onto the administration!
93. Anyhow, I think we should ask the ladies for some input before we finish. One question is, what was the constitution in their home cities, and was it effective? The other is, do they think educated women should have voting rights?
94. Christian, we know that your mother came from a country village. What can she tell us?
95. Krinia: I fear I will disappoint you as I was forced to leave while quite young. Our village was then run by one family, who owned most of the farming land. There was no appeal against their decisions.
96. Ships sometimes sheltered in a cove near our headland; sometimes these were wrecked and our men killed any survivors and stole the cargos. Other times the sailors terrorized us and stole our food.
97. Women were just property, and the ruling family could take any woman their sons wanted. Women certainly had no vote. I would not recommend the system in my home village to anyone.
98. Ingrid: In Undelsheim there were several better-off families; each of these families had a member on the town council and they took it in turns to supply the leader. But there was also the ‘Thing’, which was a special meeting of all the men who bore arms; they could even over-ride the council. They didn’t count votes, decisions were made on whichever idea got the loudest cheer.
99. Before Christian came there were no educated women and only few educated men. The elders told us stories and we believed them. Voting was unheard of; and women were not expected to take part in serious discussions.
100. Krinia: I talked to Ingrid about whether women should have a vote here. I spent a lot of time helping Xanthippe visit poor women in this city after the troubles. I would say that almost all those women do not know enough to vote sensibly. I too am not educated, and think maybe I do not understand enough myself. But I think Xanthippe and Ingrid, and women like them, understand as much – often more – than many of the men, and I think they should vote.
101. Christian: I think we will have to close the discussion here. Many thanks to everyone, and especially to the ladies.

C – Religion – mandated by the state or individual choice?

1. Christian: I think there are three influences that have combined to put religion into a very weak position in our city today.
2. The first influence is that of the philosophers, and following them, the scientists. They have told us that many of the stories told by our traditional religion are actually wrong, as they lead to contradictions. And even if they cannot prove that a religious story is wrong, it seems that this story is not the most useful one in enabling people to live good lives.
3. The second influence is that when the people put their faith in the Gods to save them from the attacks on our city, and from the epidemics and famine, the Gods did not answer them.
4. The third influence is the appearance of rival religions brought in by foreigners, some which have better stories and simpler beliefs. People no longer have certainty in their traditional beliefs.
5. For a culture to thrive, I believe, there needs to be a consistent set of beliefs that we can teach our children and use as a means of reaching consensus on many issues that confront us.
6. Many people in our city and countryside have a strong desire to believe, and I do not think we can expect this desire to disappear.
7. I would like us to discuss three questions this evening. The first is the need for religion; why has it been such a powerful influence in all states? The second is what kind of religion is most appropriate for our culture today? And the third is to what extent should the state mandate a religion as the ‘mainstream’, and how much variation and individual choice should we allow?
8. Today’s panel consists of Hieronymos, one of our most thoughtful religious leaders; Georganas, a successful farmer from our countryside; Medea, a philosopher who has studied the religious attitudes of women; Themis, a scientist of nature; Polydorus, a student of traditional religion; and Basil, a councillor and former leader of this state.
9. For the first issue, the need for religion, I suggest that each of the panel presents, from their experience, one argument why individuals – and a state – should follow a religion rather than have no religion.
10. Hieronymos: I think I should start. For individuals, I believe that the main need is comfort; not just when facing the death of their relatives and closest friends, and eventually of themselves; but also when things in their lives go badly, for example famine, disability or failure in their job or trade.
11. Since no-one can come back from the dead and tell us what lies beyond, people need a story of what happens after life on the planet. ‘That’s it’ is not enough.
12. Equally, for those who experience distressing times, it is not helpful to say ‘that’s just bad luck’. Sufferers need to feel that someone cares and gives them hope; and if there is no physically living helper around, then it may help them to believe that a God or spirit can support them.
13. For the state, I believe the need is coherence; a common religion helps us ‘stick’ together.
14. Georganas: For country people, the need is rather an explanation which can guide their farming efforts. They need a story that personalizes the agency by which day follows night, the seasons come and go, the seed germinates and the crops and animals grow. Fertility gods provide such a story.
15. Country people sometimes also talk about gods of thunder and lightning, the sea and war; but I think they have picked these ideas up from outside sources.
16. They are not concerned with state religion; they expect beliefs to differ from clan to clan.
17. Themis: I understand the belief in fertility gods, but I think it is really ‘folk science’ – a sort of ‘stopgap myth’, a story people use because they do not yet know the mechanisms by which such things happen.
18. Having said that, the stories told by science, even if more accurate, are often too complex to be understood widely.
19. I tend to agree with Hieronymos that individual comfort is the main need. As far as the state is concerned, I agree that is nice to have a consensus, but that consensus is likely to be fast-changing at times.
20. Polydorus: My idea is that religion is primarily a tool of government. It provides a basis for morality and laws, and a justification for authority.
21. I don’t believe a city can thrive without laws, and without morality the burden of applying laws would be much greater.
22. The individual may accept a state religion because doing so means a quieter life – without causing arguments and without inviting persecution.
23. Basil: I suspect that individuals follow religion because of fear, not so much of persecution as of eternal punishment in their afterlife.
24. Many governments are quite happy to go along with that, and so are priests.
25. Personally, I think we would do better to concentrate on the Good, and the advantages in this life of following it.
26. Medea: In my studies of women, I still find a great urge to believe in miracles, in friendly spirits, in fortune that can be altered through prayer, and a vision, wish or hope of better times ahead.
27. The women’s menfolk may tell them that they should face reality and get out and address the challenges themselves, but they often regard that as unhelpful. Belief, justified or not, is more comfortable.
28. Xanthippe: I would say that this ‘will to believe’ is not restricted to women!
29. Basil: If I can come back in here, I might comment that while religion in general may always be an influence, particular religions tend to get stuck in believing that one story is ‘true for all time’.
30. As Themis said, most nations, sooner or later, find themselves passing through a ‘paradigm shift’, where some of the religious stories become less useful and can hold a state back from developing in tune with fast-changing conditions.
31. Christian: This is interesting, but is moving away from the original question somewhat. I think we should now move on to the different types of religion. Hieronymos, if you do not object, would you please give the arguments for and against monotheism first? I appreciate that you are not a priest in a monotheistic cult, but you probably understand such cults as well as anyone here.
32. Hieronymos: Monotheism is certainly simpler – it doesn’t require complicated pantheons which no-one fully understands or concurs about. If you are going to have a state religion, then you have more chance of having a consistent creed with a single God.
33. I also think it can provide a logical end-point for the many philosophical arguments that seem to lead into an infinite regress. An example is a chain of ‘cause and effect’, when we ask what causes this or that natural phenomenon. We can identify God as an end-point that terminates that regress, as the ‘prime cause’ of everything else.
34. On the down side, a single God can become an overloaded and confused concept. Are we talking about a creator of the universe, and if so, does God continue to intervene? Is God a post office for our prayers, and does he operate a task force of angels to effect changes to what might otherwise happen in the physical world?
35. Is God like a person, or more like a spirit? Is God more concerned with doing good, or in ruling according to a fixed set of laws? Does God have a permanent opposite number who encourages evil? These are some of the puzzles that monotheists face.
36. What seems more of a problem is the human organization that sets itself up on the God’s coat-tails. A religious hierarchy can compete with a secular government. A religion can also become taken over by ruling cliques, who distort the religion for their political ends. Rival cliques can then disagree and cause schisms.
37. Another problem is a tendency to rule certain actions and things as ‘in’ and others as strictly ‘out’. Simplistic stories and moral rules can become ossified by a self-perpetuating hierarchy.
38. Polydorus: It seems you are, like me, not a supporter of some of these foreign religions that have appeared recently. I think I should now state the case for polytheism.
39. Polytheism recognizes the many different influences on our lives, and encourages us to address them individually. It is not sensible to try and reduce all aspects of life to one dimension.
40. It also acts as a brake on religious extremism. Followers of a single God may become obsessed with their rightness. Multiple gods can be invoked to look at issues from different angles.
41. However it cannot be denied that polytheism is apt to run out of control. Different groups in society may favour different gods and this leads to disunity. Two people could pray to different gods to support their incompatible wishes – what happens next, a war between the Gods?
42. There is no doubt that the cults of some of our traditional Gods are illogical, superstitious or even evil. But I believe that our religious leaders can correctly judge what is anti-social and encourage governments to act accordingly.
43. Themis: The problem I have with both monotheism and polytheism is that their gods seem ‘outside’ of our experience, and are in some way separate from us mortals and our natural environment.
44. I think that if we are going to have a Spirit to which we can offer our supreme respect, then it has to be the whole of nature, in which we ourselves are but one part. We should recognize ‘God’ in all nature.
45. If I am to propose a down-side to such a God, it is that this God may not provide people with the comfortable words that they look for, a need which H mentioned in his ‘reasons for religion’.
46. Georganas: Such a ‘God of nature’ is not so far removed from today’s fertility gods; it would be the simplest transition for country people from what they believe now.
47. The problem is that when crops fail, or animals die, country people wonder what they can have done wrong in order not to have received the God’s cooperation.
48. In my view, they would be better accepting that bad things just happen, and that their best policy is to spread their risks and accept their losses.
49. This sort of thinking is probably already adopted by most of our sailors and merchants.
50. Medea: I think most women would have a problem with this. If their child dies, it is a much more emotional event than if a crop fails. Even if their risk-spreading option is to have many children, the loss of one child is bitter.
51. Some of the families I have visited, rather than worship the traditional gods or goddesses in the temples, more reverently venerate their household gods – the spirits of their ancestors, images of which they keep in their homes.
52. They feel they can speak to these gods, and even if the outcome is bad, they have had a conversation with something or someone who, they believe, cares.
53. Basil: I am conscious of all the benefits that religion has brought to our city in the past. Our temples are beautiful, and our rituals are both spectacular and moving.
54. However I am aware that, today, many people cannot accept the stories they were brought up with. I see the population as being like a child of ten or eleven years that has outgrown fairy stories.
55. I think it is time we abandoned immaterial and ill-defined concepts. If they are not clear, why should we waste our time with them?
56. If we are to mandate any religion, it should be based, as Christian has written, on the Spirit of Good, which we know influences our lives both as individuals and as members of families and societies.
57. We have to accept that many people will still want to cling to more person-like spirits, whether they are the traditional ones or household ones. I cannot see any harm in letting these cults continue, as long as they do not claim precedence.
58. Christian: Basil, I think you have unintentionally drifted into the last of our three topics, namely what the state should mandate and what existing practices should be allowed to continue alongside.
59. May I suggest we now proceed in the usual pattern of these conversations, and ask whether Basil’s proposal, and any of the other proposals from other panel members, is consistent with the five aspects of the Pentagon?
60. Medea: I don’t see anything obviously illogical. In fact I can’t think that anything else would meet our needs.
61. Georganas: I am rather hoping that any state religion would incorporate a God of nature. Country people would not be happy without it, and might struggle to envisage a nebulous Spirit of Good.
62. I guess that we should leave existing temples as they are, and that meetings to spread the message and stories of the state’s mandated religion would use the same temple facilities. To do this, there would obviously have to be agreement with the current priests.
63. However I suspect that, in the longer term, people will gradually move away from the old religions and their rituals. The old temples may need to be converted to museums, or venues for more secular meetings, or schools for the wider population.
64. Hieronymos: I think we will need a clear statement of exactly what is mandated, which rituals will continue, and how the government will enshrine the official religion in the constitution.
65. Polydorus: I think some strong personal leadership will be needed to make this approach accepted. Christian, I feel we must look to you for this. You are the one person that has respect across the boundaries of partisan interest.
66. Themis: If I were an artist, I might be wondering how I might depict a ‘Spirit of Good’. Will we be able to maintain the same aesthetic quality without the myths and legends? Artists would have to address themselves more towards nature – which is something that I do support.
67. I also support the idea that we can each get a lot of inspiration by spending more time in natural surroundings, and escaping the materialistic grind of the city, its government and its trade. I envy the sailors who can experience the call of the open sea.
68. Polydorus: If we wish to consider other options besides Basil’s, we could consider the idea of retaining polytheism but accepting the Spirit of Good as a new member of the Pantheon, possibly as something that could be worshipped alongside the other gods. That might help ease the transition for artists. Any comments?
69. Christian: I am not sure that would work. Good would just be another mythical person-god competing with the others at the celestial dinner table. I think Good needs to be paramount.
70. Hieronymos: I will try another suggestion, just for the sake of argument. Supposing we were to equate the Spirit of Good with the God of the monotheists? We could downplay the more mystical and magical features, or leave those to peripheral sects.
71. Christian: That makes a bit more sense. But Hieronymos, you know more than I do about these monotheistic sects. Isn’t much of their appeal magical, and dependent on belief in an after-life?
72. Georganas: I think it is very difficult to make useful criticisms on these suggestions. But as we are looking at all possible alternatives, I suppose the state could abstain from mandating anything, and leave it to an ‘open market’?
73. Hieronymos: It could, but I think that would be bad for both motivation and governability. It might also lead to yet more schisms and more independent temples, which would eventually become redundant.
74. Medea: I hope no-one expects me to propose the only remaining option, which would be to mandate a single, new state religion, with no allowance for any deviation or other form of religious activity or worship!
75. Christian: I think we can all agree on that. Well, thanks to everyone for participating and also to our hosts.

D – Philosophy – does it have any practical value?

1. Christian: I am often getting the following reaction from people in the city: “We may be famous for our philosophers, but what practical value have we ever got from anything they have said?”
2. Some go further and blame the philosophers for some of our bad times, like the days of the strict class hierarchy, and the failure of resolve to defend our city when it was attacked.
3. I wonder how we who are here today would answer that challenge. Can we each name one principle derived from philosophy that could lead us to do better in the future?
4. Today I have invited Callippus, one of our leading mathematicians; Eudoxus, a philosopher concerned with the nature of knowledge; Didactes, a teacher specializing in logic; Oenopides, a materialist with progressive views; and Antiphon, a physician who has experience with patients with mental illness.
5. The sixth protagonist tonight is going to be my adopted aunt Xanthippe, who in the whole city is the person best acquainted with the philosophical fashions of fifty years ago.
6. In fact we are going to have seven protagonists tonight, because I am going to start with one of my own ideas, which opposes many of the philosophers of earlier years. Please excuse me if you have heard it all before.
7. As usual, we should try and examine each idea from the five sides of the Pentagon, but this may not always make sense. However we should certainly not ignore any such criticisms.
8. You know that I have often criticized Crito’s concept of ‘Ideals’, the idea – or story – that each one of us, with our five limited senses, is only seeing things in a ‘shadow-world’; and that there is an higher world of ‘reality’, where the ideal versions of everything that we observe or talk about exist in a clear structure.
9. Crito’s suggestion is that only philosophers, by sitting back, taking thought and following logic, can come anywhere near seeing this world of ideals.
10. My message, which I claim is of practical value, is that this story leads us into wrong thinking and dangerous assumptions. The most dangerous of all assumptions is to think “I have cracked it – I have seen beyond the veil”.
11. The better story, which you have probably all heard me say ad nauseam, is that reality only exists for each one of us personally. Pure reality is what we perceive before we start applying our acquired categorization schemes – which include our language – to what we perceive, and so construe some meaning.
12. From our personal reality we look outwards to other people to confirm the meaning. We develop consensuses. These consensuses evolve and develop, just as our language has done, not only over history but prehistory. What we colloquially call reality is just evolving, bottom-up consensus.
13. As everyone knows, consensuses can be very brittle. They become confounded by events that happen later, or as we encounter different groups of humans, for example foreigners, who have reached different consensuses. Hopefully we can, over time, improve the general applicability of our consensuses, but I don’t see any reason why this process should ever stop.
14. So my point is that knowledge is not ‘out there’, to be discovered by us. We create it. That’s why I regard any so-called ‘scriptures’ or ‘theories’ as always provisional.
15. Didactes (D): You yourself have proposed a taxonomy which, you suggest, is language-insensitive – and which, to some extent, categorizes things in ways that any human would recognize and probably agree about. Are you not going against your own idea that all knowledge is provisional?
16. Christian: I should be careful, I agree, to stress that even that taxonomy is provisional. Although I think that, from my discussions with the foreigners I have met over the years, the main structure of categories is pretty fundamental to all of them. However I agree that more nuances of meaning could yet arise, especially if there are peoples we have not yet met.
17. Eudoxus: Your approach does not leave room for an external God. Yet you have talked about a ‘Spirit of Good’. Is that, too, a ‘provisional’ thing?
18. Christian: I have never met anyone who thought that there was not some sort of Spirit of Good. It seems real to all humans, maybe to animals as well. But it is true that we all see that spirit differently, and even the same person sees it differently at different times. It is a concept where consensus is very elusive. Many people search for it, although some claim that they have found it.
19. What I am not happy with is those people who decide they have found the true Spirit and so everyone else should follow their concept of it.
20. Callippus: From the silence I guess we are all still thinking about that one, but maybe I should come in now and propose my own ‘practical’ philosophical point.
21. My point is that the world we live in is characterized, among other things, by uncertainty. Yet a lot of people seem unready to accept this, and so do not act with risk and probability in mind.
22. They make predictions about the future, or they visit astrologers or oracles who tell them what their future will be. But as we all know, the answers they get are usually ambiguous.
23. We have worked out how to forecast tides, seasons and eclipses, but are not very successful at predicting tomorrow’s weather, enemy attacks or earthquakes.
24. So my proposal is that anyone who makes plans, should firstly list all the things that might go wrong, decide how likely – or unlikely – they are, and have a Plan B (or several backup plans) to resort to when something does go wrong.
25. Eudoxus: That’s good sense, although it means more effort before one starts anything.
26. Oenopides: If governments showed that they do this sort of thing, they might get criticized for delaying progress or for appearing irresolute.
27. Callipus: If more citizens learnt about uncertainty, there might be less criticism of those governments.
28. Antiphon: Surely this idea risks dampening down people’s motivation to do things.  Won’t our slogan “I can and I will” be watered down to “I might, if everything goes right”?
29. Callipus: Isn’t that better than the afterthought “I was really sure that this would work out!”?
30. Xanthippe: Well, that would all depend on the probabilities! We used to discuss this in the Kepoics. Many of the members used uncertainty as an excuse for keeping out of involvement in any projects or enterprises.
31. I’m not sure how all this ‘due consideration’ attitude fits in with Cornith’s tradition of adventure and openness. In his trading days my late husband took many risks, but he was always aware of what those risks were.
32. It is true that we would not want to risk bankrupting the state by eulogizing the ‘devil-may-care’ hero of the old literature, who assumed that the gods would see everything was alright for him.
33. Eudoxus: I think it’s time for my proposal. It is that there is more than one meaning of the word ‘truth’ (alethia). People ought to make it clear, or to correctly understand, which meaning is intended.
34. The commonest meaning of truth is “correspondence with a consensus on how things are, or on what has happened”. If we follow Christian’s idea, we can’t say “correspondence with external reality”. For example, the statement “Christian is in this room now” is true because that’s the experience of us all, not because of some external fact.
35. A different meaning is “true by definition”, in other words, coherence with a set of definitions and assumptions in logical terms. In this sense we could say, for example, that ‘2+2=4’ is true.
36. Truth can also be personal; a fact may be true if it is “true as far as I am concerned”.
37. Truth can also be partial; it may be true that I went to the market yesterday, but maybe I spent most of the time drinking in the tavern.
38. Truth can also be qualified; it can be provisional, for example “that’s true as far as I know”; it can be approximate, for example “‘the weight of that sack is 3 talents’ is true to within 5 minae”; or it can be more or less reliable, for example ‘“Peleas says the ship will arrive tomorrow” – we can take that as true if Peleas really knows – and if he is believable’.
39. Oenopides: This sounds like a good counter to some of our demagogues who over-simplify everything. We could shout “true in what sense?” if they keep on about truth!
40. Antiphon: What you say is interesting to me. How I help some of my patients who suffer mental illness is to feed them a story that they can take on as ‘true’, in order to get through their crises. My argument is, what is most important is that it works for them, as long as they keep it for themselves and don’t try too hard to persuade those around them.
41. Xanthippe: It’s much the same with the war widows I have been helping through the charity group.
42. Didactes: But how do we use language to distinguish the different meanings? Do we keep having to say things like “consistent with our accepted knowledge”?
43. Eudoxus: I think that a lot of the time, the meaning will be clear if we just say “it’s true”. If not, maybe it is the listener or reader who has to ask for clarification.
44. Didactes: My proposal is in the same sort of vein as Eudoxus’s. It is that there are two distinct meanings of words like ‘equal’ and ‘same’; and again, we should be clear which is meant.
45. One is that two things have descriptive attributes (like colour, weight, height) whose values are the same, but that they remain distinct objects. An example would be identical twin puppies.
46. The other is that two things which we might think are different are in fact the same. Before the sack of the city there was a man frequenting the markets who was known as Karkinos. Afterwards we realized he was in fact Aegisilaus, a spy from our enemy.
47. Also, there is speck of light in the sky that we often see at nightfall, and which we call the ‘evening star’; there is another we can see just before dawn, which we call the ‘morning star’. Astronomers now tell us that these are in fact the same object.
48. Of course this leads on to the tricky topic of how we recognize ‘identity’, especially of things like people, rivers and trees which are always changing.
49. Oenopides: In materialistic theory, where we say that everything is composed of atoms, we cannot say that if even if all the atoms in two objects are in the same structural pattern, we are talking about the same thing.
50. Callipus: Some mathematicians use an equal sign with two lines (=) to mean “same but separate”, and one with three lines (≡) to mean “we are talking about the same single thing”.
51. Xanthippe: Here’s a challenge – should ‘2+2=4’ really be ‘2+2≡4’?
52. Didactes: I would say, if we are talking about ‘strings of symbols’, then = is correct; if we are talking about the result of evaluating the formulae, then it should be ≡.
53. Oenopides: I think, Christian, that you will say we are heading off course here. Maybe it is time for me to present my proposal. It relates somewhat to D’s point about identity.
54. People talk loosely about ‘mind’ being separate from ‘matter’. As a materialist I regard mind as just the states and processes of our brain. But priests and artists also talk about ‘soul’ – which they regard as something different from brain states. Some religions teach that this soul enters our body at birth, and leaves it at death.
55. Even according to Christian’s view of ‘reality’ as something we perceive before we apply conscious thinking, we might need to presume the existence of a ‘soul’ that does the perceiving – although personally I think it is just our various senses which report back to the brain.
56. My proposal is that we should be a bit more careful about using words like ‘soul’ in arguments, since we do not really know what we are talking about.
57. Antiphon: That would leave us with problems in saying anything about inspiration, motivation and even spirit, would it not?
58. Oenopides: That is where I differ from the old materialists. To me, it is clear that static matter cannot be the sole component of the universe. Lithogenes admitted that everything, sooner or later, faster or slower, changes. What needs to be added is process.
59. Processes are the way the world works; and we humans, like all living things, are subject to certain processes. I believe that inspiration and motivation are examples of processes, and spirit too.
60. Christian, you yourself have said that “an assembly of situations triggers processes that lead to change and new situations”. Do you want to comment?
61. Christian: I would say that the Good Spirit is a collection of processes that lead to changes that we, both as individuals and in consensuses, perceive as improvements. Such a perception, as I see it, is characterized by a brain state which, if it could speak, would say “that’s better”.
62. Didactes: What about the relation to my point about identity? Oenopides, when you talk about ‘myself’, do you mean simply “my physical body and my brain states”? How do you include your abilities and failings, your hopes and fears, and your plans?
63. Oenopides: My feeling is that, if I had time, pen and paper, I could write down descriptions of all these. What are harder to describe are the pains and tensions I feel in parts of my body. I am not sure whether my brain is telling me where I have a problem, or my brain is in fact distributed all around my body.
64. Xanthippe: Didactes was talking about identity from the subject’s own point of view. But what about from everyone else’s viewpoint? We see Oenopides as a body, but we cannot read his brain states.
65. Eudoxus: Unless he writes them down, and then that is constrained and biased by language!
66. Xanthippe: But we do see a ‘character’. Is that not the nearest thing to what people call ‘soul’?
67. Oenopides: That’s probably right. But I then say that my ‘character’ is – individually – just part of your brain states in relation to your dealings with me, and your observation of the processes in which I am involved. Later on, a consensus may form which each of you accepts into your brain states.
68. Christian: I think we are getting into deep waters, and it is time to move on. Antiphon, your topic of ‘consciousness’ is not so far removed from all this. Would you like to present it now?
69. Antiphon: From my time with patients, it seems to me that we operate at three tiers of activity, and that it is useful in practice to recognize these.
70. The highest level is conscious thought, things in our brain which, as Oenopides says, we could possibly write down. We can sometimes almost hear ourselves saying them.
71. The middle level is learned behaviour, things we do without consciously applying logic, listing alternatives, weighing risks and so forth. It is as if any thought that was needed when we were learning the activity has been pushed down into a lower level of consciousness, or out to our body’s muscles. An example is what we do with the reins when we ride a horse.
72. The lowest level is the dreams that come to us when we are asleep, and which we may or may not remember when we wake. Some people call this state ‘unconsciousness’.
73. We are probably wisest to regard our normal life as concentrated in the middle state. We cope, without conscious thought, with whatever life throws at us, in whatever situation we find ourselves.
74. We only need to change to the upper level when we are not coping as we would wish. By analogy, we might not be holding these conversations if everything in the city were going successfully.
75. If we indulge in too much conscious thinking, we may disconnect ourselves from the issues that are staring us in the face.
76. I often suggest to my patients that they try moving in the opposite direction; to disengage, clear the mind, let thoughts come as they will, like passing clouds.
77. As we know, inspiration often comes to us in these circumstances, including in our dreams – although I admit that most dreams jumble up our waking experiences in a confused manner.
78. Callipus: From everyone’s reaction I can see that we are all very impressed by these ideas. Does your last suggestion not also apply to aesthetics? Isn’t our best approach to all forms of art to pause our frenzied coping, switch off our rational criticism, and let the art say to us what it has to say?
79. Eudoxus: I agree, but I have just one concern with that. We sometimes see propaganda masquerading as art. For example, a tyrant could commission a brilliant but destitute sculptor to carve a statue of him as a great hero; or a playwright could present him in a similar fashion.
80. Oenopides: It seems that disengagement should be a good approach for the artist himself or herself as well. But to be disengaged, an artist needs to be not so poor that they are forced to take on commissions to feed their family; but not so rich that they become tempted by luxuries and extravagant living.
81. Didactes: This takes us back to the issue of equality and inequality, which I believe was discussed earlier.
82. Xanthippe: I am wondering whether disengagement is not also the right frame of mind for religion as well as art. It would seem the best way to let the Spirit come to us.
83. Eudoxus: It would also suggest that priests should be free of all the politics that comes with hierarchies, and from the temptations that come with their influence over ordinary people.
84. Xanthippe: I think it is time for me to present the final proposal of tonight’s discussion. My idea is that we somehow have to strike a balance, including in religion, between on the one hand, love and care for our fellow humans; and on the other, making the most of our life as individuals.
85. Some religions emphasize that the Good is primarily about love for others, and showing compassion to the unfortunate. I think this is undeniably good; pity and care are natural feelings. Too high a proportion of unfortunate people means a poor society; love is a good motivator.
86. But, I believe, we should not take this approach to the extreme. We should at the same time aim to encourage the positive qualities such as enterprise, leadership, competence, good judgment – even risk taking and adventure.
87. As Didactes said, we discussed equality in an earlier conversation. No-one at that meeting thought that it was either desirable or possible that everyone would be equal. Sure, we need to help the unfortunate, and should not deny our compassionate instincts, but we should also, both as individuals and as a society, be looking upwards to better things, like the heroes of old.
88. Eudoxus: The old stories and plays, were always about heroes – people that were either super-human or demi-gods. We have lost some of this feeling in recent years.
89. Oenopides: Some recent plays are very different, and satirize leaders, not to mention philosophers!
90. Xanthippe: I think some of this is what I call the ‘tall poppy syndrome’; we have become so equality-minded that we resent anyone who strives to rise above the mediocre.
91. Antiphon: I think we are all too conscious of recent history, when certain rulers regarded themselves as ‘above’ everyone else. In practice, they had fallen into what I would call a mental illness – my name for it is ‘megalomania’.
92. Christian: Time is passing and we need to finish soon. I would like to comment on this last point, which relates to something that was said in the conversation on constitution. A city-state that wants to continue in a stable manner for many years does need a way of removing bad leaders.
93. More generally, it needs checks and balances to ensure that bad situations, including both widespread poverty and mediocrity among leaders, do not continue.
94. We should thank everyone who has contributed to tonight’s excellent conversation, and Ingrid and my mother for their hospitality. We hope everyone has a safe journey home.

E – Laws and Punishments

1. Christian: Something that we need to get right for the new era – hopefully a long lasting one – of our city and state’s journey through history is an effective but fair system of laws and punishments.
2. In fact I wonder if we should not do better to regard the primary issue as one of developing a system of justice, a system that exists essentially to see that as few people as possible are disadvantaged by the actions of others that are against the Spirit of Good.
3. Laws and punishments are then just a set of processes to correct deviations in a society that follows the Spirit.
4. Of course, as I have said before, consensus on what the Spirit of Good includes is an evolving one. In particular, our view of it may not be the same as in other states.
5. Two centuries ago, when all the Greek-speaking states faced a common enemy, leaders from each state met to try and agree on common principles of justice. But this did not get very far, and today Jason of Meteora’s ‘Basis of Common Human Rights’ is the only book with an inter-state viewpoint that we still refer to from that earlier period.
6. Each state has since developed its own laws for its own circumstances; some are written down formally, and are regarded as essentially unchangeable. Others concentrate on precedent, the idea that any judgment must be consistent with judgments in the past.
7. Tonight, I am hoping that we can put past traditions aside – at least partly – and come up with some suggestions for an improved system for our state.
8. Making suggestions tonight we have Emporios, a leading merchant; Kallicrates, a judge respected for his enlightened views; Graphicrates, an administrative civil servant; Basil, a councillor and former state leader; Antiphon, a physician; and Strategos, an army general. Emporios, the floor is yours!
9. Emporios: What I would like to see is the corpus of laws systematically scaled down to the minimum.
10. It seems that we already have a large amount of written law and precedent, which requires years for lawyers to understand and weeks for cases to be resolved.
11. People are continually finding loopholes which allow them to get away with bad actions. The usual response is to add yet more laws and commentaries, in an attempt to plug the loopholes.
12. My proposal is to update Jason’s ‘Common Human Rights’ and make these the touchstone of both morality and justice. Judgment of actual cases should always be subject these rules, which are essentially about fairness and a society that operates in the Spirit of Good.
13. A commission should be appointed to review all existing laws, divide them up into specialist areas (for example trade, property, or families), remove potential conflicts and overlaps, and produce a new and simpler code.
14. Kallicrates: I too would like to see this, but it would be a massive step. I think you would have to recruit, for each case, a panel of citizens who were independent from both the case and from the lawyers, who would decide what is, or is not, fair according to basic principles.
15. Graphicrates: I see this as requiring an enormous task. I am not sure that we have enough people good enough to make a good job of it, and we might not be able to spare them from more immediate tasks.
16. Basil: I would really like to rule a state where everyone was clear what sort of fair behaviour was expected of them, and that they would be subject to restraint or penalties if they acted badly.
17. But I am enough of a realist to think that there will always be some rogues and ratbags, and that some people will be driven to act badly through dire necessity, jealousy, thirst for revenge – or just mental aberration.
18. Antiphon: I am sure that lightening of the law would be good motivation for most citizens. However as a physician who tends many patients with mental problems, I think we will always have problems with some people, whatever justice system we have.
19. With most of my patients, what we here might think of as ‘normal’ motivation is outweighed by obsessions and compulsions that they have acquired through problems earlier in their lives.
20. I would actually go further and claim that only a minority of our citizens have an adequate control of their emotions and instincts; and without a widespread improvement in general emotional fitness, we are always going to get a certain level of evildoing.
21. Strategos: We certainly don’t want our society to be one where the law and punishment impinge on most people’s thoughts and actions. We want to feel free to follow our hearts and enjoy the experience of living, both as individuals in this wonderful world, and with others.
22. So, I am in favour of a ‘lightweight’ role for law, and an encouragement of the principles of fairness.
23. My only concern is when the city and state is under threat. Then we may need a tighter set of rules, in order to survive. I will say more on this when my turn to propose my idea comes.
24. Antiphon: If we are now into general comments, I would point out that, as many people say, “life isn’t fair”. So we can only go so far in creating fairness.
25. Basil: Assuming that we are still going to have penalties and punishments, there needs to be fairness in these also.
26. Jason’s principles are sometimes called ‘natural justice’, but I doubt if many penalties or punishments can really be called ‘natural’.
27. Kallicrates: Well, that seems to be about it for now on Emporios’s suggestion. My proposal is likely to be a contentious one – that we should separate justice from government.
28. A government’s job is to do the best for the whole state, but that may be unfair on individuals. The government might decide that it is best if we kill all beggars and malformed children.
29. A justice system’s job, I believe, is to ensure that every individual and group is treated according to the same principles.
30. In particular, a poor person should not be at a disadvantage in law compared with a rich person who can pay top lawyers – not to mention bribing the judge.
31. But similarly, an individual or group should not be at a disadvantage compared with a government agent who can also influence a judge by threatening their position.
32. Graphicrates: I can see the logic here, but it would be worrying if judges and government had a fundamental disagreement.
33. Basil: I think it would involve a separate hierarchy of judges, wouldn’t it? That might mean more civil servants!
34. Antiphon: By analogy with Crito’s idea of the ruler being a ‘philosopher-king’, the top judge would have to be a ‘philosopher-judge’!
35. More practically, the council, or the ruler himself, would have to appoint a new chief judge when the old one retired or died. Would there not be a risk of a ruler or council appointing a judge sympathetic to their policies?
36. Strategos: Obviously this would be a problem in a time of emergency, but I will hold off on that for now. I think it would be good though for the motivation of ordinary citizens. They would feel that they have a chance in the face of oppression by rulers or their agents.
37. Emporios: I think it is a great idea for the overall spirit of the state – we can add ‘fairness’ to our slogans! Artists might feel a little freer to express ideas that were not in line with those of their rulers, if a separate justice system could give them a chance to justify themselves.
38. Antiphon: As a general comment, I wonder what priests might say, since some hierarchies of priests currently regard this role of ‘maintainer of morality independent of the government’ as theirs?
39. Graphicrates: There would seem to be some overlap between priests and judges already.
40. I think it is time for my proposal. It is, that enforcement of the law, and application of penalties and punishments, should be local wherever possible.
41. This already happens in villages and small towns outside our city’s boundaries. What I think we need is a formal division of parts of the city into justice districts, each with its own magistrates.
42. We already have a separate court for the port area, but this area now stretches a long way, and needs splitting up. Within the acropolis we have some quite distinct quarters, and then there are the suburbs outside.
43. We should still have some higher courts, and judges who can oversee judgments being made by local magistrates.
44. Basil: We had thoughts like this when I was ruler. Actually, I think we should also devolve many government functions in the same way.
45. Antiphon: I think it would mean more duplication of resources, and need more people who were qualified to be administrators and magistrates. But it does seem a good idea.
46. Strategos: Of course I would add military recruitment to the tasks that could be devolved. From the manageability aspect, I do think there might be delays and arguments when two tiers of government and justice start disagreeing with each other.
47. Emporios: I think ordinary people could feel nearer to justice with this idea. And if punishment was also localized, offenders could be shamed in front of people they knew!
48. Kallicrates: I am not sure that localizing justice and other functions would have any effect on inspiration and quality.
49. Basil: There seems to be general agreement with the idea of local justice. I am afraid I am going to pick up Emporios’s delicate issue of local punishment.
50. I do not think local courts should have the right to impose death sentences, nor banishment. I think their prerogative should be limited to ‘name and shame’ measures.
51. I think the justice system as a whole should have carefully graded degrees of penalty and punishment; we do not want to see people being whipped in one part of town for what would involve a fine or period in the stocks in another.
52. I also think that for some crimes, public shaming may not be the best punishment. One idea I would suggest is loss of citizenship privileges, or downgrading if we have multiple citizenship levels as was suggested in a previous conversation.
53. Strategos: How would you propose to identify which citizens have been downgraded?
54. Basil: I have recently seen foreign sailors with tattooed faces. I am told that some tattooing inks naturally fade after two or three years.
55. Antiphon: I think that consistent graded punishment guidelines make sense, although I have some concerns that certain offenders might need different treatment to the standard, as they may not have committed their offence for the same reasons as common criminals.
56. Strategos: Apart from the need for more prisons, stocks, pillories and whipping posts, I cannot see any immediate resource problems!
57. Emporios: I agree that this graded punishment system is manageable, as long as we have good local justice administrators who are not sadists and who follow overall guidelines.
58. Kallicrates: The negative motivation to avoid committing crimes, if the grades of punishment are fairly applied, seems sensible, although I am sceptical about deterrents. If people are in desperate enough straits, they will take the risk.
59. Graphicrates: I certainly agree that we want to appear as a state that has fair levels of punishment. Too lax, and we may encourage too many migrants from other states where punishments are more severe. We might not want this sort of migrant.
60. Antiphon: What I want to say as a general comment to Basil’s suggestion is partly covered by what I now want to say in my own proposal. My idea is that we put the three Rs – Restraint, Restitution and Reform – as the first consideration in our system of penalties and punishments.
61. When we say ‘Restraint’, we usually think of prisons, but I would suggest that some offenders should be handed over to the responsibility of their families or friends, who would become liable if the offender continued to offend.
62. Restitution would involve the offender doing service for the offended family. This should not be offered to mentally disturbed offenders, though.
63. Reform would involve a re-education programme for a genuinely willing offender. But failing to stick to a reform program would mean relegation to the punishment regime.
64. Like Kallicrates, I am sceptical about the effectiveness of deterrents. It is not just people in dire need that commit crimes, but mentally unstable or emotionally immature people who do not take the deterrents seriously.
65. Finally, I am not always happy when I see public punishments, especially whipping. There seem to be too many onlookers who are excited by the spectacle. For first offences, posting the names of those being punished in private may be enough.
66. Strategos: I congratulate Antiphon for tackling this delicate topic with such sensitivity. I think his three Rs have some practical problems in the short term, but they seem like good directions in which to move.
67. Emporios: I think the main short-term problem is that the three Rs would need probation officers to oversee them.
68. Kallicrates: If the three Rs were used, the government would have to monitor whether the crime rate increased, reduced, or stayed the same. It might be some years before any reliable trends were established.
69. Graphicrates: It is difficult to say whether the three Rs would motivate past offenders to mend their ways, or encourage potential offenders to do the crime because the penalty was seen as less severe.
70. Basil: Yes, I don’t know whether our state would be seen as ‘too soft’ or ‘cleverly constructive’.
71. I think that we still need prisons to keep everyone else safe from those who are likely to offend repeatedly. I also think we have to retain heavier penalties for persistently violent criminals.
72. I know that we have recently tried, as an experiment, instead of executing really bad offenders, marooning them on empty offshore islands and leaving them to fend for themselves. Like the three R’s, it will be some time before we can decide whether this idea is successful or not.
73. Strategos: Well, the time has come that you have all been dreading. What am I going to suggest about justice in periods of emergency?
74. As I said in an earlier conversation, a commander-in-chief would be appointed by the government and would assume primary control. The normal channels of justice would operate as before, but there would be additional laws, and associated penalties that would be imposed by the military.
75. The additional laws would cover crimes such as assisting the enemy, sabotage, inciting dissension or defeatism, failure to carry out military orders, and desertion.
76. They would allow for internment of foreign nationals and freezing or confiscation of their assets.
77. I agree that emergency justice would always be for a limited period, and that it would then automatically expire.
78. Emporios: I guess this sort of thing is necessary, but we do not like to think about it.
79. Kallicrates: And, in times of war, the military will always have first call on any resources.
80. Graphicrates: If the additional laws are all enforced by the military, then the government does not come into it.
81. Basil: I guess we will have to put up with some demagoguery to motivate everyone into accepting the emergency situation.
82. Antiphon: We know that there are states who keep this sort of emergency justice going indefinitely. In Cornith we do not want to be seen in that light. We have to give out the message that we are imposing it with the greatest regret.
83. Kallicrates: I don’t know if we can say more than “it’s a necessary evil”; but I think that in fact there have been some artists who have produced good works in wartime.
84. Strategos: And we even get to hear more military marching music!
85. Antiphon: But afterwards we have to listen to all those tall war stories!
86. Strategos: Well, if no-one else wants to comment, I will thank Christian and his family, Xanthippe and all who have contributed to this conversation.

F – What should our reaction be to demagoguery and rhetoric?

1. Christian: Crito’s primary objection to democracy was that too many voters are easily swayed by demagogues, some of whom manipulate their audiences by appealing to prejudices and emotions, particularly fear, and mislead them into actions that are against the best interests of the city-state.
2. Of course, what is in the state’s best interests is often a matter of opinion. But the demagogues that are dangerous are those for whom the good of the state is not uppermost in their minds. They may be seeking power for themselves, or their sponsors or factions, at any price.
3. We should clarify the difference between demagoguery and rhetoric. Rhetoric is the desirable art of being able to present ideas and judgments – whether to one other person or a group – to persuade them to agree, or even to act. Demagoguery is the practice of speaking to large groups and working up waves of mass enthusiasm or hate. Some people use the term ‘rabble-rouser’ as a synonym for ‘demagogue’.
4. Included in the demagogues’ arsenal are techniques such as ‘scapegoating’ of outsiders or identifiable minorities, and alleging of conspiracies against a supposedly homogeneous ‘ordinary people’.
5. If we want to retain our democratic traditions, it seems that we need to consider a more active response to demagoguery than simply lamenting its presence.
6. To offer suggestions for such a response we have here tonight Trapezites, a banker; Polydorus, a student of religions; Kallicrates, a judge; Xanthippe, a well-respected woman philosopher; Basil, our former leader and current councillor; and Eudoxus, another leading philosopher.
7. Trapezites: I am slightly hesitant about my suggestion, because I know it has been tried in the past with only limited success. It is that we must be prepared to enforce some censorship on what the demagogues can say to large gatherings.
8. Clearly, there is little we can do about what is said in small groups, and it is right that we should let free speech continue in that way. It is always possible that what is ‘unsayable’ now may turn out in time to be ‘ungainsayable’.
9. I think there are two situations in which police should be allowed to intervene. One is if the demagogue is advocating rioting, physical aggression against individuals, or even just hate. To monitor this, police should be present at gatherings attended by large crowds, and be prepared to arrest the speaker and anyone else trying to prevent his arrest.
10. The other situation is if the speaker makes statements, as part of his argument, which are dangerously false. In this case the speaker should be given a warning, and be required after his speech to justify those statements to a magistrate, in the presence of anyone who has justification for claiming that the statements in question were false.
11. Polydorus: I can’t see any objection to this on logical grounds; the pragmatics would be the problem.
12. Kallicrates: This idea would need at least one police officer to understand the rules and make good judgments about when to intervene. Someone would also need a very loud voice – or some sort of megaphone – in order to tell the crowd what was happening and why.
13. It would also need quite a large force of constables who could be brought in at short notice. Fortunately there are only a few places in this city where a large crowd could be addressed.
14. Xanthippe: There could be trouble if the crowd is already worked up enough to turn on the police. I think the decision as to whether to intervene or not will often be a very difficult one. The government of the day may be tempted to break up a legitimate popular protest meeting.
15. Basil: As those of us who were in power when censorship was tried in the past remember, there is a grave danger of making a crowd’s anger even more extreme. It might be better for the police to make sure that they are forewarned about possible hostile undercurrents, and try to get the message through to the demagogue before the speech starts.
16. Eudoxus: Enemies of our state, whether from within or outside, may regard our traditions as soft and easy ground for inciting revolts. But it would be against the spirit of our state to appear heavy-handed. In particular, we do not want to create any martyrs.
17. As a general point, we ought to raise the analogous issue regarding written demagoguery. It is true that with so few able to read written words, the number of people influenced may be small. But if literacy rises, it might be a problem in the future.
18. Kallicrates: At least, if someone has written the false statements or incitement down, it is harder for that person to deny having done so, than if it was simply spoken.
19. Xanthippe: Whatever we do, I think that demagogues will find ways of pushing the limits of what is allowed. It is easy enough to play on the fears of most of the population, without inciting hate or telling obvious untruths.
20. Polydorus: As someone who is still a student – although a rather mature one – I think a more effective approach would be to have organized heckling of such speakers.
21. When I was younger, we used to do this for fun, especially if the speaker was rather full of himself. It was good practice in understanding the tricks of the trade which we were learning in rhetoric classes.
22. As a student, the news of what hostile undercurrents are afoot travels very quickly. And when we did heckle, people just dismissed us as crazy young tearaways.
23. Kallicrates: I like this idea! My only concern is that students are usually more anti-government than pro-government; they want to change the world overnight.
24. Xanthippe: At least it doesn’t involve resources and expense, that is, unless the crowd turns on the students and we get a riot.
25. Basil: I worry that this approach might encourage divisions in society. The ordinary people are already against the intellectuals quite enough. I am not sure they would naturally see eye-to-eye with rhetoric students.
26. Eudoxus: On the other hand, we are encouraging people to be involved. I would not like to see heavy-handed policing of protest meetings. It would be best though if the heckling, and the responses from the speaker, were kept in good humour and lively banter.
27. Trapezites: I don’t know that many students are friends with bankers, merchants and other business people. Common people do not really understand that whatever wealth this city has, depends on our trading activities. We have to somehow get this message across.
28. Kallicrates: Maybe the students should learn this first, so at least they can heckle from a position of some awareness. Anyhow, I think it is now my turn.
29. My suggestion is that we need to learn from observation of the demagogues in action. In particular, we should observe what tactics are they using, and how are they finding the words and ideas that trigger support from people in the crowd.
30. Then we need to field our own better demagogues, who we hope will counter the dirty tricks and untruths used by the bad demagogues. After all, this is what happens in the law courts.
31. Xanthippe: Isn’t there a danger here that ‘our’ demagogues will be lowering themselves into the same gutter as those they learn from?
32. Basil: I don’t think we should have this notion of ‘our demagogues’. I don’t like spending effort or money encouraging more bad rhetoricians, of whatever opinions.
33. Eudoxus: The government could however offer training to all other parties, in order to keep a ‘balance of power’.
34. Trapezites: I am fearful of a population that easily gets worked up into strong emotions, whatever the message is.
35. Polydorus: I don’t think it is in the best traditions of our city to have a free-for-all between rival demagogues. We ought instead to ‘cool down’ the hot tempers.
36. Xanthippe: I don’t think we should totally dismiss Kallicrates’s idea. My suggestion is not so different. It is that other public speakers should learn the technique of ‘translation’ from what a demagogue has said into “what they really meant”.
37. For example, if a demagogue has said “we should burn down the houses of all the bankers”, the translation might be “we are not going to resolve our financial problems easily, so let us find some scapegoats whom we can take out our anger on”.
38. Basil: The translator might have to get in quickly to stop the mob in this example. But I like the idea – but only if the timing of the ‘interrupting translation’ is good.
39. Eudoxus: It would depend on having observers ready to note down what the demagogue actually said.
40. Trapezites: I suppose the government could send scribes to all meetings where demagogues are operating, and offer transcripts to the rival parties.
41. Polydorus: I think people listening would find translations of this sort quite amusing – that’s if they could remember what the original speaker said.
42. More often, when these crowds get worked up by a demagogue, they don’t remember any words; they just feel a mass emotion and will go along with the mob.
43. Kallicrates: I think that if a speaker gives these translations to the same sort of crowd as the demagogue was addressing, it might all be too subtle. They would regard it as boring hair-splitting. I still think it is better to fight back.
44. Basil: I am going now to take a different tack. The conversation on constitution may have already raised this, but I wonder if the answer could be a multi-tier voting system.
45. Christian: Yes, it was indeed proposed at that meeting.
46. Basil: Educated citizens, and those who can read, would have multiple votes; while those more susceptible to demagoguery would only have a single vote. In that way, their influence, and that of the demagogues, would be reduced.
47. Eudoxus: I think it might be complicated to decide who would have multiple votes. Would they have to have a ‘not so susceptible to demagoguery’ tattoo?
48. Trapezites: I was at the earlier conversation. I remember Graphicrates the civil servant pointing out the cost of registering everyone’s status.
49. Polydorus: It would involve the government knowing a lot about many people.
50. Kallicrates: But I think it would be seen as fair, and also motivating for people to try and lift themselves up in the rankings.
51. Xanthippe: It would all depend on the numbers. A thousand ordinary citizens with one vote would still outvote a hundred with two or three votes. This might not be far from the situation we are in now.
52. Even if we disenfranchised the one thousand, they might still decide to burn down the bankers’ houses if some demagogue worked them up about something.
53. Eudoxus: I am not so keen on multiple votes for some and not all. I admit that we might need something like it as a temporary measure, but only until we can lift the general level of awareness and good judgment among wider sections of the city. And in the countryside, this might take longer.
54. Much of what I want to suggest impinges on the next conversation, which is due to be about education. But I am not so concerned here with book learning or practical training – still less about philosophy.
55. I think we need to find ways of lifting the general understanding of people in the city about the most critical issues that affect their well-being.
56. The question is, how do we reach out to the ordinary person? They may regard people like us as constituting an irrelevant parasitic elite.
57. We would like them to be able to think for themselves, at least enough to know when they are being manipulated. That is something new for most citizens in all the Greek-speaking cities.
58. Citizens in the past reflected about gods and heroes. However the gods no longer have the hold they once had. The old heroes of battle are long gone, replaced – but only partly – by the heroes of the games.
59. My suggestion, albeit one with longer-term rather than immediate payoff, is to include in the opening ceremonies of all festivals, rituals, new plays and games an address from someone with good rhetorical – but not demagogue-like skills – encouraging this essential skill of taking responsibility for one’s own thinking, and not relying on the opinions and prejudices of others.
60. Maybe we could increase the frequency of these events and so have a faster learning period.
61. Trapezites: No-one can say that suggestion isn’t visionary! I congratulate you.
62. Polydorus: It’s odd that I should be the one to ask ‘what will it all cost?’ Quite a lot, I expect. But I like the idea of having these addresses on the back of other events to which many people would attend.
63. But the speakers had better be good from the beginning, or people will just switch off or chatter to each other.
64. Kallicrates: It would have to be a government responsibility to choose the speakers and ensure that they are up to standard. Some rehearsals would be necessary.
65. Xanthippe: If done well, it could be motivation for people to take more responsibility for their own life and improve themselves as citizens. I hope women would be included.
66. Basil: I think it would be great if our city, once it has got back up to its former strength, could continue to rise by virtue of the wide spread of intelligence and common sense among its inhabitants.
67. In the city, where we live close to each other, we can build up this capability by meeting and challenging each other.
68. My worry is for the countryside, and the risk that the current gulf, between our lives in the city and those of the villagers and farmers, may grow still wider.
69. Still, that is a challenge which we have to face. At least we have heard some good ideas for the city.
70. Xanthippe: It’s my turn to wind up the proceedings tonight. I suppose it is no etymological coincidence that ‘demagoguery’ is the chief hazard of ‘democracy’. It seems that no single solution has all the answers, and that we may need to combine several of the ideas suggested tonight.
71. I hope you have had enough to eat and drink – thanks to Krinia and Ingrid for their help. Have a safe journey home.

G – Education: what knowledge is essential, and for whom?

1. Christian: In the earlier conversations, several protagonists suggested that a wider spread of education would be needed to support their proposals, or to enable the state as a whole to make progress.
2. I suspect that you will expect me to provide some input on this issue since, as you know, I have spent many years as a teacher in communities where very few people had any education apart from what they learnt from their own families.
3. It is obvious that we are only talking, at least to start with, about very basic education; something that provides a foundation, upon which those who are able can build on later.
4. We are talking about children who, under current circumstances, would not expect to go to any school. But we are also talking about young adults – and maybe some not so young – who missed the chance of any schooling, and who still have the opportunity and motivation to learn more.
5. When my good friend Eugenes and I were young, and he went to school, he told me that learning was drummed into the pupils by rote. They were forced to remember things by heart – whether it was religious rituals, poems or arithmetical tables.
6. My experience has been that this does not lead to developing the sort of minds and bodies that civilized life needs.
7. Whatever we learn should be relevant to something that we do, something that makes a difference. This difference is often located in the physical arena, but it also applies to art, aesthetics and human relations.
8. A natural curiosity and urge to learn exists within most children, even though it is often outweighed by a natural playfulness. We have to encourage this urge to learn, and direct it as each child finds naturally interesting.
9. From my experience overseas, I know that there will always some who struggle to release this urge to learn, and prefer to get on with life in blissful ignorance – like the ‘lilies of the field’ that were mentioned in another conversation.
10. We should accept this fact, ask those children not to spoil the opportunities of those who do want to learn, show them that it is their loss, and leave the door for them to come back later.
11. It is mainly for this reason that I am not in favour of grouping children by age.
12. Anyhow, enough of my prejudices. The question for today is, what topics should be in the syllabus for a basic education that is suitable for a wider cross-section of our population?
13. Let us leave for the moment the question of how we can deliver wider education; we will come back to that at the end.
14. We will try to follow the usual pattern of these conversations; each topic suggested should be commented on for its relevance to the five sides of the Pentagon.
15. With us today are Didactes, who is a teacher at one of our current schools; Callippus, a mathematician; Nauplios, an experienced sailor; Themis, a scientist; Oenopides, a materialist philosopher; and Medea, a philosopher concerned with the role of women.
16. Didactes: I am in two minds about whether the topic that I personally am most concerned with, namely reading and writing – or literacy – should be an essential part of the basic syllabus.
17. In our current schools, many pupils struggle to achieve basic literacy. Some have no problem, and some – despite Christian’s misgivings – can be forced into a passable level. But some do not make it at all. Why they fail, I am not totally sure.
18. I do, however, feel that a higher level of literacy, across a wider range of the population, would only be good for the city – if not to the same extent for the countryside. It would mean better communication of ideas, and there would not be so much dependence on demagogues and those who come to the agora to listen to them.
19. It would also help women, who spend more time in their homes, to take more part in society, and thus make better use of their abilities.
20. Callipus: I can’t see a problem with this logically. And being at least able to read would help students of other disciplines; they could read books that would give them more chance of keeping up with lessons.
21. Nauplios: I may not be the best person to comment here. Sailors do not have much need for reading and writing. But they need to be able to speak clearly and logically. But books can be useful in training captains and navigators, since they need to know about geography and meteorology.
22. However any books written for sailors to use ought to contain plenty of maps and diagrams, at least as much as any writing.
23. As my brief is to comment on resources, I would say two things. One is to ask “where are we going to get all the teachers from?” But I guess that applies to any syllabus we propose.
24. The other comment is that we would need large amounts of some other resources, such as paper and ink – not to mention desks.
25. Christian has brought us paper from Germania, but it is not ideal to ship it across the sea (it can get damp), and it is not good for trade to have to buy it from another state. Our current supply of reed-based paper would be totally inadequate. We would probably need to build a factory here.
26. Themis: From a government and manageability perspective, I see literacy as only a good thing. Governments could distribute leaflets explaining any important decisions. People seeking election could publish their manifestos. We could even publish balance of trade budgets!
27. Oenopides: Hopefully, such publication, together with a higher literacy rate, could motivate more people to take an interest in the future of the city.
28. However, if I may add a further resource issue, I am wondering how publication would actually happen. Would people paste leaflets to walls or pillars? Would they hand them out to individuals? Or would armies of postmen deliver them to every house? And what about the countryside?
29. Medea: Although I am in favour of including literacy, I can see one downside. That is, that we may spend more time looking at books or pieces of paper and hence become less receptive to the natural reality that is around us.
30. We might come to put more credibility on the written word than on the combination of the spoken word and the speaker’s face and body language. We might replace direct observation of events around us by someone else’s second-hand observations, or by what they want us to believe.
31. Callipus: That’s a good point, I think. I will now start the next round in similar fashion to Didactes. I am similarly uncertain whether we should teach the sort of mathematics we currently teach in schools. But I am sure that we need to widen the general skill of numeracy, by which I mean feeling comfortable with numbers.
32. Most children can count using their fingers before they reach the age at which they might go to any school. But they are not strong with numbers greater than ten, and even less so with hundreds, thousands and millions.
33. Only those who go to schools are much good at multiplication – and despite Christian’s view, learning tables by heart may still be the best way. It’s similar with learning to use an abacus, which all shopkeepers have to do.
34. However I think there are two areas related to mathematics, ones which are not well covered in our schools today, and which I think are basic; these are simple geometry and simple logic.
35. Nauplios: Geometry is certainly relevant to navigation at sea. And I think it is also relevant to many trades, such as carpentry. But it also requires skill at drawing.
36. I think, Callipus, that you should really also include measurement as a basic skill; mathematics is of little use by itself; the numbers have to represent something that exists physically.
37. Themis: Resource-wise, I fear that teachers of mathematics are even scarcer than those of reading and writing – especially if you include logic. Apart from that, we would need many more slates and a lot of chalk to write with – unless paper and ink become much more easily available, and cheap.
38. Oenopides: Governments – at least the open ones we prefer – would be happy if more people could understand multiplication and large numbers.
39. Medea: Currently, a lot of people get turned off by large numbers and complicated mathematical arguments. How can we get over ‘mathophobia’?
40. Didactes: Medea, you argued earlier that literacy might divert people from inspiration and aesthetics. I think too much concern with numbers could have an even greater downside in this respect.
41. Nauplios: As you may expect, my proposal is going to be quite different from what we have heard so far. I am suggesting that we ought to include basic manual skills in our syllabus.
42. Especially after the recent hostilities, we are very short of skilled craftsmen. We have plenty of unskilled labourers, but many of them are not easily trainable. I see this all the time on the ships.
43. We need builders, carpenters, fitters, metalworkers, tailors, repairers and many other kinds of technicians. Certainly, apprentices can learn the specific skills of their trade. But the best apprentices are those who come in with good general manual skills. And even a householder who does not follow a trade is much better off if he can fix things himself.
44. I am suggesting that we could get all children to do things like cutting old cloth or paper to a pattern, carving wooden sticks, making small boxes and so on.
45. Themis: That’s good – I would suggest adding gardening to your list.
46. Oenopides: There would be fewer resource problems with this. We could get older people, who have the skills but are no longer strong enough to work at their trade, to teach the children.
47. Medea: I don’t see a government issue here, but I would like to hope that girls can be included as well as boys.
48. I think many girls already learn manual skills such as sewing and knitting from their mothers and aunts. Cutting cloth, carving wood and gardening would seem to be equally open to girls. But traditionally, making small models is regarded as a ‘boy thing’.
49. Maybe both sexes should do both model making and sewing! After all, sailors have to sew sails.
50. Didactes: Doing something practical is a good motivator for children, so they may come to see school as a happier place than many do now.
51. Callipus: I think that practical manual work is in accord with aesthetics and inspiration. And more children might develop their carving into something artistic!
52. Themis: I am obviously going to propose including some natural science in the basic syllabus. However there is so much than can be learnt, that the question is, which parts are the most essential knowledge?
53. The great philosopher Polymathes has given names to many branches of science, such as dynamics, zoology, botany, meteorology and astronomy. Should we include a little bit of everything, or just leave certain topics to be taught later in specialist schools or apprenticeships?
54. Zoology and botany, with some meteorology, are essential for farmers and to some extent fishermen; but they are also relevant to merchants who deal in food and drink.
55. Sailors – or at least navigators and captains - certainly need dynamics, meteorology and astronomy.
56. Women benefit from some knowledge about the animals they may keep, the meat they may buy, and the plants that they grow or buy.
57. But what about tradesmen or administrators in the city? Or artists, playwrights or sculptors?
58. Oenopides: Answering your last question, I think that a good all round knowledge of the physical world would make everyone a better person, and more able to understand the concerns of fellow citizens who are directly involved with physical work.
59. Medea: I agree, but once again we are back to the resource of teachers. And since most children cannot directly experience all aspects of nature, they would have to rely on their teacher’s stories, or on books if they were available.
60. Didactes: I don’t think government is an issue here. But I don’t think the resource problem would be as big as Medea suggests. Most teachers I know have all the knowledge that they need to teach basic science. As long as that is part of the syllabus for the new teachers we would train, it would be enough.
61. Callipus: I think science is a bit like mathematics – it motivates some children, but not others. And mathematics is involved in quite a number of scientific ideas.
62. Nauplios: As we all realize, science is one of the things that has caused most upset to our traditional ideas of aesthetics and inspiration. It has questioned the traditional religious view of these things.
63. As a practical person, I feel that we would be foolish to ignore the new stories that science has brought us. But as a reflective person, when I am sailing on a calm sea with a fair wind, I still look to stories to help me understand why I am here and what I should do for the best.
64. So I do feel that we must avoid the idea of ‘science OR religion’ and teach them as complementary.
65. Oenopides: Following a thread not so far away from N’s last point, I would like to propose that we include health and recreation as part of the basic syllabus.
66. Some aspects of health relate to science, for example the workings of the living body, and the knowledge of what plants are poisonous or of medicinal value.
67. Given the number of plagues and epidemics our city has experienced, even ordinary people could contribute to preventing their spread if they knew a few basic things about hygiene.
68. But other aspects of health relate to the whole person, including the mind. I think the way to improve these other aspects is to have plenty of games, whether they involve physical exercise or not.
69. I think everyone’s health improves when they have clear goals. We need to teach both how to work towards those goals and how to develop goals for oneself.
70. In my opinion, competition is an inevitable part of life; but so is cooperation. I would therefore encourage team games.
71. Finally, I also think we should leave room for pure recreation, and having things we can do just because we enjoy doing them. We should encourage all children to have some favourite pastime or amusement.
72. Fortunately this is not a problem for most children. And for others, it is something they need to learn, if only to kick the habit of bothering everyone else.
73. Medea: I am sure this is right, and I will say more when it comes to my turn.
74. Didactes: Basic hygiene would be something we could encourage by publication of written guidelines, if more people were able to read.
75. Resources we might need here include more open spaces for children to play in, and leaders to organize team games.
76. Callipus: I am sure governments would always like to see better health, of all forms.
77. Nauplios: Dread of disease is a good motivator when people realize the threat; but often people become complacent.
78. I would like to support Oenopides regarding mental health. Some of our worst problems at sea have arisen when a sailor loses self-control. Fortunately, most of the time there is no better team than the crew on a ship.
79. Maybe a few youngsters could benefit from a short voyage with a group of other children and a capable captain.
80. Themis: I think science is closely related with a lot of health issues. However the mental health issue must be closely related to aesthetics and inspiration.
81. Art is clearly of great benefit in recreation, and religion may have benefit in easing troubled minds. However religion may need to be combined with psychology and even philosophy.
82. Medea: I would now like to follow Oenopides’s proposals by suggesting that the most important skill we need to teach, one that is not always well taught within families, is how to get on with other people.
83. In my experience of visiting women in this city, it seems that the bitterest arguments I hear, and the greatest lack of respect and tolerance, occur within the home and the family.
84. As a trading city, we have many residents of different nationalities, races and religions, with different ideas and customs. We are apt to characterize people from other groups as ‘all the same as each other’ and ‘inferior’.
85. In the countryside, we have intolerance between different clans, with vendettas that last for decades or centuries.
86. Oenopides’s idea of more team games is a start. But I believe that we need to include more than this.
87. We need to teach children how to deal with other children in a polite and constructive way. They need to understand that there may be competition for various things, but that should not justify dislike and rudeness.
88. We need to encourage more contact between the different cultures. Speakers – perhaps even older children – from one culture could address a group of children from another culture and explain some of their different customs.
89. It seems strange that I should be the one to bring up the subject of rhetoric. But I actually believe that children should learn early how to get their meaning across to others effectively but without irritating the other person into taking a defensive stance.
90. Didactes: This is very good. Schools do not consider this at present.
91. Callipus: The resource issue here is not one of numbers, but of whether the teachers themselves have a healthy attitude to other people!
92. Nauplios: Sailors on a ship have to learn these skills fast if the crew is to work well. The same ought to apply to people who sit on councils in government!
93. Themis: I think people feel better motivated to cooperate when they are addressed with consideration. I often see the opposite happen, so I am all for Medea’s idea.
94. Oenopides: Yes, a considerate society is an inspiring society. Sure, one can also become inspired through a resolve to show a rude person that one will not be intimidated, but this could lead to a revengeful approach, which is usually rash.
95. I would point out that in the theatre, putting on a dramatic performance has to be a cooperative and supportive activity – not unlike Nauplios’s ship!
96. Christian: Now that we have been round the table, what about my other question? How can we roll out this wider education?
97. In my experience in Germania, things did not happen overnight. I had first to find students who could become teachers. Even by the time I left, the process had not got far; we were probably still only reaching one tenth of the population. And the countryside lagged behind.
98. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we might be able to move forward faster here in Cornith? At least we have several schools, and a number of people with a level of knowledge hardly anyone had in Germania.
99. Didactes: I can only think that we should try to make more use of our old people. Even if they have not had schooling themselves, they usually have good general wisdom. Despite their age they may be able to pick up the extra things they need to teach.
100. Nauplios: It seems ironic to start by sending the oldest citizens back to school, but I agree that they would have the most spare time and broadest knowledge.
101. Themis: I wonder if we could not persuade the priests to be involved. I agree we would have to have discussions with their leaders to assure them we were not trying to oppose their religious teaching. But most of them are well educated to begin with.
102. Medea: I have a feeling that middle-aged women, those that have seen their children grow to adulthood, would be a good source of teachers of the next generation.
103. They might be less fixed in their views than the old men, and have more energy too. They would also have had experience with children from their own families.
104. Callipus: We do not have a lot of experience here of women teaching boys. I wonder how that might turn out.
105. Oenopides: I am not sure that I have anything to add. But I would like to ask Christian “what topics did you yourself start with in your time as a teacher among an uneducated majority?”
106. Christian: When I started, I was asked to concentrate on what would be useful to young men about to work in trading and shipping. But these men were not going to be available as teachers themselves. When I had finished with them, I was often asked to teach their sisters.
107. It was such young women that became the first teachers of the next generation; my own wife Ingrid was an example.
108. As regards what was most essential to teach, I found that lack of ability to cooperate, whether in business dealings or government, was the most critical problem. So with the teenagers, I took very much the line proposed by Medea.
109. The existing councils were in any case keen that future councillors and merchants should have good inter-personal skills. I think they realized the problems they themselves suffered from.
110. I think that time has run out, and we have come to the end of the final conversation. I have been asked to write a few afterthoughts on the whole series of conversations, and will add these shortly. Meanwhile, thanks to my co-hosts and here’s wishing you all a good night and all the best for the future.

Epilogue

1. We have completed this series of seven conversations, in which 19 people participated. Everyone contributed to at least two conversations, with two people appearing three times.
2. Every participant took a very positive attitude; my only worry is the amount of opposition some of these ideas might receive if we are faced with really implacable factions.
3. However with the spirit currently prevailing in the council, such factions run the risk of being sidelined.
4. If I am to pick out any highlights, I would say that the idea that received the most support was the widening of education to a larger proportion of the population.
5. For this to happen, the state will need to recruit and train a significant number of new teachers, and allow them to operate in existing temples and other buildings.
6. Sources that were suggested for new teachers are senior citizens, women who have finished raising their families, and broad-minded priests.
7. It was felt that the state should mandate some unifying element in religion, in order to overcome the apparent decline in traditional beliefs and the confusion caused by the appearance of several new sects.
8. This, and the need to use temple buildings for the widened schooling efforts, requires some strong leadership. The suggestion was made that I should provide this leadership.
9. If it is the council’s wish that I should do this, I am happy to agree and do my best. I would only say that I am not quite as young and energetic as I used to be. But if I can keep the good will of the council and religious leaders, I hope we can succeed.

A – Preface

1. The council has asked me to offer my recommendations on two particular issues which, they believe, are impeding this city and state’s recovery from its recent troubles and progress towards longer-term growth and improvement. Those issues are first, a state policy regarding religions; and secondly, a recommended syllabus for what ought to be taught widely in a basic education of human communication skills.
2. My main message is that if we wish to recover our prosperity and good traditions, and protect them from future threats – which may well be more serious than what we have recently undergone – we need to become quite a bit smarter as a population. We have to ‘lift our game’, as some people say.
3. By ‘we’ I do not mean just a small minority of privileged citizens, such as rulers, government officials, aristocratic families, army generals, rich merchants, philosophers and other teachers. Ideally, we would like all people in our city and state to become smarter. We should at least try to spread the smartness much wider.
4. We need to avoid too much pursuit of wealth and luxury, things that make us envied by our neighbours and rivals. We need to spread the benefits of our trading businesses more widely. We need to help our allies more, and keep up conversations with potential enemies before too much envy builds up.
5. We still need to maintain better security and defence of our state, but we should make plans for the possibility that we may get raided again, probably by a more powerful and determined enemy. Spreading our wealth, both between people and locations, is a good approach to mitigate the worst risks.

B – The Challenge of Influencing the Wider Population

1. Our biggest challenge, I believe, is how to get the message about new policies across to the majority of people in our city and state, and to influence them to support these policies.
2. Distributions of written proclamations, whether on paper or tablets of clay or stone, will not reach many people, as few have sufficient reading skill. Even those who can read may dismiss such proclamations as propaganda; so presentation by a live person carries much more power.
3. My approach in Germania, namely of training teachers who would in turn train other teachers, would take three or four generations to reach a critical proportion of the total population. This is probably too slow for the situation here in Cornith.
4. Who can we find that has influence over more than just their own family and a few neighbours and friends? And on what occasions can they address enough people to get the response we need?
5. Our situation is like that of an army that has to recruit soldiers to fight a war; but we do not want to get into press-ganging or other forms of compulsion.
6. Army officers and sea captains do have influence over soldiers and sailors. If in peacetime we maintain a reserve force and get them to travel around doing rebuilding work, they could influence local people and maybe organize some meetings.
7. Teachers and philosophers have influence over their students, but currently these are too limited a section of the population; but we could encourage them to organize meetings where the students bring guests.
8. Merchants, traders and seamen frequently congregate around the port or in markets. People also come to buy things, so market times and days may be good opportunities.
9. Physicians and midwives visit many families, and have some influence through their special knowledge.
10. Demagogues often try to influence crowds at markets, but they often have very restrictive and self-seeking motives. We can try to bring some of them on board, but most may be unreliable.
11. Some religious cults have priests based in their temples, and these priests are often well-educated. Some may be open to cooperating with the council, but others may endorse parochial attitudes, such as “our religion is better than theirs”.
12. Both priests, and the elders who perform the rituals in our more traditional religion, often emphasize the ‘magic’ and ‘miraculous’ aspects of the religion. This is not in line with the direction in which we need to move.
13. But even with the help of all these leaders, progress may be too slow. A possible answer to this is to organize more frequent rituals, processions and games. We already have some special feast days, and demagogues use these as occasions to reach large crowds. The best opportunity may be to put on more such special occasions, and can get good speakers to present our policies.
14. We could also, at such occasions and at other opportunistic moments, advertise for people who are prepared to be trained as leaders of opinion and teachers of basic human communication skills, to come forward and apply for a state-sponsored role.
15. In our conversations we identified mothers whose children have now grown up, and older men who are no longer fit enough for active employment, as two additional target groups from which we can source leaders for our education programme.
16. Longer-term, we should still proceed with a natural expansion of education through teachers training new teachers.
17. I recommend that the council should now appoint a ‘primary influence team’ to identify good community leaders for the next stage of our development, and to talk with them about how to achieve the best outcomes for the whole population.

C – State Policy on Religions

1. I recommend that the council publishes a policy in which five levels of religion are recognized by the state. The overall principle should be freedom of choice, but within certain bounds. The five levels recommended are denoted by each of the first five letters of our Greek alphabet.
2. A general requirement is that there should be no claiming of priority between religions at the same level.
3. Alpha: Our preferred top level should be closely aligned with the Pentagon, which I have described earlier. However our approach should not be dogmatic; we should allow variations of emphasis within the general idea.
4. The primary principle of the Pentagon is the ‘Spirit of Good’, even though we know that this Spirit is an elusive consensus, one which we know can evolve as humankind gains more knowledge about the world.
5. The Pentagon does not lay down an unalterable set of laws or commandments. Its theme is the ‘examined’ life, which involves reflection on one’s own style of living, and openness to the presence of – and feedback from – other people.
6. The Pentagon does not have sacred or unalterable scriptures. But it accepts the presence of many valuable writings, some of which are logical and scientific, while others are metaphorical, instructive and inspiring.
7. In the Pentagon, the ‘spiritual’ dimension is not considered ‘higher’ than the secular dimension; both must be included in a good life.
8. The Pentagon represents a ‘do the best in this world, don’t fear damnation in an after-life’ religion. However no-one is required to reject belief in an after-life, if that brings them personally nearer to the Spirit.
9. Reason&Logic, together with Quality&Aesthetics, the upper sides of the Pentagon, are the two ‘fundamentals’. A style of living is considered as ‘falling short’ if either it defies Logic or it does not care about Quality.
10. The lower three sides of the Pentagon represent the ‘pragmatics’. A style of living is considered as ‘falling short’ if it does not consider the resources available (either locally or planet-wide), if it does not fit with a manageable society, or it fails to provide motivation for individuals to make an effort in the direction of the good.
11. The requirement with regard to other people and living things is that one must always consider them. We all swim in the same stormy sea. It is unrealistic to pretend that we can consider them all equally, or love them. However we should flatten the gradients of consideration between oneself, family, neighbours, strangers and enemies; between humans and animals; and between animals and other life.
12. Activities strictly incompatible with the Alpha level include hate, persecution of minorities, regarding certain groups of humans as either property or of no concern, and gratuitous violence – unless defending one’s own life or safety, or that of family, neighbours or nation.
13. We should accept that not all people will find enough in the relatively philosophical religious view that the Alpha level offers; and that many have not yet acquired the level of education to comprehend some of its aspects.
14. The Alpha level should not require subsidy from the state apart from publication of relevant writings and support of the teachers who would be part of the mainstream education system.
15. Beta: This level consists of the ‘recommended’ religions; these are ones that can fulfil a good educational role, help provide social services, or inspire good citizenship.
16. Religions at the Beta level should include the best examples of traditional polytheism, including gods of nature; monotheism based on personal relations with a human-like being; and atheism based on a prescribed good way of living.
17. However religions that place great emphasis on the quality of an after-life as the main motivation for good behaviour in this life should not be included in the Beta level. Nor should there be any requirement to believe in miracles or supernatural forces.
18. Beta religions should be supported by the state, and subsidized if resources are available.
19. Gamma: This level consists of the ‘tolerated’ religions; these are ones that lead to generally good behaviour, even if that behaviour is enforced by using threats of damnation and physical agony in the next world. These religions may require belief in miracles and supernatural powers. They should be neither supported nor proscribed.
20. Delta: This level consists of the ‘deprecated’ religions; these are ones that lead to ‘holier-than-thou’ practices, pietism, quietism (‘ataraxia’), self-abasement or submission, withdrawal from engagement in worldly life, belief in magic, or belief in miracles that can be supplied on request, presumably performed by supernatural agencies.
21. Religions that undervalue any of the five sides of the Pentagon in favour of the other sides should also belong at the Delta level.
22. The state should not ban people from following these religions, but should work to influence their adherents not to continue. Leaders may be subject to questioning about any offending beliefs or practices.
23. Epsilon: This level consists of the ‘proscribed’ religions, ones that lead to barbarous rituals, hate of targeted opponents, religious wars, persecution of those who don’t agree with their dogmas, or treatment of some races or sections of the community as sub-human or of lesser importance in the scheme of things.
24. Included in the Epsilon level are religions that claim the right to impose their religious laws on all citizens, or where hierarchies of priests are regarded as the supreme rulers of a nation, above any lay persons.
25. State representatives should be permitted to break up meetings of groups adhering to these religions. The state should restrain their leaders, or if they persist, punish them. Buildings or other property used by such groups should be seized.

D – Basic Education for Better Human Communication Skills

1. Following their reading of the reports of our conversations, the council asked me to additionally recommend what I think are the essential components of a new education programme aimed at improving practice in basic human communication, across a wide section of the population.
2. I am proposing below three major sections of such a programme: emotional fitness; understanding communication processes; and managing conflicts.

E – Emotional Fitness

1. Emotional fitness is just as important as knowledge or intelligence in achieving successful human communication. Furthermore, it is as important as physical fitness in living generally.
2. Just as physical challenges keep us physically fit, we need emotional challenges to get us up to emotional fitness; ‘no pain, no gain’ applies in both cases. Ambling along while stuck in a rut of ready-made thinking and reacting makes us flabby emotionally. Always seeking comfort and avoiding issues leads us downhill.
3. The preliminary need is to be aware of our own emotional strengths and weaknesses, just as we need to be aware of our physical strengths and weaknesses when faced with physical tasks. For example, what situations do we find that upset us, and why does this happen? This can be a harsh discipline for many people to address, and a teacher needs to be sensitive to how fast a pupil can be coaxed along.
4. However we must not accept our own current weaknesses as unalterable. We need to monitor whether we are making progress. The soldier who has seen many battles may remain affected by the injuries he sees, but he becomes more able to handle the shocks.
5. With regard to the many emotional shocks that we may face yet still have to keep communicating, we need to show self-control, patience, grit and keep our mind on what is the best thing to do after that shock.
6. To help us do this we can practice calm acceptance of what has happened, try to keep a sense of proportion about the issues involved, maintain a cheerful demeanour, disengage from the shouting and name-calling, take deep breaths, keep a steady pace in both movement and speech, relax the mind by temporarily thinking of something else, and look for the funny side if at all possible.
7. To provide training for emotional fitness, it is not enough to have lectures and discussions, or even casual games. We need to provide scenarios where students will, under supervision, get challenging experiences, as well as some relaxation and diversion. Spells of duty on a ship, or on an army reconstruction team, or on a farm seem like good options. Team games may also be valuable if there is sufficient reward or prestige in winning.
8. However with this sort of training, there are going to be some who fail. Sometimes they can do better on a second attempt, but some will probably always struggle.

F – Understanding Communication Processes

1. Most of us are totally dependent, for the adequacy of our communication skills, on how communication happens in our own family, and this may not be a good example to follow.
2. It is a common fallacy to believe that what we speak in the form of words will be taken by a listener in the way we intended. The first diagram at the end of the Taxonomy chapter shows, with reference to the taxonomy of meaning, what is involved.
3. When we speak, we transmit a ‘display’ of sounds and visible signs; the signs we can call ‘body language’. The listener experiences this display, although from a slightly different position. Of course we could have a display without any sound. In any case, the listener takes their own meaning from the visual display and this prompts their response.
4. Although communication consisting of a single display can happen, for example an order by a military commander, the majority of human communication involves several stages. In the first diagram, the listener’s reply may be displayed back to the original speaker, or directed to another person in a group, or to a whole group.
5. As the second diagram at the end of the Taxonomy chapter shows, a communication may have many stages. This is normal in a trading situation, where the people involved appear to be dancing together towards a completion.
6. A good communicator keeps in mind two goals when speaking. The first is obviously the intended effect on the listener in terms of an action the speaker desires. That action may be doing something, promising something, or believing something.
7. The second goal is the intended social effect on the conversation itself. An example is the tactic of leaving the listener a way to refuse an offer without embarrassment or causing offence.
8. We always communicate within social conventions. Examples are cues that represent the ‘etiquette’ in our culture, colloquial turns of phrase, non-verbal signs, acceptable use of humour, appropriate demeanour, and judgment about when not to push too hard.
9. We also always communicate within a context. Hopefully, our listener regards the communication as having the same – or broadly similar – context as we the speaker do. We understand the same political and personal undercurrents, and the same power structures; and we know which issues can trigger violent emotions in some people involved.
10. We always need to be sensitive to the common situations in human relationships, such as the varieties of human nature; the need for teamwork; the existence of networks of friendship, support and patronage; and the readiness or otherwise of people to forgive wrongs.
11. In all cases we should try always to encourage – rather than discourage – others; be open to other people’s ideas; take the initiative rather than leaning on others; follow through what we have begun; and demonstrate that we are reliable and trustworthy.
12. We should also show that we are ready to show human concern for other people who may have had unfortunate experiences.
13. Finally we should remain aware of potential but unexpected negative reactions to what we or someone else has said. This may lead to conflict; this is discussed below.
14. Training for communication can also be achieved through the same ‘challenge’ situations as I have suggested for improving emotional fitness. However it can also be achieved through taking part in debates in which a serious subject is discussed.
15. We are not however concerned here with the art of rhetoric, which may be relevant for some people, but not for the wider population. We have to assume some basic language skills; if these are inadequate, as is possible with an immigrant from another nation, some extra training will be needed.

G – Managing Conflicts

1. My almost universal experience is that our current human civilization is woefully inept at handling conflict. Most of the time, both sides in any conflict lose more than they gain.
2. The commonest form of conflict is what has been called a ‘verbal slanging match’, and this can occur even when the people involved are closely related, including within families.
3. Some conflicts are ‘cold’ in that they are without explicit hostility. Examples are withdrawal of labour or cooperation, boycotting (social exclusion), or just ongoing mistrust.
4. ‘Hot’ conflicts include punch-ups, noisy demonstrations, riots, vendettas and all-out wars; all these involve heightened – and often out-of-control – emotions.
5. My bias, because of my personal background, is that ethical trading leads to fewer conflicts than most other activities. The reason I say this is because ‘no agreement’ means ‘no value or profit’. Traders who break the conventions are quickly branded as untrustworthy and no-one else does business with them. Maybe trading should be a model for other situations.
6. To manage conflicts, everyone needs to understand the many possible sources of conflict. Some common examples are listed below.
   • Embarrassment; loss of face; interpretation of a communication as a personal slight.
   • Desperation; inability to see any bearable alternative; feeling of unfairness or inequity; envy.
   • Disputed ownership, rights or responsibilities.
   • Disappointment over expectations, hopes, or dreams; breakdown of trust; broken promises.
   • Partisan solidarity and militancy; inability to see beyond one’s own immediate world view; inventing and over-emphasizing an enemy.
   • Deceit; unrealistic or dishonest bargaining; collusion; bribery.
   • Over commitment, and difficulty in backing down from it.
   • Lack or loss of consensus over the best way forward.
   • Boredom, disinterest, or laziness.
7. The key to preventing conflict is exercising foresight. A wise negotiator will discuss the risks, the things that could go wrong, and think about what to do if they do go wrong. Everyone who participates in any activity that requires collaboration ought to do the same.
8. It is often wise to leave the other person or persons with an ‘escape route’, some way in which they can back out without causing bad feeling on either side. However we can observe that many speakers – especially those selling a product, proposal or idea – do just the opposite; they try to ‘pin the other person down’, or ‘drive them into a corner’.
9. It also pays to manage expectations. If a selling message is too strong, disappointment will often be the result. This happens with elections in democratic states, when rivals for power attempt to outbid each other with promises which they cannot keep. At the same time, the voters have a responsibility to be smarter and better informed.
10. If, despite our care in communicating, we are faced with de-fusing a conflict that has already erupted, we ought to be motivated to look for a way out, or to stop things getting worse and losing even more. Unfortunately, history suggests that very few people do this. Their emotions take control and they find reasons to persuade themselves that ‘we can still win this one’.
11. In high-level conflicts between nations, cities and interest groups – and within councils – facilitators can be brought in. I myself have acted as a facilitator over many years. I feel that some of the simpler skills of a facilitator can be of value in smaller and more localised conflicts. I have listed some of these ideas below.
    • Get everyone to recognize that there is a crisis, and to suggest some point of agreement from which negotiation can to start again with less emotion.
    • Encourage all participants to make an effort to know their opponents as a person, and to be prepared to forgive offence given in the past.
    • Explain the importance of letting go of the attachment to winning, or being right.
    • Encourage participants to listen more, and speak less.
    • Explain that the purpose of questions should only be to seek answers. So participants should not ask questions unless they are prepared to listen carefully to the answers.
    • Try to change the focus from one of arguing to one of ‘finding out’. What information is needed to make a good decision? Can we get it?
    • Suggest that rather than rejecting other people’s ideas, participants should instead offer suggestions on what could to be done to turn their ideas into better ones.
    • Try to note what alternatives have not yet been considered or tried. Suggest that participants investigate them.
    • Look for possible compromises that avoid the outcome of ‘everyone loses’.
    • Occasionally suggest a ‘time-out’ – a period where all participants back off, take a break, do some honest reflection, and appreciate that ‘we are all swimming in the same stormy sea’.
12. However good our intentions and tactics, we have to expect that for some parties involved in conflicts, they would rather sink the ship, burn down the house, kill themselves, their partners and their children, or raze the whole city to the ground – rather than come to a compromise; or as some people say, they would ‘cut off their nose to spite their face’. This comes from a dangerous emotion that they cannot control, and we may be able to do little about it.
13. I think there are three ways of learning how to better manage conflict: bitter experience; understanding a little psychology; and looking at historical cases of past conflicts.
14. Bitter experience can be effective, but most people cannot afford to risk it, and the emotions that people feel can overwhelm the message that the experience has to tell us.
15. Psychology may help us see where our opponents are coming from. They will not always make that clear by what they say. We should try to work out what they are covering up, or projecting onto others. If they appear to us as being difficult, we should ask ourselves what pressures or crises they might be facing. Sometimes we can get clues by closely observing their reactions to a challenge, before they re-assume their mask.
16. Looking at historical cases of past conflicts may be possible, for example in the case of wars about which histories are written, or councils where discussions are recorded. However it has to be recognized that the written accounts may be biased or inaccurate; and they may even be interpreted differently by different people.
17. I have found that the best approach is to discuss these past cases in groups, to see what interpretations individuals make, and what they think might have been done better to avoid or alleviate the conflict.
18. In the absence of any written histories, I have sometimes been forced to make up fictional scenarios, only loosely based on ‘what might have happened if …’ in cases I have seen elsewhere or heard about.
19. But training to manage smaller – and even family – conflicts may be a bigger problem. The question is, ‘How can we learn from the conflicts we do have?’ We may be able to move on from them, but there is often left-over resentment about what was said, or how one party interpreted it.
20. My suggestion is that we use the same training for emotional fitness and understanding communication that I mentioned earlier. I think that this can lead the warring parties to the sort of reflection that would help them avoid repeating the same pattern of conflict in the future.

The Appendices to these Scriptures are on separate files. The links are given below.

• A - The Autobiography and B - The Interview
• C - The Collected Sayings and Desiderata
• D - Summaries of the Proceedings of the Centennial Symposia