RADICAL CIVILITY

Snapshot

People are manifestations of practicality. Religion, science, culture, politics, identity, entertainment; all of it – when understood in the right context – are people trying to do what they think is the most practical and trying to convince others that what they do is right.

Intent

This thesis will introduce a form of cultural analysis and one of many interpretations that can result from it. While a practical historical appeal will be mentioned, the foundation of the presentation will be a logical and philosophical inquiry. So the reader is asked to evaluate it – at least initially – on a basis of consistency. If the text can meet that expectation, then the aim (to offer an alternative perspective for appreciating reality) has been met. With this in mind, a successful read is not predicated on convincing the reader that this prescription is the only lens through which reality can be viewed, but instead on providing an additional lens that can be used to broaden the language for cultural discussion.

The presentation will be laid out in the following sections:

1. a summary of the paper
2. description of the analytical approach
3. description of a metric to judge culture
4. what an ideal society would look like with that metric
5. a means of promoting that ideal
6. responses to expected critiques

While many may see the discussion as long and cumbersome, the purpose of the summary (0) is to provide a concise description. While it is the hope that the reader will desire to see the full context of the ideas presented within the other sections, their main purpose is to clarify misunderstandings or questions that may arise in the summary.

Additionally, a few sections will be concluded with a “natural language” explanation. These portions are included with hesitation, because they will be saturated with my own perception bias, so – while I see the need for them – I hope they aren’t the main way this thesis is understood.