First Cosmopolitan

The First Cosmopolitan Thesis (Part Two of a Series)

By John Taylor; 2006 November 22

Kant begins his outline of a proposed new, holistic history of the
entire human race, what he calls the "Cosmopolitan Idea," with a
discussion of our common purpose in nature. This he terms the
"teleological theory of nature." Here is his keynote presupposition for
the first thesis:

"All natural capacities of a creature are destined to evolve completely
to their natural end." (pp. 250-251)

He then says that if you look at any animal, this will be immediately
evident. A beast's muzzle and nose have their uses, which include
allowing it to smell and breathe. If the nose had no use, it would be
strange. What is our role and purpose as humans? This is the big
question. We have to believe that we have some coherent goal. As Kant
says, if we did not it would contradict the entire purposeful or
teleological theory of nature. If we give this up, there would be dire
consequences.

"If we give up this fundamental principle, we no longer have a lawful
but an aimless course of nature, and blind chance takes the place of the
guiding thread of reason."

Since Kant wrote this our knowledge about the intermingling of multiple
purposes of organs within organisms has exploded. We now know that every
cell in the body unfolds according to the plans and purposes of a
unitary genetic code designed to ensure the adaptation and survival of
the species. We have cracked the human genome, and now brain researchers
have progressed to the point where they are talking about cracking the
"neuron code," the intricate machineries of hardware and software that
interact among the billions of neurons and synapses in our brain.

Nature is highly advanced in this teleology. Structure follows purpose
and purpose follows structure in a dance of unity in diversity, all
contributing to survival for both organisms and ecosystems.
Unfortunately, as humans our conscious grasp of our purpose, our
teleology in nature and the universe, has so far shown itself
inadequate, tenuous and sporadic. The result in the political sphere is
the phenomenon of revolutionary conflict. Change leaps forward and
immediately falls back to worse than it was before. In modern scientific
terminology, this is called a non-linear system. A reasoned order is
linear, rational, and comprehensible. If we ever did grasp our purpose
fully we would construct our world according to linear reason. The
consequences of teleology would be peace and world order.

The present revolutionary order (we are still in it) would be supplanted
by what Kant later in this Cosmopolitan History calls a "league of
nations." Earlier thinkers in the realm now called peace studies, he
notes, have scoffed at the idea of a league of nations, but he sees it
as an unavoidable result of the full use of purpose and reason.

"Nature forces them to make at first inadequate and tentative attempts;
finally, after devastations, revolutions, and even complete exhaustion,
she brings them to that which reason could have told them at the
beginning and with far less sad experience, to wit, to step from the
lawless condition of savages into a league of nations. In a league of
nations, even the smallest state could expect security and justice, not
from its own power and by its own decrees, but only from this great
league of nations (Foedus Amphictyonum), from a united power acting
according to decisions reached under the laws of their united will.
However fantastical this idea may seem -- and it was laughed at as
fantastical by the Abbi de St. Pierre and by Rousseau, perhaps because
they believed it was too near to realization -- the necessary outcome of
the destitution to which each man is brought by his fellows is to force
the states to the same decision (hard though it be for them) that savage
man also was reluctantly forced to take, namely, to give up their
brutish freedom and to seek quiet and security under a lawful
constitution." (256)

As Kant has said in the headpiece to this first thesis, all of this is
the natural outcome of our design. Our design follows our purpose and
role in the natural order. Hence it is our destiny. "All natural
capacities of a creature are destined to evolve completely to their
natural end." (pp. 250-251) This statement of faith is at the heart of
what every world citizen stands for. It has tremendous consequences.

It should jump out at us that Kant is beginning to sketch here in this
first idea of cosmopolitanism our first Baha'i principle, the
independent investigation of reality. At the heart of this principle is
a profound conviction that search is our reason for being. It is why we
were created. It informed our structure. It is why God gave us this body
its oversized brain.

God surely could have created us without reason, or with partial reason,
and let us work things out according to the laws of biology and ecology.
Our psychology, morality and politics all would be subject to the checks
and balances of nature, where blind growth is lopped off sporadically by
predation, disease and territorial struggle. This would be what Kant
calls the "revolutionary order." We would have no choice, no freedom in
reason, only what he calls in the next thesis "brute freedom." War would
be the way of the world, forever, until our reason enabled us to destroy
one another. Instead, God gave us holistic reason for a purpose. His
gifts of will and reason have a teleological purpose, to grasp His
unity. Baha'u'llah says,

"Religious principles have various degrees and stations. The root of all
principles and the cornerstone of all foundations hath ever been, and
shall remain, the recognition of God." (Tabernacle, 2.15)

This is the principle of purpose phrased in religious language, but
Baha'u'llah insists that the principle of purpose is not complete
without an action phase. This is the principle phrased in scientific
language, and is basically the same thing. The "first utterance" of the
All-Merciful is, "Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye
live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and
requirements." (Tabernacle, 2.7)

Once we attain this divine and scientific appreciation our reason for
being raises our station. Our very nature changes. We reflect what
appertains unto Oneness, qualities like love, kindness and knowledge.
Our order becomes reasoned and linear; human affairs cease to be
explosively non-linear, revolutionary. We are then ready to form a
league of nations, and eventually found a world civilization.

The nature of reason is to follow theory with action, in other words, to
plan. Anything but a plan is non-linear, explosive, counterproductive.
Let us envision a plan starting in 2010 with a year devoted to carrying
out Kant's principle of human destiny.

Year One, 2010, The Year of Enlightenment, or Release from Tutelage

This year would be devoted to investigating reality. It would be devoted
to devising a common language of purpose and search. To rephrase the
first thesis of the Cosmopolitan History:

"Our natural capacities as human beings are destined to evolve
completely to our natural end."

Our natural end, as we have seen, is to recognize God and to address the
urgent needs of the human race. These two must be done at the same time,
each bolstering the other, without one ever interfering with the other.
It is a unitary process. A Greek philosopher said: "To do more than one
thing is to do nothing." To investigate God without investigating the
urgent survival needs of the human race and the planet at the same time
would be to nullify both. To do this one thing will fulfill our destiny.

This year would initiate what I am calling Web 4.0, the broadening,
formalizing, and universalization of the Socrates Cafe movement as the
tool for rooting the teleological theory of our nature in the minds of
all. Meetings would be held everywhere, on the net and in person, among
the most diverse groups possible, in order to investigate our purpose
for being and acting. The patron saint for this year is Socrates,
founder of the cosmopolitan world order.

Tomorrow we will go on to the second thesis, and the second year of the
plan.