Stephen Yearwood
Sep 1, 2018 · 1 min read

That really was excellent, and I do apologize for appropriating what you have presented to other ends, but what you have written is too good of an opening to pass it by. (And after all, the cause is the most important cause of the ‘Enlightenment’: justice.)

Unfortunately, the ‘Enlightenment Project’ devolved into ideology. Ideology is the secular version of theology.

Ideology was invented to replace theology for governing governance because the latter was deemed to be unsuitable for that purpose because no religion is universally accepted. Both theology and ideology are based on beliefs, however, so no ideology can necessarily be universal any more than any theology can be.

Conflicts based on beliefs can only be “contests of power” (Foucault). As a result, ideology has served no better than theology did for lessening conflict centered on ‘right’, ‘correct’, ‘just’ governance.

Liberalism, the original ideology, based on believing in equality and a priori Rights, was the best of them because it was closest to what justice really is (mutual respect in effecting choices), an ethic involving no beliefs. If curious, see “From Locke to Real Justice” here on medium.com or, a fuller version in a more political context, “People for Tolerance, Unite!”

    Stephen Yearwood

    Written by

    unaffiliated, non-ideological, unpaid philosopher and political economist