Yes, Capitalism & Socialism are the two sides of the same coin.
One gives priority to exploiting the Resources, and the other gives priority to sharing the fruits of the Ressources.
But both are mainly the result of the same Western Vertical Vision of the World, where we have in the background : God >> Mankind >> Resources (living & non-living).
« The ancient mythology is, mostly, a contract by which the mankind promise an eternal worship to the gods in exchange for their domination on plants and animals: the first chapters of the Genesis are an example of choice.» (« Sapiens » — Yuval Noah HARARI — Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
With this Vertical Vision in mind, added to the Free Will of each individual >> leads to a society where all individuals are free an equal before the common Law. Our liberal Economic system appears to be a daughter of this Western Vertical Vision of the World : free & equal human individuals dominating the living & non-living ressources.
Today, after only a few centuries of rapid growth, the Vertical Vision is producing major drawbacks in many fields. The coin side which share more than the other seems to enjoy a more effective social cohesion. For the time being.
In most instances, the sources of the problems have not been targeted.
So far, we have only been able to address the effects of the causes.
« When Animism was the dominant system of faith, the standards and human values had to consider the perspective and the interests of this multitude of the other beings, such as animals, plants, fairies and ghosts. » ( « Sapiens » — Yuval Noah HARARI — Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
I like to repeat that there is an interesting Horizontal Vision of the World to be considered, which has been slowly elaborated through hundreds of thousand of years of Social Evolution. The different First People on various continents have independetly ‘’invented’’ their own Horizontal Vision version. Their Vision (and the social values/rules which goes with it) enabled them to survive during very long periods of time, as well as going through several Climate Changes.
The First People animism places humans at the same level & among the other (living & non-living) beings. Each being have a spririt. Therefore, they all deserve equal respect.
« These societies considered as primitive (…) and destined for extinction (…) offer the only model to understand the way the mankind lived (…) during an historic period corresponding (…) to 99 % of the total duration of life of the humanity) » (L’Anthropologie Face aux Problèmes du Monde Moderne » — Claude Lévi-Strauss — Anthropologist)
It often occurs that an animist society have a Creator God. After creating the world, He then retired in some remote place (mountain,…) and is believed to be still resting there.
Of course, it would be absurd to propose « moving back to live in caves ». But there are certainly a few essential Values which would benefit to us all (‘’all’’ = in the animist sense) if we managed to translate them into social Rules, and spread them worldwide.
The anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss proposed the concept of ‘’Generalized Humanism’’ which he describes as follows « A well ordered humanism does not begin with oneself but places the world before the life, the life before mankind, the respect for the other beings before the self-esteem. » (ref. book : L’Anthropologie Face aux Problèmes du Monde Moderne )
We have difficulties to conceive what such modern world could look like. This world would be an earthquake for our current Values & Ethics ! Therefore, it seems unlikely that democracy will be of any help to bring forward such revolution.
A spiritual & ecological revolution of minds would be required first.
I guess that only some world disaster could create the conditions for the mankind to then look for radical changes. Maybe the situation which would follow some « Giant Black Swan » could lead the survivors to « freely choose » Beliefs, Values, Ethics & Rules enabling human beings to live in full respect of -and harmony with- the other living & non-living beings.
Maybe an « After Capitalism » society could be based on such sustainable & respectful Vision of the World.
« The golden age which a blind superstition had placed behind -or in front of- us is in us. » (« A World on the Wane » — Claude Lévi-Strauss — Anthropologist)
Jean P. Ciron (Aug. 2017)
