PART I
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), in his brilliant essays, made two profound points about the Meaning of Civilization.
- A political setup that favors individual liberty, civility and democratic choice is the best that humanity can hope for (due to the selfish desires of individuals).
- However, only such a society, when constructed from the bottom up can survive – when built from the top down, it must fail due to social affiliations.
Therefore, all Tribal Affiliations precludes such an Open Free Society ever working.
PART II
In the years 510-507 BCE in Athens, endless Tribal-controlled disputes were terminated for three whole generations creating the Golden Age. By the fourth generation, with the death of Pericles the Great in the second year of the Peloponnesian War (531-504 BCE), the individual lust for Social Superiority on the part of all ‘leading citizens’ destroyed Athens from within. Such ‘leading citizens’ were the narcissistic descendants of the many superrich families – who had only become superrich due to three generations of the Golden Age’s business and commerce.
The end of those tribal disputes was created by the new Cleisthenes Constitution which largely continued the prior Solon political constitution but completely changed the Social Order. All old Tribes were abolished to be replaced by ten new Artificial Tribes – each with a complete religious control of everyone’s social life. It (for three generations) made individual virtue and excellence far more powerful in any personal dispute than any social affiliation (public or private) of either disputant.
For three generations, Social Equality before the Law was supreme. When Pericles died, that all came to an end.
