presently suffering an epidemic of mental health issues and loneliness . Many scholars question whether our society is suffering from a crisis of meaning . To what extent can we attribute our ‘ less human ’ educational choices and programs , and I would say purposes , to the sense of meaninglessness evident in our suicide rates and mental health statistics ? What might be contributing to this overall rather bleak commentary on today ’ s educational system ?
Earlier this year I read an excellent article by David De Carvalho , published in The Weekend Australian . De Carvalho , in expressing his concern at the current challenges facing Western civilisation , takes us back around 500 years and notes that ‘ like many illnesses , the underlying cause is actually a positive development taken to extremes ’. De Carvalho is talking about Western societies ’ pursuit of individual freedom . However , he notes that ‘ what began as a drive for human liberation ( indeed something positive and empowering ) has gradually mutated over time , into a force for human enslavement ’.
What has caused this mutation ? In exploring how our pursuit of personal liberty has now become a source of enslavement , De Carvalho presents a long list of contributors towards this predicament . Most notable is the decline of religion over recent centuries .
Now , despite the poor efforts of many Christians over the centuries , Christianity has up until very recently provided a foundational road map for Western civilisation .
De Carvalho also identifies the work of Francis Bacon , who championed the power of human reason and promoted the separation of science and religion as another contributor to the mutation of freedom . Further , Hobbes , Locke and Rousseau are mentioned for their work in progressing the notion of the social contract , which similarly influenced the understanding of individual liberty . Our economics teachers and students will know Adam Smith ’ s The Wealth of Nations , and the rise of free market capitalism ; again , a major factor in shaping individual freedom and wellbeing .
In considering other voices in this space , Karl Marx progressed the view that true individual freedom can only exist when one can do or have anything one desires . Indeed , Marx posited that the tearing down of religion was the precondition for offering true happiness , through the establishment of an economic system that does not alienate the workers from the fruits of their labour . Both Reich and Marx claimed that the traditional family was in fact a unit of oppression .
In adding to the list , we know that Nietzsche famously declared that ‘ God is dead ’. Nietzsche
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