1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:07,000 RSAnimate 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,000 www.theRSA.org 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Matthew Taylor 4 00:00:17,150 --> 00:00:18,700 The RSA has a new strapline 5 00:00:18,762 --> 00:00:23,150 and that strapline is 21st Century Enlightenment. 6 00:00:23,290 --> 00:00:25,700 The original Enlightenment in the 18th century 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,480 was not, of course, a single cohesive movement. 8 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,400 It didn't have a simple start and finish. 9 00:00:31,460 --> 00:00:35,680 So when we think about the core ideals of the Enlightenment 10 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:37,870 it is not simply a kind of historical process. 11 00:00:37,930 --> 00:00:40,320 It's in a way when we think about how those ideals 12 00:00:40,340 --> 00:00:42,850 shaped modern values, norms and lifestyles. 13 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,800 It is a kind of process of cultural psychotherapy. 14 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:47,350 We are delving into what has shaped 15 00:00:47,350 --> 00:00:51,150 the collective consciousness of modern people. 16 00:00:51,250 --> 00:00:54,540 And that enables us to explore critically whether those values 17 00:00:54,580 --> 00:00:57,150 and what they have come to mean to us, still work for us 18 00:00:57,210 --> 00:01:01,000 and whether they meet the challenges that we now face. 19 00:01:03,220 --> 00:01:04,890 So, whereas I don't underestimate 20 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,400 the ability of human beings to invent and to adapt 21 00:01:08,500 --> 00:01:10,500 in the end, on balance, I do favor the view 22 00:01:10,550 --> 00:01:13,920 that we do need to live differently in the 21st Century. 23 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,742 And as the architects of the Enlightenment understood 24 00:01:16,802 --> 00:01:18,871 to live differently involves thinking differently, 25 00:01:18,901 --> 00:01:22,152 involves seeing the world and ourselves from a new perspective. 26 00:01:22,152 --> 00:01:23,375 In critically examining 27 00:01:23,383 --> 00:01:26,300 what Enlightenment values have come to mean to us 28 00:01:26,323 --> 00:01:28,854 what we can now bring to bear is 29 00:01:28,956 --> 00:01:32,900 powerful new insights into human nature 30 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,250 insights that have emerged from a variety of scientific disciplines 31 00:01:36,250 --> 00:01:39,700 social sciences over the last 20 or 30 years. 32 00:01:40,250 --> 00:01:43,274 Copernicus, Galileo and Newton 33 00:01:43,375 --> 00:01:45,650 helped to lay the ground for the Enlightenment 34 00:01:45,694 --> 00:01:47,650 by revealing that the laws of nature 35 00:01:47,650 --> 00:01:50,750 not only failed to conform to religious doctrine, 36 00:01:50,750 --> 00:01:53,204 but also they failed to conform to intuition. 37 00:01:53,304 --> 00:01:56,600 So, the Pope might have said the sun went round the earth. 38 00:01:56,700 --> 00:01:59,150 It might have felt like the sun went round the earth, 39 00:01:59,270 --> 00:02:01,254 but science showed otherwise. 40 00:02:01,380 --> 00:02:06,200 And I think that insights into human nature have a similar double impact, 41 00:02:06,300 --> 00:02:10,797 also unsettling our intuitive sense of ourselves in the world. 42 00:02:10,990 --> 00:02:13,400 Most of our behavior, including social interaction 43 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,300 is the result of us responding automatically to the world around us 44 00:02:17,410 --> 00:02:20,253 rather than the outcome of conscious decision-making 45 00:02:20,353 --> 00:02:22,570 and in this sense, it's more realistic to see ourselves 46 00:02:22,570 --> 00:02:25,310 as integrally connected to the social and natural world 47 00:02:25,310 --> 00:02:28,803 rather than as a separate, wholly autonomous entity. 48 00:02:28,946 --> 00:02:31,650 The research is clear, if you want to be a happier person 49 00:02:31,650 --> 00:02:35,661 don't read a self-help book. Just have happier friends. 50 00:02:37,591 --> 00:02:39,690 And, there are other lessons that we can learn 51 00:02:39,790 --> 00:02:43,463 from the more subtle and holistic model of human nature now emerging. 52 00:02:43,463 --> 00:02:47,255 You know, we're not very good at making long-term decisions. 53 00:02:48,702 --> 00:02:51,400 We're much better at understanding relative than absolute values 54 00:02:51,430 --> 00:02:53,000 and as we found out in the credit crunch 55 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,250 we are enthralled to what Keynes called "animal spirits". 56 00:02:57,335 --> 00:02:59,212 Perhaps even more startlingly 57 00:02:59,212 --> 00:03:02,650 we are very, very bad at predicting what's going to make us happy 58 00:03:02,776 --> 00:03:07,000 and we're even bad at describing what made us happy in the past. 59 00:03:07,100 --> 00:03:11,000 So, I would argue that the moral and political critique of individualism 60 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,100 now has an evidence base 61 00:03:13,100 --> 00:03:15,020 and it's with this in mind that I argue 62 00:03:15,028 --> 00:03:17,350 the 21st Century Enlightenment should champion 63 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:21,400 a more self-aware, socially-embedded model of autonomy 64 00:03:21,495 --> 00:03:24,400 that recognises our frailties and limitations. 65 00:03:24,500 --> 00:03:28,074 Now this does not mean repudiating the rights of the individual 66 00:03:28,074 --> 00:03:31,100 and nor does it underestimate our unique ability 67 00:03:31,116 --> 00:03:33,380 to shape our own destinies. 68 00:03:33,460 --> 00:03:37,500 Indeed, it's actually by understanding that conscious thought 69 00:03:37,500 --> 00:03:39,530 is only a part of what drives our behaviour 70 00:03:39,540 --> 00:03:42,494 that we become better able to exercise self-control. 71 00:03:42,494 --> 00:03:47,500 All of this can enable us to distinguish our needs from our appetites 72 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,631 and our amazing human potential from the hubris of individualism. 73 00:03:51,761 --> 00:03:54,700 It's the basis for self-aware autonomy. 74 00:03:54,870 --> 00:03:57,000 The developmental psychologist Robert Kegan argues 75 00:03:57,030 --> 00:03:58,950 that successfully functioning in a society 76 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,050 with diverse values, traditions and lifestyles 77 00:04:02,140 --> 00:04:05,350 requires us, in his words, to have a relationship to our own reactions 78 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,060 rather than be captive of them. 79 00:04:11,565 --> 00:04:15,250 I quote "To resist our tendencies to make right or true 80 00:04:15,257 --> 00:04:16,900 that which is nearly familiar 81 00:04:17,030 --> 00:04:22,000 and wrong or false, that which is only strange." 82 00:04:23,500 --> 00:04:26,950 Now, the good news, and it is really good news, is that there is 83 00:04:27,060 --> 00:04:30,332 every reason to believe that we can expand empathy's reach. 84 00:04:30,450 --> 00:04:34,785 Despite major departures from the trend, most terribly in the 20th Century 85 00:04:34,850 --> 00:04:36,110 the history of the human race 86 00:04:36,110 --> 00:04:40,381 has been one of diminishing person-to-person violence. 87 00:04:41,728 --> 00:04:43,400 Since the advent of modern civil rights 88 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,695 we've seen a revolution in social attitudes based on race, gender, sexuality. 89 00:04:47,695 --> 00:04:49,739 Furthermore, real-time global media 90 00:04:49,739 --> 00:04:52,014 brought the suffering of distant people into our living rooms 91 00:04:52,014 --> 00:04:54,058 and immigration, emigration and foreign travel 92 00:04:54,058 --> 00:04:58,000 all provide us with opportunities to put ourselves in other people's shoes. 93 00:04:58,300 --> 00:05:02,350 There are reasons to ask whether the process of widening human empathy 94 00:05:02,390 --> 00:05:06,560 has stalled, and at just the time when we need it to accelerate. 95 00:05:06,690 --> 00:05:09,670 After 4 decades of post-war progress 96 00:05:09,790 --> 00:05:12,517 levels of inequality have risen in the rich world. 97 00:05:12,517 --> 00:05:14,514 Tensions between different ethnic groups persist 98 00:05:14,514 --> 00:05:19,430 and have taken on new dimensions. Anti-immigrant sentiment has grown 99 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:21,800 arguably reflecting a failure by policy makers 100 00:05:21,835 --> 00:05:26,100 to balance the imparities of globalisation and the idea of universalism 101 00:05:26,190 --> 00:05:30,720 with the empathic capacity of the communities most affected by change. 102 00:05:30,850 --> 00:05:33,250 From gangs to the impact of violent video games 103 00:05:33,250 --> 00:05:35,600 there are worries about young people. 104 00:05:35,660 --> 00:05:38,160 Globalisation and public deficits 105 00:05:38,175 --> 00:05:40,100 may mean that future generations in the West 106 00:05:40,172 --> 00:05:44,300 face tougher challenges than their parents. 107 00:05:44,422 --> 00:05:48,000 So the stalk of global empathy upon which democratic leaders can draw 108 00:05:48,100 --> 00:05:51,250 has to grow, if we are to reach agreements 109 00:05:51,250 --> 00:05:54,200 which put the long-term needs of the whole planet 110 00:05:54,340 --> 00:05:57,850 and all its people ahead of short term national concerns. 111 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,450 But the chain linking inter-personal, communal 112 00:06:00,490 --> 00:06:03,400 and global scale empathy is complex. 113 00:06:03,550 --> 00:06:06,870 Intellectuals, politicians and interest groups and think tanks 114 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:08,840 spend an enormous amount of time 115 00:06:08,900 --> 00:06:11,473 debating what should be the content of universalism. 116 00:06:11,473 --> 00:06:14,104 Which rights? Which entitlements? Which capabilities? 117 00:06:14,194 --> 00:06:16,581 But shouldn't we perhaps just spend a little more time 118 00:06:16,581 --> 00:06:19,580 exploring the foundation of universalist sentiment? 119 00:06:19,690 --> 00:06:22,225 What is it that enhances, and what is it that diminishes 120 00:06:22,225 --> 00:06:23,900 our empathic capacity? 121 00:06:24,010 --> 00:06:25,800 Policy implications range from a 122 00:06:25,869 --> 00:06:28,200 continued emphasis on the earliest child-rearing 123 00:06:28,377 --> 00:06:31,500 to developing schools as intelligent communities 124 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,630 to exploring the way popular culture inclines us to think of other people. 125 00:06:36,750 --> 00:06:38,880 For example, a culture which prized empathy 126 00:06:38,896 --> 00:06:41,473 would be one which distinguished the healthy activity 127 00:06:41,473 --> 00:06:47,810 of public disagreement from the unhealthy habit of public disparagement. 128 00:06:49,620 --> 00:06:52,680 It's become a cliche that education 129 00:06:52,713 --> 00:06:55,916 is the most valuable resource in a global knowledge economy. 130 00:06:55,916 --> 00:06:59,500 I would argue that fostering empathic capacity is just as important 131 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,640 to achieving a world of citizens at peace with each other 132 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:04,800 and with themselves. But 133 00:07:04,900 --> 00:07:08,733 even were we to have more self-aware and more empathic citizens 134 00:07:08,733 --> 00:07:12,150 they would still face dilemmas and differences of opinion. 135 00:07:12,300 --> 00:07:14,860 I want to encourage us to recognise that the question 136 00:07:14,885 --> 00:07:19,080 "What is progress?" raises substantive and ethical questions 137 00:07:19,186 --> 00:07:21,300 which we should be more willing to acknowledge 138 00:07:21,300 --> 00:07:25,250 to honour and to debate how are we to make those decisions. 139 00:07:25,350 --> 00:07:28,563 Of course, the utilitarian answer lies in maximizing human happiness 140 00:07:28,563 --> 00:07:30,340 and if the progress is measured in those terms 141 00:07:30,450 --> 00:07:32,900 we have done well since the Enlightenment. There is little doubt. 142 00:07:33,010 --> 00:07:35,810 The poorest citizens of the developed world now have better health 143 00:07:35,854 --> 00:07:38,700 longer life spans and many more resources and opportunities 144 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,450 than those who would have been considered well-off a century ago. 145 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:43,730 But sometimes 146 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:45,653 sometimes it feels as though the idea that 147 00:07:45,653 --> 00:07:47,905 progress should be designed to increase happiness 148 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,552 has turned into the assumption that pursuing progress 149 00:07:50,650 --> 00:07:54,900 is the same as improving human welfare. 150 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,379 The success of the Western post-Enlightenment project 151 00:07:57,379 --> 00:08:01,378 has resulted in a society like ours being dominated by 3 logics: 152 00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:03,400 The logic of science and technological progress 153 00:08:03,500 --> 00:08:06,450 the logic of markets and the logic of bureaucracy 154 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,128 And the limits of the logic of science and of markets 155 00:08:09,128 --> 00:08:13,401 lie in their indifference to a substantive concern for the general good. 156 00:08:13,481 --> 00:08:16,580 If something can be discovered and developed, it should be discovered and developed. 157 00:08:16,605 --> 00:08:19,130 If something can be solved, then it should be solved. 158 00:08:19,250 --> 00:08:21,680 And the problem for bureaucracy is the tendency 159 00:08:21,727 --> 00:08:24,671 to put the rationality of rules above the rationality of ends. 160 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:26,800 And so, it is in this context 161 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,470 that the 21st century Enlightenment project demands a re-assertion 162 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:34,350 of the fundamentally ethical dimension of humanism. 163 00:08:34,500 --> 00:08:38,810 How can we make it easier to ask "Is this right?" 164 00:08:38,950 --> 00:08:41,580 Is it to be a world where so many of us feel that the shape of our lives 165 00:08:41,700 --> 00:08:44,399 is dictated not by the idea of a life fully lived 166 00:08:44,399 --> 00:08:46,600 but by social convention and economic circumstances? 167 00:08:46,650 --> 00:08:49,250 Why should we cram education into the first quarter of our lives 168 00:08:49,350 --> 00:08:53,269 desperately balance work and caring in the 2nd and 3rd quarter 169 00:08:53,369 --> 00:08:56,079 and then feel that we're going to suffer second class status 170 00:08:56,079 --> 00:08:58,570 and the fear of neglect in the final quarter? 171 00:08:58,650 --> 00:09:01,907 You see, rationality can tell us how best to get from A to Z 172 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:07,050 but without ethical reasoning, we cannot discuss where Z should be? 173 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:09,152 So what we aim for 174 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:12,650 can be as important to our well-being 175 00:09:12,788 --> 00:09:15,000 as what we achieve. 176 00:09:15,214 --> 00:09:19,700 As Michel Foucault says of Kant's own description of the Enlightenment 177 00:09:19,830 --> 00:09:23,525 "It has to be conceived as an attitude, an ethos 178 00:09:23,525 --> 00:09:26,400 a philosophical life in which the critique of what we are 179 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,284 is at one and the same time the historical analysis 180 00:09:29,284 --> 00:09:31,400 of the limits that are imposed on us 181 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,500 and an experiment of the possibility of going beyond them. 182 00:09:36,743 --> 00:09:41,520 To be responsible, to create a big society, to live sustainably 183 00:09:41,660 --> 00:09:44,070 this not simply a matter of will. 184 00:09:44,190 --> 00:09:47,200 The 21st Century Enlightenment calls for us to see past 185 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:54,710 simplistic and inadequate ideas of freedom, of justice, and of progress. 186 00:09:54,850 --> 00:09:58,370 Perhaps it's time to stop chasing those myths 187 00:09:58,500 --> 00:10:00,860 to stop being transfixed by abstractions 188 00:10:00,886 --> 00:10:03,951 and instead to reconnect a concrete understanding 189 00:10:03,951 --> 00:10:06,470 of who we are as human beings 190 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,600 to political debates about who we need to be 191 00:10:09,740 --> 00:10:12,450 and philosophical and even spiritual exploration of 192 00:10:12,566 --> 00:10:15,816 whom we might aspire to be. 193 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:17,600 Creative people who want to make a difference 194 00:10:17,730 --> 00:10:20,860 have a million and one opportunities and distractions. 195 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,851 To engage them means an ethic which is intolerant to negativity 196 00:10:23,851 --> 00:10:26,400 rigid thinking and self-promotion 197 00:10:26,650 --> 00:10:28,982 and instead keeps people constantly in touch 198 00:10:28,982 --> 00:10:32,060 with the words of the anthropologist Margaret Mead 199 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,210 true to the spirit which created the Enlightenment 200 00:10:35,350 --> 00:10:39,800 true to the spirit which moved the founders of the RSA, 256 years ago. 201 00:10:39,910 --> 00:10:41,960 Margaret Mead said simply this: 202 00:10:42,100 --> 00:10:45,500 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens 203 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:47,350 can change the world. 204 00:10:47,350 --> 00:10:51,400 Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."