Talk:A Guide for the Perplexed
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[edit] Parked for possible later use
The book was well recieved when first released:
Newsday wrote that the "late E.F. Schumacher understates his case in titling this book A Guide for the Perplexed; what he undertakes is to provide nothing less than a Manual for Survival, concerned not merely with individual physical or even societal endurance (though that, too), but more importantly with the full realization of human potential. Does that sound impossibly ambitious? It's only the beginning. In the process of articulating his view of life, Schumacher proceeds to knock the foundation from under much of what science has been about these past few centuries, and then to bring into synthesis the definitive tenets of the world's major religions. All this -- and more -- in only 140 pages. But hold the snickers; the man pulls it off. Compelling reasoned and persuasively presented, this Guide diagrams a view of humans and the world in which they live that will challenge and stimulate every thoughtful reader."
Theordore Roszak writing for the Los Angeles Times said that "A Guide for the Perplexed offers us a harvest of utterly sane, consoling , and life-affirming insight from one of the wisest minds of our time. It is and unapologetic defense of traditional Christian humanism which I am certain will light many a darkened path."
The Chicago Tribune wrote that "A Guide for the Perplexed is really a statement of the philosophical underpinnings that inform Small is Beautiful. Those who have read neither book should be wise to read the latest book first. Those who have read Small is Beautiful will benefit from careful reading of this new book. It's impact may be less immediate, but perhaps more substantial and lasting."
[edit] A Critique of the self-awareness Critique in "reflections"
In the "Reflections" section, an author says:
"One necessary update to its argument is that Schumacher seems to have been unaware in 1977 that dolphins, chimpanzees and orangutans have repeatedly passed the mirror test for self awareness; and so Schumacher's argument that humans are unique in self consciousness seems questionable if you accept the legitimacy of the test."
I feel that the person who wrote that did not fully understand what Schumacher meant by using the term "self-aware" (NOT self consciousness, as the author mis-writes.)
On page 17 of Guide for the Perplexed, Schumacher anticipates mis-understanding of his chosen term and tells us:
As it is necessary to have word labels, I shall call it self-awareness. We must, however, take great care to always remember that such a word label is merely (to use a Buddhist phrase) "a finger pointing to the moon." The "moon" itself remains highly mysterious and needs to be studied with the greatest patience and perseverance if we want to understand anything about man's position in the Universe.
Lest there still be left any doubt that Schumacher was referring to a faculty other than simply recognizing one's own image in a mirror, on page 132 we see:
The human being, even in full maturity, is obviously not a finished product, although some are undoubtedly more "finished" than others. With most people, the specifically human faculty of self-awareness remains, until the end of their lives, only the germ of a faculty, so underdeveloped that it rarely becomes active, and then only for brief moments. This is precisely the "talent" which according to traditional teachings we can and should develop threefold, even tenfold, and which we should on no account bury in the ground for safekeeping.
Since every normally developed adult human can recognize himself or herself in a mirror, this faculty is most obviously not what Schumacher was referring to with his term "self-awareness."
67.129.136.161 20:56, 24 November 2005 (UTC)
