Open v Closed Society

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RWStanding
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Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2016 12:23 pm

Open v Closed Society

Post by RWStanding »

Open v Closed Society
The term Open Society has become a tool against society.
We live in a world obsessed by Names that few people fully understand, if indeed they have any definite meaning. Western democracies have latched onto the term Open Society, formulated in the 1930s, and in reality it appears to be another and, some will say, more sophisticated term for Freedom as opposed to Authoritarianism. Which is to say it carries on the old perception of politics-ethics as a bipolar opposition. A dichotomy or at least a progression from one to another. And indeed what may be a fair assessment of how civilization has changed. As indeed we have changed from carts to cars but that does not define their purpose.
One only has to look at the definition for Open, to see how inadequate it is. It defines class in society and fixed class as opposed to a more open system, but not the motivation and end purposes. And indeed has equality as merely that of opportunity.
The ideal authoritarian system is based on belief in subservience to that authority. But Open and Free are ambivalent terms. Freedom and equality are in the same dimension, such that they increase the more we are away from authoritarianism. But they must be qualified by other values, so that we are free and equal as autonomous egos. Or free and equal as mutually responsible members of society. Not a linear concept of society, but a two dimensional triangular relationship. We have an obsession with one value, freedom. If we had a similar obsession with responsibility-duty, the popular talk would be of whether we should be responsible or duty bound to anyone, or be free and independent. If we had an obsession with the ego we might see this as the individual ego or that of the 'state' set against or opposed to society.
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