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Case 13-7 (Universal Values)
May. 17th, 2019 11:21 pmI went trough the university education during the creative time of destruction. The Soviet Empire unexpectedly collapsed, the Communist Party lost its leading role and the education system was in disarray. It was clear that the technical disciplines could be taught further without adjustments to the new capitalistic ages but at the same time everybody understood that the Marxist ideology must be replaced with something more trustworthy.
This was the only time when the professors did not received instructions from above and could decide by themselves what they can and must teach. Professors gave us the knowledge that they considered important and students asked them for information that was interesting or promising. If something did not passed into a standard program, it was enriched with "experimental" or "additional" courses.
Our philosophy seminars were held by a young optimistic man. He was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan where he had received a hole in his chest what he perceived very philosophically. This was the time of honesty after many decades of lie and he had described his experience, his emotions and his conclusions without boasting or complains.
The theme of his doctoral dissertation were the universal values. Fortunately the comrade General Secretary Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev had declared that the right goal of the Soviet people must be not the communism but the democracy and the European values. Consequently the theme turned to be hot and the thesis defense was very successful.
After this achievement was officially fixed on paper the philosopher had written a paper that explained why the idea about universal human values is wrong. He had reached this conclusion a bit earlier but was forced to wait until all bureaucratic processes for his academic degree were finished.
As a man who was forced to kill to survive he did understood that there are a lot of cases when the space for agreement is too narrow and nobody will be granted with an opportunity to widen it to find something universal for all participants of the dispute.
( Read more... )
This was the only time when the professors did not received instructions from above and could decide by themselves what they can and must teach. Professors gave us the knowledge that they considered important and students asked them for information that was interesting or promising. If something did not passed into a standard program, it was enriched with "experimental" or "additional" courses.
Our philosophy seminars were held by a young optimistic man. He was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan where he had received a hole in his chest what he perceived very philosophically. This was the time of honesty after many decades of lie and he had described his experience, his emotions and his conclusions without boasting or complains.
The theme of his doctoral dissertation were the universal values. Fortunately the comrade General Secretary Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev had declared that the right goal of the Soviet people must be not the communism but the democracy and the European values. Consequently the theme turned to be hot and the thesis defense was very successful.
After this achievement was officially fixed on paper the philosopher had written a paper that explained why the idea about universal human values is wrong. He had reached this conclusion a bit earlier but was forced to wait until all bureaucratic processes for his academic degree were finished.
As a man who was forced to kill to survive he did understood that there are a lot of cases when the space for agreement is too narrow and nobody will be granted with an opportunity to widen it to find something universal for all participants of the dispute.
( Read more... )
