Respect for others

 

All human education must prepare each person to live for others, in order to live again in others. Auguste Comte, System of Positive Politics

 

Educating the gaze directed toward others.

In this chapter devoted to the negation of others, a necessity has emerged: education. Humanity must — this is vital — learn to consider the human being as an identically spiritual identity. A spiritual identity in the transcendent and universal sense of the term — an identity situated beyond religious belonging.

Law is necessary, but still too weak to curb abusive impulses on its own. This is evident when we compare the number of abuses between nihilistic periods (today) and strongly spiritualised periods. In this time of transition, true religious values (not those used today to wage conflicts and crusades) remain essential to the human community — and humanity must continue to consider others as a soul (belonging to God) that no one should abuse, mistreat or eliminate. During the construction of humanity, this is the only way to prevent an individual from reducing their fellows to the rank of object.

 

The goodness of nature

According to our philosophy, the human mind is originally apt to love its neighbour. All the bases of this love — empathy, pity, friendship, love — are inherent to our nature. All mammalian infants are capable, for example, of exchanging affection. Animal documentaries demonstrate this very well. Only the demands of survival prevent the fluidity of these behaviours. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was therefore right to say: "humanity is naturally good."

But the human being has surpassed this instinctive stage (still present — it suffices to observe a baby receiving marks of affection). Above this natural generator of love, a specific educational formation grafts itself: education in respect for one's neighbour. This education allows the child to embody the deep values of our humanity. Its aim is to lead humanity to consider others as an end.

 

Education preserves and develops humanity.

The world of culture is there to transcend the instinctive affectivity of the mammalian world. Very often, the animal "instinct to love" is limited by the power of narcissism. Human education has the task of resolving this natural problem. It must enable the child to manage their primary egocentrism. Instead of being driven solely by the power of their instincts, the young human being must learn to take others into account. The other role of education is to develop empathy, generosity, goodness, sympathy, altruism...

 

The new diffuser of education

Hence the importance of being vigilant regarding all educational systems. The atmosphere of a society depends on them. Today, for example, television, cinema and the Internet play the role of teacher. Certain values diffused by this "new educator" are positive for humanity — such as values stimulating universalism and fighting against prejudice. The same can be said of the development of artistic expression and so on.

Others, on the contrary, can seem negative — generally all proposals toward selfish individualism, communitarianism or discriminating elitism. And these values obviously favour behaviours of abuse and negation of others.

 

The major role of the values system

Education is therefore at the heart of human society — at the heart of the mental development of an individual, and at the heart of the general atmosphere of humanity. A system of values can stimulate the narcissism of individuals. It can keep the human being in a childlike and irresponsible state of mind. Such a system then accentuates tendencies toward discriminating elitism within society. A surplus of injustice, aggressiveness, egoism and machismo naturally follows.

Since the end of the 1980s, we are in this scenario. The current diffusers of values (media and market) increase the narcissism of humanity. And this naturally increases the degree of injustice, egoism, unconsciousness and violence within society.

Education can on the contrary stimulate solidarity, sharing and justice. It can advance these values within humanity. This was the case, for example, in the years we call the "Trente Glorieuses".

 

The reverse of the medal

Obviously, every evolution can bring about the loss of previous qualities. In becoming human, for example, we lost the naivety, simplicity and spontaneity of natural primates. Most of the time, human education covers over these basic qualities. This is doubtless the case of all education.

For example, the spontaneous trust of the lion cub gradually disappears in favour of the adult mores of its clan. The cub is educated in hunting by its parents. The group teaches it to be wary of other predators — to live on alert and so on. Raised by humans and in the company of its original prey, it will not necessarily develop its predatory nature — or with much less intensity.

 

Education and traumas

Everything lies in education

 

 

 

Instinct and intelligence

That there is still in the child (as in the lion cub) a predatory instinct seems obvious. But in humanity, thousands of years of culture have greatly reduced this force. It nonetheless demands an educational barrier to curb certain of its expressions — all the more so as these instincts (domination, predation, copulation) now use intelligence to assert themselves. And when they are abusive and mixed with intelligence, this poses grave problems for humanity. They can simply lead to perversity, cruelty or barbarism.

In nature, the tendency to assert oneself at the expense of one's fellows is necessary to the survival of the group. In the animal mind, it is free from all perversion. But humanity had to sophisticate its mind to leave the realm of nature — to become intelligent in order to transcend this natural tendency.

 

Evil and intelligence

The origin of what we call "evil" is doubtless found in nature — in the predatory instinct or the need to dominate to which most species are subject. But evil in its human dimension is entirely the fruit of culture and education.

For the needs of its evolution, our species has had to transform its primary instincts — frustrating them in some places, canalising or redirecting them in others. For the majority of human beings, this compression unfolds as well as possible. People learn to dominate their impulses in order to abuse their fellows as little as possible. Only a tiny minority of mindsets are incapable of accepting the restrictions imposed on their desires. They will then use violence, transgression or perversion to live them.

The transformation of primary instincts into "evil" is an obligatory passage in human evolution. It was necessary for this instinct to become what we call evil for humanity to be able to set about reducing it.

 

The force of evil

Today, all human beings know what good is and what evil is. When an individual "chooses" to act badly, it is because they are incapable of resisting the call of transgression. Their moral consciousness does not have the strength to oppose the desire for a bad action. We are nearly all in this scenario. Apart from a few sages, the ordinary human being has the greatest difficulty resisting the number of possible small infractions. Yet progressively, consciousness and human will advance. In advancing, humanity becomes increasingly capable of mastering its instincts, which have evolved into impulses.

 

Evil and society

Evil is a consequence of our humanisation — it derives from the difficulty of mastering our impulsive forces. It also stems from the failings of society toward its population. Human society has the duty to offer its children the best possible education. It also has the duty to enable parents to become good parents. A great part of the evil suffered by children emanates from these failings. Educated in violence and transgression, a large number of these children will have to pass through what we call "evil" in order to express themselves.

This part of evil that society must bear derives directly from the overall educational approach of society. It regresses or progresses according to the life choices imposed by decision-makers. Selfish systems will neglect the suffering part of the population — and this part of humanity will have only violence to express itself (this is the case with neo-liberalism).

Another segment of the expansion of transgression derives from the example set by elites. The growing feeling of impunity — increasingly visible for all to see — supercharges the desire to imitate it. The degree of perversion of a society is proportional to the values in which that society is bathed. Meaninglessness, narcissism or ethical weakness are generators of perversity and inhumanity.

 

What humanity wills, humanity can do

 

• We can therefore think that an attentive, just and generous education would reduce human violence.
• Think that a benevolent education, without affective deficiencies and in a pacified world, would soften the mores of humanity.
• Think that a universal education in respectful and playful competition would reduce racism and xenophobia.
• Think finally that a fraternal society privileging love of one's neighbour would overcome the negation of others.

 

Obviously, the world thus described may seem utopian. It would require perfect human cohesion, a state of universal peace and the extinction of danger.

For the theory presented here, this utopia is our future — a future that we are progressively elaborating without being aware of it.

Year 2001