Evolution and Freedom
Our human ancestors were quite free throughout most of our
evolutionary existence and the power of dominants was limited. However, most of
our existence as humans and all of the existence of our pre-human ancestors
occurred before there was writing, and so before “history.” During the
hunter-gatherer phase of existence, humans were non-hierarchical and relatively
egalitarian. This egalitarianism was maintained in spite of tendencies for males
to want to dominate. It was maintained because coercion by dominants was
limited. This led to what is called “reproductive leveling” .
About 10,000 years ago, With the advent of agriculture, societies settled
down and became sedentary. As
a result, kings and other rulers arose and were able to dominate others.
Sufficient wealth also led to the growth of violence, sexual access, and
domination. Hunter-gatherer societies provided a lot of freedom for men, but
were generally oppressive for women. While democracy does not guarantee
freedom, it is unlikely that there will be long term freedom without democracy.
An unrestricted democracy may also restrict the freedom of minorities, whether
they are religious or ethnic.
Freedom of
the press enables people to learn about the behavior of government, including
any efforts by government to expand its power. Freedom of speech enables people
to communicate with each other and to protest efforts by government to
increase its power. Freedom of assembly enables people to congregate in order
to organize protests if government should misbehave. What is relevant for
freedom is not the statement of these rights; rather, what is needed
is actual enforcement of the rights.
To sum up, our
evolutionary background has caused us to value freedom. However, this same
background has meant that we have tendencies that also cause us to limit freedom. Individuals want to become
dominant, and institutions of political freedom are necessary to prevent this
from happening. Crime can limit our
freedom, and efforts to control crime can also limit freedom. Most human
societies have limited the freedom of women, harming both the women
themselves and also limiting the wealth of society.
matriarchal societies versus patriarchal societies.
ReplyDeleteottoman empire - reign of women
jewish culture is passed on through the mother.
avoid non-sequiturs = disjointed ideas that directly follow one another.
Humansim > THE AGE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT > 250 years > 21st century cancel culture