: Antonis Anastasiadis
: Think Practical Political Philosophy
: AKAKIA Publications
: 9781910714683
: 1
: CHF 6.00
:
: Philosophie, Religion
: English
: 275
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
A contemporary book of social-political and philosophical content which depicts all the social-political occurances of the modern society. What was it like and what should the human society be like? What do the social political terms: Society, State, Citizen, Member Of Parliament, Democracy etc mean? How do they function and how should they? Is there corruption and degrading and in what form? Does real freedom exist? Does the citizen really function? Where are we heading to and what do we expect with the contemporary social political systems?
Such issues and a lot more are mentioned in the present book, analyzing according to order and mentioning concisely the whole process of man's evolution with regard to his social political involvement since his socialization.
In this book, the reader will definitely find his own thoughts. The books ambition is to en-force and activate them. Some others, however, may be partially or completely differentiated. Those will provoke comparison, contemplating and redetermining old solidified beliefs. However, all of them, following various routes will tend to questioning and the pursuit of a more ideal society. The reader will definitely recognize a lot of practices which occur in the contemporary international society and others which used to exist in the past. The reader is asked to question themselves and find answers, choosing the most appropriate to his mind.
In an age of political indifference, levelling, selfishness, apolitical behaviour on the part of the smashing majority of the citizens and political arrogance on the part of the supposed politicians, this book aspires to lead to the citizen's politicized behaviour to the greatest extent. Solutions do exist! All it takes is that we for once shout with all our might: 'Yes! I shall save humanity!'. It may sound utopian but it is not at all. Indeed, we sometimes do need to search even in the realms of utopia until we find a truly considerable aim in our life. Provided we do not get captured there.
The present writing does not aspire to offer formulas, solutions and answers. It aims to tempt and provoke reactions. It does not believe in authenticity so you will not find aphorism, regulations or dogmatic principles. Any quote of intellectual people since ancestry, wishes to cause questioning and become a reminder of perpetual pursuit.
The aim of this book is definitely not to develop a complete political system. In some cases, some personal views are presented, some others are adjusted to the already existing political system and some directions or even 'visions' appear. But that's just it.
As the book moves on, the reader will experience constant stirring and enforcement of those which they already have in their reflections. In essence, this book means to push, to empower, to stir and remind everything that already exists within the reader so that they question themselves, meditate and react in accordance with what is demanded. The aim is - to the extent that it can happen - to agitate the stagnant water which causes the stench of the contemporary human society.
Everybody recognises that this stagnation this attitude to downplay crucial issues, the reliance, and the indifference poison our everyday life and do not help us in our further humanization. On the contrary, we are sliding downwards, slowly but steadily to our dehumanization in the familiar way of mithridatism.
Is it about time we reacted, became politically active and asserted the human society we truly deserve?
Is it the right time to demand our rights in an atmosphere of respect, self-respect and inter-respect? Our actions shall prove it!







Think Citizen!

Man is the citizen of the world

(Antisthenes, 445-360 BC)

The ‘Citizen’ is treated here as a person enjoying political freedom, as a cosmopolitan, foundation stone of a small or large society or state as well as a personal entity. What are examined herein are the concept of citizenship and the ways citizens function within today’s democratic political systems, but also the degree citizens’ inalienable rights remain active or have been violated. The mutual interdependence of citizenry, their difference from the uninvolved/mere subject, and finally the level of civilization and self-respect that should distinguish a citizen are also discussed.

Think Citizen3, think and rekindle in your memory the whole concept of your quality. Go back to the old years, long before the concept of ‘individual citizen’ appeared. How was the individual then? What was his or her natural state? What was his or her individual standing? What was his or her social standing? What has finally been the historical process to this day as well as the developmental changes that gave rise to the present society? Who should at the end of the day be named ‘Citizen’?

Think, respond and reflect profoundly on the answers to the above questions, Citizen, and take them into serious consideration, so that you should come to understand how you should lead your life today as a ‘Citizen’. Try to understand and show respect for your fellow Citizen. Understand eventually the value and the magnitude of the concept of the ‘Citizen’ and set the ideal ‘Citizen’ as your target. A citizen is not he or she who simply resides in a place or a society. A citizen is not simply a person who has the right toelect andbe elected. A citizen is not he or she who simply has access to the three powers of democracy. No! A Citizen is one who possesses all the above but who on a daily basisfunctions andpartakes actively, substantively and continuously in the society he or she lives. A Citizen is the person enjoying internal and external freedom, a person who consciously chooses his or her freedom on his or her own free will.That person is a ‘Citizen’. But it is of utmost importance at this point for you to clearly comprehend what this concept stands for. Search behind and underneath the dust of the past, in the dark corridors of history, anthropology and sociology. Become a tracer of the process, the development and the appearance of the ‘Citizen’. You ought to learn about your ultimate quality as a member of human society on this earth,the quality of the ‘Citizen’. Are you aware, Citizen, of your past and your present so as to determine your future?

Think, Citizen, and reflect as you travel to the past guided byHistory. You meet yourself in the corridors of human history, you come across the ‘individual’ as some distant ancestor of yours. Feel and discover him through every stage of his historical development. Just a few thousand years ago, you were a living being free in nature.This isyour individual freedom,your natural state. You do not feel insecure, you do not see your fellows as adversaries; you are a free4 hunter and gatherer, an irresponsible and carefree individual. You lived as a free individual, yet two of your qualities stood out, ‘wondering’ and ‘questioning’. These two prompted you to seek something more. You were an independent individual, with loose social bonds, with the exception of a bond you developed a few thousand years ago and guarded through the centuries of your historical development. This was thefamilial bond, particularly centered on the elderly mother. This was the only unconscious social behavior that constituted the first cell of your upcoming organised society. What is the situation of your family today?

Think, Citizen and ponder on the first form of collectivity and your social behavior. Your first small-scale society was your family. It was there that you were provided first with the most basic and greatest care and safety.Family represents the first form and the only naturally-occurring state of social symbiosis. Freely-formed by free individuals with free spirit of mutual respect and care, the family is imbued with unselfish love. That is how it has gone through the centuries. At a later time, Citizen, by grouping several families together, you created larger societies to fend yourself off from external threats. Your ideals therefore were freedom, respect, love, and provision of care and many others which can now be seen only amongst groups of creatures lower than yourself. In your development, you abandoned many of those ideals and the question why you did so remains unanswered. How did you allow those ideals to disappear, Citizen? Do you have any idea what you are made of in the final analysis?

Think, Citizen and self-reflect. You are comprised of two entities, this of theindividual and that of the member of a collectivity, that ofthe member of a society. Consistently and meticulously you should preserve these two comprising factors that will jointly determine your personality as a single entity. Distinguish the clear borders and the particular responsibilities that accrue from each of the two factors. With crystal-clear thinking, envision and foresee when each of the two is being compromised and when both are. Do not confuse them and do not sell one out in favor of the other. This would be even worse than being deprived of your rights by some ‘external’ power. Remember that you are a liv