If I had to point to a single book that fundamentally changed my views, I would has to say it was The Croooked Timber of Humanity: Essays in the History of Ideas by the late Sir Isaiah Berlin. Taken together, these essays are one long exposition of an alternative to the deadly (quite literally) weight of ideologies brought to us from the 19th and 20th centuries - whether they be communism, fascism, naziism, in fact any totalitarian ideology (understood as an all-encompassing set of beliefs and practices that are determinate for all of a society for all time) that seeks to grind down real human life in the name of some artificial way of living. His essays on Giambatistta Vico and J. G. Herder prompted me to explore what these little-read and little-regarded thinkers has said, and I found a certain child-like joy at discovery, an enthusiasm for the infinite possibilties for organizing human social life, combined with a very realistic understanding of the weaknesses and limitations inherent in any and all such practices. Herder, especially, has received a bum rap, because of his genetic theory of culture and society; his introduction of the idea of volk into German social and cultural studies was tortured by the Nazis, and alas for Herder he has received a certain share of the blame. Yet, his explanation - that social and cultural existence flows from the life of a society in a natural way, and can only be understood as such a natural extension, is little different from that of contemporary cultural anthropolgists who follow Clifford Geertz.
Berlin's most important point, repeated throughout the essays in this work, was that it is necessary to combat the stranglehold of ideology, the imposition of the idea that there is only one true way, only one correct way, to organize society. this is done, first and foremost - in a move in stark opposition to recent practical experience here in the United States - by recognizing that those who social and cultural existence are different from, even anti-thetical to ours, are nonetheless real human alternatives; that those whose lives are profoundly different from ours are nonetheless expressing possibilities inherent in human existence; and that social and cultural life is not a zero sum game, but rather a remarkable opportunity for both learning and conflict. I cannot stress this point emphatically enough, because it is central to my own view of life, and how I try (and more than occassionally fail) to live - even those whose way of living, and those whose way of organizing their way of living are abhorrent, are expressing an acceptable, human alternative. Through the simple use of human imagination, it is entirely possible for me to envision myself making decisions based upon an entirely different set of assumptions - be it about work, the world, god (or the gods), the status of women and minorities - and still live a fully human life.
There are two correlates to this way of envisioning life that are as empowering as they are liberating. First, in recognizing the plurality of choices available to human beings for living a fully human life, my own choices are not diminished, but are in fact strengthened. In recognizing the full humanity of those whose lives are different from mine, they are now placed on an equal footing with me and my own choices - fully human, full of possibility and peril, and certainly never above reproach. If we surrender the silly, and most assuredly false, conceit that we have the only correct answers, but rather see our decisions as necessarily constituting who we are, both as individuals and as a social unit, we cannot but accord to ourselves and others the seriousness, the depth and breadth, and the profundity that entails. Such choices are our choices - not conscious, but necessarily unconscious either - and others belong to others. All are part and parcel of the experiment of human life.
The other correlate is that such a formula does not rid us of the specter of human social conflict. Indeed, in recognizing the differences, sometimes even incompatibility, of different ways of organizing social life, we must also recognize that conflict is bound to occur. The challenge is not the impossible task of ridding ourselves of social conflict, but rather of managing such conflict, of anticipating it, of being mature enough as a society to accept it and be honest about it. Conflict is always threatening, but it need not be destructive. It can, in fact, be creative, if handled with honesty and openness. The challenge, of course, is to be confident enough as a society to stand, yet never stealing from others what is theirs by birthright, their humanity.
What I found most attractive about such a view, beyond its intellectual coherence and honesty, was an openness to difference that, alas, I too often find missing among two different types of American liberals. The first are the classical, 19th century liberal, now mostly confined to the Economics Departments of our universities; those priests of the church of the market, in other words, who insist that their "laws" are both immutable and cross all boundaries of time, place, and culture. The other type of liberal, for want of a better description, are what I think of as Henry Goldbloom liberals, after the character on Hill Street Blues. Not confident enough to simply declare themselves superior, yet secretly believing it to be so, they passive-aggresively work to insist that "others'" sensitivities not be damaged or hurt in any way. In truth, they are too weak and fearful to face a challenge to their fundamental beliefs because they fear that, at heart, they hold none.
The best part of this view, for me, is the hope it engenders. This is a vision that sees possibility in human existence, the ability to encounter others and see people living human lives rather than threats to one's own sacred verities. This is why I am no booster for tolerance; a tolerant individual believes he or she already has all the answers. I do not believe there are any answers, just lives to be lived, as best as we can, with all the promise and threat that entails.
Virtual Tin Cup
