In the boarding area I could clearly see three distinct figures: Johannes Bredenburg, Sir John Templeton, and Spinoza. I knew that I was destined for another treat in this end-of-year flight and I was hoping that more distinguished guests would join the journey. We boarded the flight off the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean where we disembarked last year.
As I boarded the flight, I found myself sitting among those three distinguished guests along with Corrie ten Boom and Amartya Sen. I was thinking how lucky I was to be onboard for another end-of-year learning opportunity, and here comes the first statement/question by the Nobel-prize winner Amartya Sen: “What do you think are the origins of economics and how are they related to statecraft?”
We all turned to Sir John Templeton who in his usual captivating demeanor reminded us that “The transcendent is the beginning of economics.” And he continued: “To even talk about the economy, there must be agreement about the rules of play. To get those rules, we must have some sense of fair dealing. Where does this sense of fair play come from? It comes through reference to an ethical order outside of ourselves, and it is timeless.”
“I could not agree more”, Amartya Sen added, and he continued: “It is, in fact, arguable that the origins of economics along with its relationship to politics and statecraft can be found in the Aristotelian ethical system that combines the transcendent with the persons’ needs. At the very beginning of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle related the subject of economics to human ends. Aristotle saw statecraft as the ‘master art’, where economics is inexorably related to ethics and politics, and wealth accumulation is not an end in itself, but rather the means to the end which is the fulfillment of people’s expectations and happiness. Ethical deliberations cannot be inconsequential to actual human behavior and motives. However, according to Aristotle we cannot limit ourselves to individualistic and egotistical achievements but rather seek the ‘finer and more godlike achievements for the nation and the city-states’.”
“I trust that you are not making reference to the transcendent like those modern fundamentalist charlatans who fight day and night for the inerrancy of the Scriptures but when the time comes to apply its ethics to themselves and to the nations’ leaders they refuse to acknowledge the Scriptures’ authority demonstrating that they have always been a fraud”, Spinoza stated, and he continued: “my system of ethics shows that established religion divides and disrupts mankind’s evolutionary process and only a deism of pure reason and natural religion combined with philosophy can enlighten humankind, heal the wounds and reunite the nations.”
“I would agree with the first part of your statement about those modern charlatans, but with all due respect the second part of your statement is pure nonsense” Sir John Templeton interjected. “This kind of ethics leads to social Darwinism, and policies implemented with those priorities lead to monopolization, segregation, abuse of power, and a collective life that lacks identify and is complacent to lies and deceptions. The ethics that govern statecraft and an economy must match the highest aspirations if we want them to meet our needs, and this is the message we find in Aristotle’s Politics.” At that point he turned to Corrie Ten Boom asking: “Corrie, what do you have to say on this?”
“Oh, what do I know about these things and especially about power politics? I only know how to hide persons from the Nazis old and new. The unfortunate thing is that the new Nazis have penetrated these days even into the churches and hijacked the message. I assume these are the charlatans you were referring to. When my family and I were taken to the concentration camp we heard those Nazis quoting Herbert Spencer: ‘The natural forces which are working out the great scheme of perfect humanity…exterminate such sections of mankind as stand in their way, with the same sternness that they exterminate beasts of prey and herds of useless ruminants.’
The institutionalization of vices in the collective life of a nation takes a few years to bear fruit but when it does it brings social disarray, evil, and pushes the nation to lose what Aristotle calls the capacity to emulate. Emulation makes us to take steps in order to secure happiness for others, while social Darwinism advances envy and evil which forces us to take steps that deprive persons of their happiness.”
I could see that Spinoza wanted to say something when suddenly he stood up and asked: “Don’t you think that the quest for power – whether exercised by democracies, autocracies, monarchies or whatsoever – is inherently limited? If that is the case, then the quest for power is competitive. It is a zero-sum game where the gains are achieved at someone else’s expense. Wealth by contrast, is limitless, which make economics a positive-sum game. How then can politicians in the admirable democracy of the US fail to recognize the power and potential of economics and finance as instruments of foreign policy, and allow China and Russia to dominate in the field of geoeconomics and statecraft? China is bribing its way into Africa and uses its sovereign checkbook to buy ports, build roads and bridges and it privileges less developed – and not only – nations to take its side. Doesn’t Russia entice former EU top officials with lucrative contracts? Doesn’t it write off the debts of former Soviet Union countries, while bribing the weaker cash-strapped European countries in hopes of provoking trouble within Europe? Isn’t statecraft war by other means? Wasn’t Jefferson exercising geoeconomic statecraft when he bought the French territory in the US rather than sending troops to conquer it?”
“Bravo Spinoza”, Johannes Bredenburg interjected and he continued: “However, even statecraft needs to take into account the ethical system envisioned by Aristotle, and since then by Descartes, and understand that the conduct of such policy requires of us to consider the two totally distinct substances of humankind, that is the material and the non-material. You may want to read again my 1675 piece titled Enervatio Tractatus which was a direct refutation of your famous Tractatus. Your metaphysical system is convoluted because is based on deterministic necessities while lacking teleological and deontological traits unlike the systems proposed by Aristotle and Descartes.”
We were getting into Amartya Sen’s particular interest and naturally he took the floor: “Speaking of teleological and deontological traits, let me remind you please that indeed in the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle proposes practical steps – echoed by the instruments used by statecraft – offering enough normative wisdom but refraining from laying down rules of conduct to cover the multifarious and contingent circumstances of human action. A statecraft policy is teleological if it posits a single ultimate end as its first principle. It is also deontological if it makes the good which is the ultimate end, the primary object of a categorical moral obligation that is universally binding on all persons. This is also affirmed by what is known as the engineering approach to economics and the technique-oriented analysis of statecraft found in what possibly could be considered the foundational basis of the engineering school of economics that is in Kautilya’ writings of the fourth century BCE. Kautilya was an advisor and Minister of the Indian Emperor Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty and the grandfather of the more famous Asoka. In his book Kautilya begins with the distinction between four fields of knowledge, that is (i) metaphysics, (ii)knowledge of the right and the wrong, (iii) the science of government, and finally (iv) the science of wealth. We should understand then nowadays, that the first two fields are the guiding principles of the latter two.”
Johannes Brendenburg was getting anxious, he needed to interject something before our landing. “Value-agnosticism as proclaimed nowadays by powerful figures in politics, social media, businesses, and academia is self-destructive. A system that is amoral in the name of ‘scientific objectivity’ devours society and especially the young people, permitting generations to grow up as ethical illiterates and moral idiots, unprepared to deal with life’s complexities. Those who take and advance such views remind me of Thrasymachus in Plato’s Republic who proclaimed that might is right. These people are nothing but amoral monsters. Even the utilitarianism advocated by the likes of Nietzsche, Hume, and John Stuart Mill ignores the fundamental truths found in the Aristotelian system which can be summarized as follows: Human nature remains the same since antiquity. All the manifold changes in our social, economic and political institutions that have occurred since then, combined with all the extraordinary technological innovations that condition our lives today, are totally irrelevant to the problem we all face and which can be found in Plato’s Republic when Socrates asks us all ‘How then shall we live and conduct our affairs’?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, for another year I have thoroughly enjoyed your conversations”, the ever-eavesdropping pilot proclaimed. “One of our passengers on this year’s flight is Corrie Ten Boom who once stated that ‘the first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy’. As we are starting our descent to Washington D.C., a voice came into our frequency, but we had no trouble recognizing that deep voice. It was none other but the late Chairman, the recently departed Paul Volcker who asked to convey to the President-elect not to consult with the unholy trinity, those who planted the seeds of the financial crisis.”
Happy New Year!
On the Dialectic Morals of Statecraft: A Conversation with Johannes Bredenburg, Spinoza, Corrie Ten Boom, Amartya Sen, and Sir John Templeton.
Author : John E. Charalambakis
Date : December 30, 2019
In the boarding area I could clearly see three distinct figures: Johannes Bredenburg, Sir John Templeton, and Spinoza. I knew that I was destined for another treat in this end-of-year flight and I was hoping that more distinguished guests would join the journey. We boarded the flight off the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean where we disembarked last year.
As I boarded the flight, I found myself sitting among those three distinguished guests along with Corrie ten Boom and Amartya Sen. I was thinking how lucky I was to be onboard for another end-of-year learning opportunity, and here comes the first statement/question by the Nobel-prize winner Amartya Sen: “What do you think are the origins of economics and how are they related to statecraft?”
We all turned to Sir John Templeton who in his usual captivating demeanor reminded us that “The transcendent is the beginning of economics.” And he continued: “To even talk about the economy, there must be agreement about the rules of play. To get those rules, we must have some sense of fair dealing. Where does this sense of fair play come from? It comes through reference to an ethical order outside of ourselves, and it is timeless.”
“I could not agree more”, Amartya Sen added, and he continued: “It is, in fact, arguable that the origins of economics along with its relationship to politics and statecraft can be found in the Aristotelian ethical system that combines the transcendent with the persons’ needs. At the very beginning of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle related the subject of economics to human ends. Aristotle saw statecraft as the ‘master art’, where economics is inexorably related to ethics and politics, and wealth accumulation is not an end in itself, but rather the means to the end which is the fulfillment of people’s expectations and happiness. Ethical deliberations cannot be inconsequential to actual human behavior and motives. However, according to Aristotle we cannot limit ourselves to individualistic and egotistical achievements but rather seek the ‘finer and more godlike achievements for the nation and the city-states’.”
“I trust that you are not making reference to the transcendent like those modern fundamentalist charlatans who fight day and night for the inerrancy of the Scriptures but when the time comes to apply its ethics to themselves and to the nations’ leaders they refuse to acknowledge the Scriptures’ authority demonstrating that they have always been a fraud”, Spinoza stated, and he continued: “my system of ethics shows that established religion divides and disrupts mankind’s evolutionary process and only a deism of pure reason and natural religion combined with philosophy can enlighten humankind, heal the wounds and reunite the nations.”
“I would agree with the first part of your statement about those modern charlatans, but with all due respect the second part of your statement is pure nonsense” Sir John Templeton interjected. “This kind of ethics leads to social Darwinism, and policies implemented with those priorities lead to monopolization, segregation, abuse of power, and a collective life that lacks identify and is complacent to lies and deceptions. The ethics that govern statecraft and an economy must match the highest aspirations if we want them to meet our needs, and this is the message we find in Aristotle’s Politics.” At that point he turned to Corrie Ten Boom asking: “Corrie, what do you have to say on this?”
“Oh, what do I know about these things and especially about power politics? I only know how to hide persons from the Nazis old and new. The unfortunate thing is that the new Nazis have penetrated these days even into the churches and hijacked the message. I assume these are the charlatans you were referring to. When my family and I were taken to the concentration camp we heard those Nazis quoting Herbert Spencer: ‘The natural forces which are working out the great scheme of perfect humanity…exterminate such sections of mankind as stand in their way, with the same sternness that they exterminate beasts of prey and herds of useless ruminants.’
The institutionalization of vices in the collective life of a nation takes a few years to bear fruit but when it does it brings social disarray, evil, and pushes the nation to lose what Aristotle calls the capacity to emulate. Emulation makes us to take steps in order to secure happiness for others, while social Darwinism advances envy and evil which forces us to take steps that deprive persons of their happiness.”
I could see that Spinoza wanted to say something when suddenly he stood up and asked: “Don’t you think that the quest for power – whether exercised by democracies, autocracies, monarchies or whatsoever – is inherently limited? If that is the case, then the quest for power is competitive. It is a zero-sum game where the gains are achieved at someone else’s expense. Wealth by contrast, is limitless, which make economics a positive-sum game. How then can politicians in the admirable democracy of the US fail to recognize the power and potential of economics and finance as instruments of foreign policy, and allow China and Russia to dominate in the field of geoeconomics and statecraft? China is bribing its way into Africa and uses its sovereign checkbook to buy ports, build roads and bridges and it privileges less developed – and not only – nations to take its side. Doesn’t Russia entice former EU top officials with lucrative contracts? Doesn’t it write off the debts of former Soviet Union countries, while bribing the weaker cash-strapped European countries in hopes of provoking trouble within Europe? Isn’t statecraft war by other means? Wasn’t Jefferson exercising geoeconomic statecraft when he bought the French territory in the US rather than sending troops to conquer it?”
“Bravo Spinoza”, Johannes Bredenburg interjected and he continued: “However, even statecraft needs to take into account the ethical system envisioned by Aristotle, and since then by Descartes, and understand that the conduct of such policy requires of us to consider the two totally distinct substances of humankind, that is the material and the non-material. You may want to read again my 1675 piece titled Enervatio Tractatus which was a direct refutation of your famous Tractatus. Your metaphysical system is convoluted because is based on deterministic necessities while lacking teleological and deontological traits unlike the systems proposed by Aristotle and Descartes.”
We were getting into Amartya Sen’s particular interest and naturally he took the floor: “Speaking of teleological and deontological traits, let me remind you please that indeed in the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle proposes practical steps – echoed by the instruments used by statecraft – offering enough normative wisdom but refraining from laying down rules of conduct to cover the multifarious and contingent circumstances of human action. A statecraft policy is teleological if it posits a single ultimate end as its first principle. It is also deontological if it makes the good which is the ultimate end, the primary object of a categorical moral obligation that is universally binding on all persons. This is also affirmed by what is known as the engineering approach to economics and the technique-oriented analysis of statecraft found in what possibly could be considered the foundational basis of the engineering school of economics that is in Kautilya’ writings of the fourth century BCE. Kautilya was an advisor and Minister of the Indian Emperor Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty and the grandfather of the more famous Asoka. In his book Kautilya begins with the distinction between four fields of knowledge, that is (i) metaphysics, (ii)knowledge of the right and the wrong, (iii) the science of government, and finally (iv) the science of wealth. We should understand then nowadays, that the first two fields are the guiding principles of the latter two.”
Johannes Brendenburg was getting anxious, he needed to interject something before our landing. “Value-agnosticism as proclaimed nowadays by powerful figures in politics, social media, businesses, and academia is self-destructive. A system that is amoral in the name of ‘scientific objectivity’ devours society and especially the young people, permitting generations to grow up as ethical illiterates and moral idiots, unprepared to deal with life’s complexities. Those who take and advance such views remind me of Thrasymachus in Plato’s Republic who proclaimed that might is right. These people are nothing but amoral monsters. Even the utilitarianism advocated by the likes of Nietzsche, Hume, and John Stuart Mill ignores the fundamental truths found in the Aristotelian system which can be summarized as follows: Human nature remains the same since antiquity. All the manifold changes in our social, economic and political institutions that have occurred since then, combined with all the extraordinary technological innovations that condition our lives today, are totally irrelevant to the problem we all face and which can be found in Plato’s Republic when Socrates asks us all ‘How then shall we live and conduct our affairs’?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, for another year I have thoroughly enjoyed your conversations”, the ever-eavesdropping pilot proclaimed. “One of our passengers on this year’s flight is Corrie Ten Boom who once stated that ‘the first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy’. As we are starting our descent to Washington D.C., a voice came into our frequency, but we had no trouble recognizing that deep voice. It was none other but the late Chairman, the recently departed Paul Volcker who asked to convey to the President-elect not to consult with the unholy trinity, those who planted the seeds of the financial crisis.”
Happy New Year!