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A measure of humanity
91
A MEASURE
OF HUMANITY
Magda Cordell McHale
with Peggy Choong
Faced with the complex global problems of today and the threat they pose to the survival of the planet, we need to seek new ways of perceiving ourselves and our world, and of approaching our problems. This article looks at how we have arrived at a world created ‘in the image of man’, and presents a new emerging metaphor to guide us into the future, ‘in the image of humanity’. I .
.
.
So God created
man in His own
image Genesis
. . . I:27
. . . And from the earth and the sky and the water, ‘man’ created the world in ‘his’ own image . . .’ Center
for Integrative
Studies
Through the centuries, ‘man the measure’ has been used as the yardstick of decision making. The world was created in the ‘image of man’. Technologies, the use of metals and minerals from the ground, the allocation of resources, the division of labour, the conquest of nature and the ecological relationship were created in the very ‘image of man’ the victor and the ‘superior’ being. The affairs of the world were largely conducted on the basis of these ‘masculine principles’. Notwithstanding the indisputable advancements engendered, humanity now faces several major crises that threaten to undermine its existence. We are living in an era of imbalance and paradox. Never before has humanity possessed so much knowledge to feed itself abundantly, to free itself from laborious chores to pursue leisure and self-fulfilment, to extend its own earthly lifespan and voyage out into uncharted space. Yet humanity does not possess the wisdom to feed the hungry millions, curb its self-annihilating tendencies and protect the planet and its environs. The ecological imbalance alone threatens to make humanity the planet’s most endangered species. Yet paradoxically, this period as never before contains the promise of great opportunity and gives much reason for optimism and hope. Today’s particular context calls for a new language to convey the fullness of its qualities and the subtlety of its nuances. Language is Magda Cordell McHale is a Research Professor and Director at the Center Studies, School of Architecture and Planning at the State University of New York 14214, USA, and a member of futures’s advisory board. She works chiefly cultural and technological implications of the overall process of change in Choong is an architect and planner, currently a Research Associate at the Center Studies, working on issues of global change and development.
FUTURES
February
1989
0016-3287/89/010091-03$03.00
@ 1989 Butterworth
for Integrative at Buffalo, NY on the social, society. Peggy for Integrative
& Co (Publishers)
Ltd
92
A measure
of humanity
important as it reflects and expresses the thoughts, values and perceptions of society. Language as embodied in metaphors takes on an importance of far greater dimensions; encapsulating large concepts and a wide range of human experience in a succinct metaphor helps us to create images that order our world for us as a guide to action. At this point in human history, one has to question the validity of ‘man the measure’ of all things and to re-examine the prevailing metaphor of the world created in the ‘image of man’. Images have a strong bearing on decision making. No matter what precise methodological approaches may be employed in formulating policies, goals or options, they are dependent on the image (gestalt) or the ‘holding pattern’ or concepts that form the background for the assessment process.
The ‘economic
man’
The images of today’s world seem to be dominated by that of the ‘economic man’. This model demands an intensification of economic growth measured in quantitative material terms and is largely the criterion of social gains and general progress. The economic calculus dominates large areas of the decision-making and policy formulation process. Even in our social and value accounting the metaphors captured in such terminologies as ‘costbenefit analysis’, ‘cost-effectiveness’ and ‘risk benefit’ reveal profoundly the economic priorities that are associated with the allocation of resources and the attempted quantification (as if it is possible) of social values. On the larger world scale, the economic calculus remains a major stumbling block to increased integration between Third World nations and advanced countries. Other images captured in other commonly used metaphors also underscore their inadequacy. Terminologies such as ‘means’, ‘performance’ and ‘procedures’ are increasingly valued for their own sakes in terms of ‘rational efficient processes’. They have become increasingly detached from the ‘qualitative’ human context. In many ways this has affected the image of man as ‘professional’: the professional scientist, the professional soldier, the professional politician and so on. Here, the use of expert knowledge is divorced from responsibility for its final outcome or its end-use, thus evolving an ‘occupational morality’ increasingly separate from human values and ethics.
New awareness Yet it is heartening to observe that a greater awareness seems to have been aroused in recent years. Our human society seems to be moving away from such an androcentric view in which rationality, efficiency and values are gauged in wholly economic terms. The masculine model of society based on man’s own image demands control as opposed to sharing, competition as opposed to cooperation, power as opposed to empowerment and hierarchy instead of integration. The rigidity and impracticality of such an approach has become increasingly unpalatable to both genders. With the post-industrial era well underway and as we enter the new and exciting changing information age, the presumption of ‘man the measure’
FUTURES
February
1989
A measure
of humanity
93
seems clearly inadequate to assume the multifaceted and interdependent array of issues at hand. Can the values and perceptions of man captured in our present metaphors serve as a guide or a measure for all future human endeavours? The world in the ‘image of man’ remains plagued with unmanaged problems and fails to satisfy and fulfil us as wholesome humans. Even worse, it fails to recognize and nurture the basic, intrinsic quality of human nature-our humanness. Obviously, a new metaphor is needed to help us with the understanding of ongoing changes and future possibilities. A metaphor more practical and useful already exists. It has been a familiar part of our lives for many centuries but our perception of it has been unclear and blurred. Over the years, it has never been fully understood, used or perceived as useful or adaptable for our ailing world. This softer, caring approach is inherent in human nature but is practised in the main by women. On the whole, it is not stimulated and even less admitted to by the other gender. This softer, caring approach is the ‘way of women’. As such, we do not mean it to be viewed as yet another issue that obscures the discussion of already pressing issues, nor it to be perceived as a new problem to add to the divisiveness of the human family. Rather, it contains within itself a potential for coherence. It arose out of the protection and nurturance of life, and contains adaptive characteristics which are able to adjust easily to prevailing changes. Deeply ingrained in it are patterns of tendencies to nurture rather than destroy, to integrate and share rather than divide and compete, and to solve sets of problems at a time rather than categorize and stratify. The characteristics of the problems today call for the qualities and discipline inherent in this softer, caring model. The solution to them may lie in the re-interpretation of gender roles and relationships as reciprocal and interdependent as well as mutually supportive. The way of women means non-segregational, non-divisive, equal, compassionate, cooperative and interdependent.
The world in the image of humanity Inherent in this more caring model is a different conduct that is essential to the management of our human affairs. Its major function is that of encapsulating an increased awareness of the quality of ‘humanness’-it contains within itself a renewed humanism. This may serve as a catalyst that will bring us closer to creating a more wholesome, fulfilling and integrative world that is not built in the image of one or the other gender. A world in the ‘image of humanity’ will be created on the basis of the ethics of humanism, nurturing us through sharing between genders, a balance of yin and yang, and the ecological balance of the world. Human nature gives us much to be optimistic about; and ‘human as the measure’ of values, strategies, goals and lifestyles is necessary for our redefinition of the quality of life, ecological nurturance and ultimately the perpetuation of human life. What is needed for our futures is the integrative human being.
FUTURES
February
1989
A MEASURE
OF HUMANITY
Magda Cordell McHale
with Peggy Choong
Faced with the complex global problems of today and the threat they pose to the survival of the planet, we need to seek new ways of perceiving ourselves and our world, and of approaching our problems. This article looks at how we have arrived at a world created ‘in the image of man’, and presents a new emerging metaphor to guide us into the future, ‘in the image of humanity’. I .
.
.
So God created
man in His own
image Genesis
. . . I:27
. . . And from the earth and the sky and the water, ‘man’ created the world in ‘his’ own image . . .’ Center
for Integrative
Studies
Through the centuries, ‘man the measure’ has been used as the yardstick of decision making. The world was created in the ‘image of man’. Technologies, the use of metals and minerals from the ground, the allocation of resources, the division of labour, the conquest of nature and the ecological relationship were created in the very ‘image of man’ the victor and the ‘superior’ being. The affairs of the world were largely conducted on the basis of these ‘masculine principles’. Notwithstanding the indisputable advancements engendered, humanity now faces several major crises that threaten to undermine its existence. We are living in an era of imbalance and paradox. Never before has humanity possessed so much knowledge to feed itself abundantly, to free itself from laborious chores to pursue leisure and self-fulfilment, to extend its own earthly lifespan and voyage out into uncharted space. Yet humanity does not possess the wisdom to feed the hungry millions, curb its self-annihilating tendencies and protect the planet and its environs. The ecological imbalance alone threatens to make humanity the planet’s most endangered species. Yet paradoxically, this period as never before contains the promise of great opportunity and gives much reason for optimism and hope. Today’s particular context calls for a new language to convey the fullness of its qualities and the subtlety of its nuances. Language is Magda Cordell McHale is a Research Professor and Director at the Center Studies, School of Architecture and Planning at the State University of New York 14214, USA, and a member of futures’s advisory board. She works chiefly cultural and technological implications of the overall process of change in Choong is an architect and planner, currently a Research Associate at the Center Studies, working on issues of global change and development.
FUTURES
February
1989
0016-3287/89/010091-03$03.00
@ 1989 Butterworth
for Integrative at Buffalo, NY on the social, society. Peggy for Integrative
& Co (Publishers)
Ltd
92
A measure
of humanity
important as it reflects and expresses the thoughts, values and perceptions of society. Language as embodied in metaphors takes on an importance of far greater dimensions; encapsulating large concepts and a wide range of human experience in a succinct metaphor helps us to create images that order our world for us as a guide to action. At this point in human history, one has to question the validity of ‘man the measure’ of all things and to re-examine the prevailing metaphor of the world created in the ‘image of man’. Images have a strong bearing on decision making. No matter what precise methodological approaches may be employed in formulating policies, goals or options, they are dependent on the image (gestalt) or the ‘holding pattern’ or concepts that form the background for the assessment process.
The ‘economic
man’
The images of today’s world seem to be dominated by that of the ‘economic man’. This model demands an intensification of economic growth measured in quantitative material terms and is largely the criterion of social gains and general progress. The economic calculus dominates large areas of the decision-making and policy formulation process. Even in our social and value accounting the metaphors captured in such terminologies as ‘costbenefit analysis’, ‘cost-effectiveness’ and ‘risk benefit’ reveal profoundly the economic priorities that are associated with the allocation of resources and the attempted quantification (as if it is possible) of social values. On the larger world scale, the economic calculus remains a major stumbling block to increased integration between Third World nations and advanced countries. Other images captured in other commonly used metaphors also underscore their inadequacy. Terminologies such as ‘means’, ‘performance’ and ‘procedures’ are increasingly valued for their own sakes in terms of ‘rational efficient processes’. They have become increasingly detached from the ‘qualitative’ human context. In many ways this has affected the image of man as ‘professional’: the professional scientist, the professional soldier, the professional politician and so on. Here, the use of expert knowledge is divorced from responsibility for its final outcome or its end-use, thus evolving an ‘occupational morality’ increasingly separate from human values and ethics.
New awareness Yet it is heartening to observe that a greater awareness seems to have been aroused in recent years. Our human society seems to be moving away from such an androcentric view in which rationality, efficiency and values are gauged in wholly economic terms. The masculine model of society based on man’s own image demands control as opposed to sharing, competition as opposed to cooperation, power as opposed to empowerment and hierarchy instead of integration. The rigidity and impracticality of such an approach has become increasingly unpalatable to both genders. With the post-industrial era well underway and as we enter the new and exciting changing information age, the presumption of ‘man the measure’
FUTURES
February
1989
A measure
of humanity
93
seems clearly inadequate to assume the multifaceted and interdependent array of issues at hand. Can the values and perceptions of man captured in our present metaphors serve as a guide or a measure for all future human endeavours? The world in the ‘image of man’ remains plagued with unmanaged problems and fails to satisfy and fulfil us as wholesome humans. Even worse, it fails to recognize and nurture the basic, intrinsic quality of human nature-our humanness. Obviously, a new metaphor is needed to help us with the understanding of ongoing changes and future possibilities. A metaphor more practical and useful already exists. It has been a familiar part of our lives for many centuries but our perception of it has been unclear and blurred. Over the years, it has never been fully understood, used or perceived as useful or adaptable for our ailing world. This softer, caring approach is inherent in human nature but is practised in the main by women. On the whole, it is not stimulated and even less admitted to by the other gender. This softer, caring approach is the ‘way of women’. As such, we do not mean it to be viewed as yet another issue that obscures the discussion of already pressing issues, nor it to be perceived as a new problem to add to the divisiveness of the human family. Rather, it contains within itself a potential for coherence. It arose out of the protection and nurturance of life, and contains adaptive characteristics which are able to adjust easily to prevailing changes. Deeply ingrained in it are patterns of tendencies to nurture rather than destroy, to integrate and share rather than divide and compete, and to solve sets of problems at a time rather than categorize and stratify. The characteristics of the problems today call for the qualities and discipline inherent in this softer, caring model. The solution to them may lie in the re-interpretation of gender roles and relationships as reciprocal and interdependent as well as mutually supportive. The way of women means non-segregational, non-divisive, equal, compassionate, cooperative and interdependent.
The world in the image of humanity Inherent in this more caring model is a different conduct that is essential to the management of our human affairs. Its major function is that of encapsulating an increased awareness of the quality of ‘humanness’-it contains within itself a renewed humanism. This may serve as a catalyst that will bring us closer to creating a more wholesome, fulfilling and integrative world that is not built in the image of one or the other gender. A world in the ‘image of humanity’ will be created on the basis of the ethics of humanism, nurturing us through sharing between genders, a balance of yin and yang, and the ecological balance of the world. Human nature gives us much to be optimistic about; and ‘human as the measure’ of values, strategies, goals and lifestyles is necessary for our redefinition of the quality of life, ecological nurturance and ultimately the perpetuation of human life. What is needed for our futures is the integrative human being.
FUTURES
February
1989