Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Creation of Man by Tarun Patnaik


[The society and the individual are such utopian lovers, who having manufactured each other are exactly worthy of each other.]

Man is created through his social induction. His personality is created by the interplay and dynamics of circumstance, genetic inclinations, the choices he makes of free will and Reason he develops as he grows up. The free will whether a product of the chance of movements of neurons or because of the unconscious instinctive tendencies is an important factor in determining the individual’s personality. But Reason throughout the life plays an active role with the knowledge that man keeps on acquiring, in consciously shaping the personality. So man is never completely made. He keeps on learning and changing.

During man’s induction to society, the major “nature” that he learns or acquires are his tendencies, his likes and his dislikes.

What to like and what not to like is a question, man spends his life time in subconsciously answering. If to seek happiness, to tend to be pleased, to follow his will is man’s character, what his will is, what pleases him, and what gives him happiness is a major component of his personality, in fact it is the central core of his personality.

Society consciously contributes in the making of this personality through the process of education. Thus true education should tell man what his will/desire should be. And true learning should be to internalize an ideal will and desire. Learning continues throughout the life and Reason is the active shaper of this learning.

A child initially has only tendencies, no will, through the process of growing up, he moves through the confusion and crowd of options and choices and finally a fully developed personality has a well perceived and known will. Then man knows what gives him happiness. But this state is in a constant and slow flux for Reason acts on personality to make it ever changing and what gives one happiness also changes, as long as man is open to learning.

Much that we do not want man to be unhappy, we should teach a man to find his happiness in such a way that he does not make some one else unhappy while striving to attain his own happiness. For collective happiness the above becomes the first principle. So one should not find happiness in the other’s displeasure! When two happiness contest or compete, justice and sometimes negotiation should be resorted to, to find a meeting point.

Competition the most dear method for man’s progress in modern society creates few successes with many failures. Should not one then want to win or should there not be contests? Well, no, there should be both but one should place one’s happiness not on successes and failures but on self improvement. The competition should always be with one’s own self. And when there are competitions, when one looses and misses the prize, he should react with mild emotion and not despair. Since lack of ethics creates much unhappiness, we should seek happiness in a ethical way.

There is a good deal of literature on what happiness is, and how man finds it. According to David T. Lyken, 50% of one’s happiness depends on one’s genes. About 10-15% is the result of various measurable life circumstances, such as socio-economic status, marital status, health, income, sex and others. Remaining 40% is result of actions that individuals deliberately engage in to become happier. Extroverts may find happiness in human interaction, while philosophers may find happiness in intellectual contemplation.

Stefan Klein in his book The Science Of Happiness links the dynamics of neurobiological systems to the concepts and findings of positive psychology and social psychology. Human relations are consistently found to be the most important correlation with human happiness.

It is found that happiness can be contagious i.e. it can spread from one to another like a virus.

There are three traditional theories of happiness – hedonism theory, desire theory, and the objective list theory.

Hedonism holds that happiness is a matter of raw subjective feeling. This theory has its modern conceptual roots in Bentham’s utilitarianism, its contagion in Hollywood entertainment, its grossest manifestation in American consumerism.

Danny Kahneman a Nobel laureate in economics distinguishes between two assessments of life one by the experienced and second by the retrospective judge of pleasure. If at the end of one’s life one thinks life was great as by Wittgenstein’s last words: “Tell him it (life) was wonderful” uttered even after a life of negative emotion and even downright misery, can we really say such life was good when the person who experienced throughout his life did not feel much pleasure?

This takes us to the next theory – the desire theory, which holds that happiness is a matter of getting what one wants, irrespective of what it is that is wanted. A person living a most austere life or a person who sacrifices some of his most dear things, or one who struggles all his life for whatever, can be said to be happy since it is what they wanted to do with their life.

Objective list theory lodges happiness outside of feeling and onto a list of “truly valuable” things in the real world. It holds that happiness consists of a human life that achieves certain things from a list of worthwhile pursuits e.g. career accomplishments, freedom from disease and pain, material comforts, friendship, civic spirit, beauty, education, love, knowledge, fame, good conscience etc..

Consider the thousands of abandoned children living on the streets of the Angolan capital of Luanda. As the New York Times tells us, “dressed in rags, they spend nights in the sandy strip along the bay, and their days foraging for food through mounds of garbage.” It seems conceivable that their existence, consumed with meeting momentary needs, adventurous roving in gangs, casual sex, with little thought for tomorrow, might actually be subjectively “happy” from either the Hedonism or Desire theory perspective. But we may be reluctant to classify such an existence as “happy” and the Objective List theory tells us why. These children are deprived of many or most things that would go on anybody’s list of what is worthwhile in life.

Although we find Objective List’s shift to the objectively valuable a positive move, our principal objection to this theory is that some big part of how happy we judge a life to be must take feelings and desires (however shortsighted) into account.

Happiness is not a singular state of mind; through different processes we find different pleasant emotions or forms of happiness’ which is colorful with different shades of colors. For a rich and high quality of life, man should have enjoyed happiness as per all the three theories described above.

Some religions put this life as having significance only up to the extent that it is a preparation for an “After life.” But life is never a preparation for the “After life.” No present is or should be lived only for the alluring future. No future’s heaven has a right to make hell of the present. Present should be lived for its own self. No doubt present contributes to the future, but present of its own merit deserves attention. At the same time no present has a right to spoil the future. So we should look for balance, for harmony, for the co-existence of present and the future.

If victory promises glory and joy may the battle too promise sufficient entertainment! And our will and desire has a role to play in this. Because desire determines what should give us pleasure. Thus a harmony between the present and the future! If the end is glorious and worthy, the path should be no less intoxicating.

Is today’s man really happy? With the progress of science man has achieved much material comfort and possession. But has he become happier? In spite of physical comfort, modern world offers much mental stress and tension. How many people live life purposefully? And how many live because they have not died!

Man’s life can be assessed from the view point of two observers.

1. through his own eyes.

2. through the eyes of the society.

The verdict may coincide, it may also differ. A man posthumously famous for his social contribution may or may not have found happiness in his own life. Can we say he has lived a good life, worthy though it was!

While to seek happiness is the character or preference (through seeking self interest) of man, it is not his purpose and reason acts on this tendency to result in a motivation, that gives meaning or purpose to life. Purpose gives life meaning and motivation. A motivated life is also one which man finds much livable.

We find there are three main purposes of life worthy of man.

1. To find personal happiness

2. To contribute to the collective wellbeing or happiness

3. To contribute to the civilizational progress.

As we had noted earlier, through the process of education, man learns what to like and the teacher undertakes to educate the man. The first school is of course the home, and mother, the first teacher.

The teacher has great responsibilities, he is a representative of the society, manufacturing his pupil, he is also the path maker for his pupil, teaching him the ways of society. He teaches how to succeed, what to aim for and prepares his pupil for the struggle of life. For life is no less than a struggle for existence. The teacher in this dual role may find conflict. If he makes his pupil capable but lacking in virtue, the student may come out to become unworthy of the society.

Hitler’s teachers must be having this regret, that they could not teach him enough character for which Hitler made a name but a notorious one in history.

That to be free and happy man must internalize the civic virtues inside his character, the process of education while creating the citizen for the country, must make sure that the student learns the civic virtues. If man has not learned the civic virtues, he will be an unhappy citizen in his country. So the state which regulates education, must install such curriculum, faculty and educational institutions, such that man internalizes the requisite civic virtues.

But the individual while being manufactured by the society (State) has also the responsibility to manufacture the society through his creative, intellectual, and organizational powers. Thus education has also to make strong and wise individuals, who are capable of changing and reforming the systems for to change and evolve and get reformed is the basic character of any system.

The state while ensuring protection of rights of individuals must also ensure such basic conditions where a man can pursue his happiness. Freedom is a necessary condition but not sufficient for a happy life. One must have minimum living standards and the state has a responsibility to ensure that enough opportunities exist for all its citizens. The economic environment and the cultural environment are equally important along with the political environment. Culture where sports, art, music, public celebrations are promoted and encouraged will be more conducive for individual happiness. The economy should have sufficient job opportunities, a well to do wage rate, enough mobility along the income hierarchy and healthy working conditions. There should be freedom of enterprise. With all the difficulties with capitalism, even China and Russia have recognized freedom of enterprise.

The recent financial crisis started in the US; spread all over the world shows the risks and dangers of the connected globalized world. No nation in today’s world is isolated and can have the freedom of determining its economic policies without affecting the other nations. So each has a stake in the other! Thus it is only natural that each will demand a right to have a say in another’s internal economic policy. How to find a balance between national freedom and international obligation is a question for which world’s politicians are searching for answer.

The world today has many common and pressing issues which are in need of urgent and immediate solution. The education process should be geared up to create such individuals, who will save humanity from imminent destruction. May the individual find purpose in life that he will ensure shared happiness and eradicate poverty, make the world secure from current and future threats.



[Mr. Tarun Patnaik is an engineer by qualification passed out in 1993 from IIT Kharagpur, after a short stint in corporate for three odd years, resigned to study social science varying from philosophy and psychology to economics and management. Currently he is a resident in Rayagada, Orissa and engaged in free lance research.]

The essay was already published in the Radical Humanist.published here with permission from Mr Tarun