Analysis too narrow
Aug 05, 2009
EDITOR—On August 2, Kajabago ka Rusoke wrote a very interesting piece on human beings being constituted of material and spiritual elements entitled “Corruption, material property are linkedâ€.
EDITOR—On August 2, Kajabago ka Rusoke wrote a very interesting piece on human beings being constituted of material and spiritual elements entitled “Corruption, material property are linkedâ€.
The brilliance of his article is that he presents both as intertwined instead of suggesting, as some popular views have it, that the spirit or soul pre-exists the body.
This popular view was also the view of the philosopher Plato. It is called idealism. Others have argued the opposite, namely that the body is created first and then the spirit comes to inhabit it afterwards.
According to Kajabago, a human being is a body-spirit unity and actions in one realm influence the condition of the other. For example, he writes in his conclusion, “Never remove the economic from the spiritual and vice versaâ€. And I nod in approval.
Kajabago writes in philosophical and human tradition when he emphasises our social consciousness and the necessity of self-examination and critical reflection.
One is reminded of Socrates’ statement that “the unexamined life is not worth livingâ€. Kajabago even urges those who have made mistakes to go for ‘absolution’ although he does not say where to go for it. I have only two queries for him.
The first is with regard to his statement that “...fundamentally human relations are property relationsâ€. Isn’t that analysis too narrow? Surely, human relations cannot be subsumed under economics or commodified.
For example, the relationship of parents and children or husband and wife transcend economics and its quality is different from an economic one. Secondly, Kajabago says that if people cannot change —he is talking specifically about greed, property and the fetishism of money— then the state must intervene.
But he observes that state intervention is not the only method. Other avenues such as art, music, film, drama, and the media should be used. I would have added ‘religion’.
Rev Amos Kasibante
United Kingdom
The brilliance of his article is that he presents both as intertwined instead of suggesting, as some popular views have it, that the spirit or soul pre-exists the body.
This popular view was also the view of the philosopher Plato. It is called idealism. Others have argued the opposite, namely that the body is created first and then the spirit comes to inhabit it afterwards.
According to Kajabago, a human being is a body-spirit unity and actions in one realm influence the condition of the other. For example, he writes in his conclusion, “Never remove the economic from the spiritual and vice versaâ€. And I nod in approval.
Kajabago writes in philosophical and human tradition when he emphasises our social consciousness and the necessity of self-examination and critical reflection.
One is reminded of Socrates’ statement that “the unexamined life is not worth livingâ€. Kajabago even urges those who have made mistakes to go for ‘absolution’ although he does not say where to go for it. I have only two queries for him.
The first is with regard to his statement that “...fundamentally human relations are property relationsâ€. Isn’t that analysis too narrow? Surely, human relations cannot be subsumed under economics or commodified.
For example, the relationship of parents and children or husband and wife transcend economics and its quality is different from an economic one. Secondly, Kajabago says that if people cannot change —he is talking specifically about greed, property and the fetishism of money— then the state must intervene.
But he observes that state intervention is not the only method. Other avenues such as art, music, film, drama, and the media should be used. I would have added ‘religion’.
Rev Amos Kasibante
United Kingdom