Just like Cicero
28/05/14 09:27 Filed in: Logbook
"Libertas, quae non in eo est ut iusto utamur domino, sed ut nullo," wrote Marcus Tullius Cicero. “Liberty, which does not consist in slavery to a just master, but in slavery to no master at all”. The quote is from De re publica (II, 43). Written between 55 BC and 51 AD - two thousand and seventy years ago - it is a treatise on political philosophy similar to The Republic by Plato, which contains another formidable aphorism: “Until philosophers rule as kings, or those who are nowadays called kings and leading men become genuine and adequate philosophers ... cities will have no rest from evils”.
I will confess a grave sin: I had forgotten about Cicero, Plato and other giants of my Western, Italian culture. I freely admit: it took my reading a novel whose main character is Cicero to get me thinking about him again. The book isn't a masterpiece, but it appeared to me like a case of synchronicity. The “meaningful coincidences”, as the manifestations of this phenomenon are known, were numerous: in Cicero's Rome and today's Bangkok (where there is no Caesar let alone a Cicero, but plenty of Catilines), discussions abound on freedom and its limitations, coups d’état, patricians and plebeians, fortune-tellers and omens, tribunes of the people and consular candidates.
But these aren't the most meaningful coincidences. In the end, too much, or too little, is already being said about Thailand. The case of synchronicity led me to reflect again on the different ways of perceiving culture, civilisation and progress.
When I go back to Italy, or I speak to Italians travelling or living abroad, I often hear the same complaint: there is no difference between Thailand or other countries in the region and Europe, and especially Italy. In fact, Italy often comes out worse in the comparison. And more so when it comes to future predictions. But that is to forget that we experience the reality in countries such as Thailand in a privileged way. We look but we don't see, we don't analyse. In short, we don't know. The coup in Thailand, the introduction of sharia law in Brunei, and the human rights violations in Southeast Asian countries appear to us as marginal phenomena compared to the economic crisis that may yet mark the decline of the West. We are so focused on ourselves as to forget what we are a part of - our social system and our values.
We forget Cicero. We forget our culture and our reality. Or worse, we do not know the former and we cannot appreciate the latter. This is the one thing in which we are truly globalised, in a world of virtual reality where information is self-referential and where connection creates incommunicability.
It is a reflection that also works in the opposite direction, for others. Asians, especially Thais, justify inequalities, coups d’état, restrictions and human rights violations by affirming that their countries are not ready for democracy, that Western values cannot yet be applied to them. At the same time, however, they dispute those same values by talking up their proclaimed moral superiority that would derive from keeping their own values intact.
But it is precisely in the “intangible” goods - i.e. governance, innovation, the rule of law, welfare, freedom of ideas - that Europe can reaffirm its role, and define a cultural mode. Provided it has the conscience and capacity to do so.
Just like Cicero.
I will confess a grave sin: I had forgotten about Cicero, Plato and other giants of my Western, Italian culture. I freely admit: it took my reading a novel whose main character is Cicero to get me thinking about him again. The book isn't a masterpiece, but it appeared to me like a case of synchronicity. The “meaningful coincidences”, as the manifestations of this phenomenon are known, were numerous: in Cicero's Rome and today's Bangkok (where there is no Caesar let alone a Cicero, but plenty of Catilines), discussions abound on freedom and its limitations, coups d’état, patricians and plebeians, fortune-tellers and omens, tribunes of the people and consular candidates.
But these aren't the most meaningful coincidences. In the end, too much, or too little, is already being said about Thailand. The case of synchronicity led me to reflect again on the different ways of perceiving culture, civilisation and progress.
When I go back to Italy, or I speak to Italians travelling or living abroad, I often hear the same complaint: there is no difference between Thailand or other countries in the region and Europe, and especially Italy. In fact, Italy often comes out worse in the comparison. And more so when it comes to future predictions. But that is to forget that we experience the reality in countries such as Thailand in a privileged way. We look but we don't see, we don't analyse. In short, we don't know. The coup in Thailand, the introduction of sharia law in Brunei, and the human rights violations in Southeast Asian countries appear to us as marginal phenomena compared to the economic crisis that may yet mark the decline of the West. We are so focused on ourselves as to forget what we are a part of - our social system and our values.
We forget Cicero. We forget our culture and our reality. Or worse, we do not know the former and we cannot appreciate the latter. This is the one thing in which we are truly globalised, in a world of virtual reality where information is self-referential and where connection creates incommunicability.
It is a reflection that also works in the opposite direction, for others. Asians, especially Thais, justify inequalities, coups d’état, restrictions and human rights violations by affirming that their countries are not ready for democracy, that Western values cannot yet be applied to them. At the same time, however, they dispute those same values by talking up their proclaimed moral superiority that would derive from keeping their own values intact.
But it is precisely in the “intangible” goods - i.e. governance, innovation, the rule of law, welfare, freedom of ideas - that Europe can reaffirm its role, and define a cultural mode. Provided it has the conscience and capacity to do so.
Just like Cicero.
0 Comments