Freedom of knowledge
Johannes Gutenberg took the idea of printing by moveable type and turned it into a publishing system. In doing so he changed the world. If you told him in 1468 the year he died that the Bible he had published in 1455 would undermine the authority of the Catholic Church, power the Renaissance and the Reformation, enable the Enlightenment and the rise of modern science, create new social classes and even change our concept of childhood, he would have looked at you blankly. But there lives among us today a man who has done something similar, and survived to see the fruits of his work.
He is Tim Berners-Lee, and he conceived the system for turning the internet into a publishing medium. Just over 15 years ago on August 6, 1991, to be precise he released the code for his invention on to the internet. He called it the world-wide web, and had the inspired idea that it should be free so that anyone could use it.
(John Naughton, Observer published in New Zealand Herald, 21 August 2005, A8)
LIBERALISM: A POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
The Historical Context
15th 18th Century
The spread of literacy and printing
Freedom of thought and speech
Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties'. John Milton (1644) Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty on Unlicensed Printing
18th Century Enlightenment
the ideas of liberalism led to democratic politics
Enlightened intellectual periods
Greece in the 5th and 4th C BC
Cairo, Damascus, Constantinople, Baghdad A.D. 7-9th C
China and India at different times in the first millennium
Questions
Why didn't these periods of enlightenment produce democracy?
What else is needed to ensure that democracy becomes the political system?
Liberalism's Role
Expanding economy not sufficient
Democracy requires commitment to freedom of thought and to the toleration of that freedom
19th Century Classical Liberal ideals
(John Stuart Mill)
Social contract government
Parliamentary institutions
Citizenship
Freedom of speech and the press
Tolerance
Impartial law
Human rights
Merit and hard work rewarded
Reason not superstition
Individual freedom
Human agency
Public private division
Separation of church and state
Influential Writers
John Locke (1689) Second Treatise on Civil Government
limits to the authority of the ruler
Adam Smith (1776) An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations
restrictions on government cause economic prosperity
John Stuart Mill (1869) On Liberty
The individual is sovereign
Alexis de Tocqueville (1833) Democracy in America
Civil society (1831) see Gustafson, pp16-7
The actions of individuals acting together for their own interests and in the interests of the community creates a workable relationship between individuals and society.
The printing press was, arguably, the most impactful invention in history. Created by Johannes Gutenberg, the printing press are sets of metal letters set in a frame that could be inked, papered and pressed. The printing press affected the fast and wide spread of new ideas changing everyday life. The Protestant Reformation was a movement that changed people’s mind about Catholic belief and created new sects of Christianity. The Exploration Era led to many discoveries of the Americas and opened up the curiosity of many. Both of these historical events were important consequences of the printing press. The Exploration Era was the more important consequence of the printing press than the Protestant Reformation.
"In the fall of 1999, Arts & Entertainment Television aired a three-hour series titled, “Biography of the Millennium." The show counted down from 100 the most influential people of the last 1000 years, and number one on the list was Johannes Gutenberg. This German craftsman revolutionized the world in the 1450s by inventing the printing the printing press"(Background Essay). The most important consequence of the printing press were it changes life of millions, we learn from it by reading books, magazines, novels and it spread because everyone started using it pretty quickly.
History has shown us that in order for a society to flourish there must be some commonality within the society. Sharing similar values, interests and cultures may be the basis for forming a community. The true test of a society is when communities can comprise, merging together as a larger, stronger, united society. For this process to even begin, there must be a common factor, be it foe, economic reasons, etc., a common goal amongst the communities. A prime example is the creation of a united American society. To truly appreciate the complexity of forming a united society you must first understand why these groups of people came to this strange new land. What similarities they shared, the differences which divided them and the force which unified them.
Johannes Gutenberg is credited to as being the inventor of the first moveable printing press. Johannes Gutenberg was a big promoter in learning and literature. Printing was the most famous thing that Johannes Gutenberg will be known for.
Mutuality. Mutuality is the ideal which showcases compromise, cooperation, and equality. Mutuality emphasizes that in finding common interests which present equally beneficial outcomes to both the community and the individual there can be increased community cooperation (Clear & Karp, 1999). The foundation of this concept is inclusion as “by framing the individual’s stake in community life in the context of disclosing and fostering interdependencies” (Clear & Karp, 1999, p. 123), the mutuality model can be achieved.
Winthrop, John. “Liberty is the proper end and object of authority”. Our Nations Archive .
Imagine watching a vigorous baseball or hockey game, you watch your favorite team struggle to make a goal but your least favorite team keeps scoring. As you keep watching, you start to get aggravated and don’t know what is happening to make them not score. As you are watching you realize they are all over the place and not working together as a team. All of a sudden, your favorite team starts to work together and makes a huge comeback. One may ask why they are not scoring as well as the other team? This is just one element which can be greatly affected by teamwork. Everything in society can and will be affected by teamwork and helping others. Working together makes a enormous difference in each and every one's life in society.
Wright, John Samuel Fletcher. Liberty in Key Works of John Locke and John Stuart Mill. Thesis Deakin University, 1995.
Everyday we have the opportunity to make a positive impact. No matter how great or how small, you can make a difference. This quote by Jack Canfield is true for most people, but what we sometimes fail to see is that though we may never get to see our work in its full glory, small things can make a huge difference in the future. This is very much like the Renaissance, where many individuals made achievements that to them may have seemed small, but has shaped our entire world today. One such individual is Johannes Gutenberg and his innovations in the field of printing.
Community is like a Venn diagram. It is all about relations between a finite group of people or things. People have their own circles and, sometimes, these circles overlap one another. These interceptions are interests, common attitudes and goals that we share together. These interceptions bond us together as a community, as a Venn diagram. A good community needs good communication where people speak and listen to each other openly and honestly. It needs ti...
Johann Gutenberg is credited for the invention of the printing press, a monumental advancement in technology that changed the world forever. It has been regarded as, “one of the most important inventions in the history of humankind.” What was once a tedious process, became a fast, easy, and cheap way to produce great quantities of books. It granted public access to a wealth of knowledge never seen before. Rapid spread of ideas was the catalyst of social and cultural revolutions, the consequences of which are still apparent today. The printing press can be thought of as the internet of the 15th century, a facilitative mechanism of social, economic, scientific, and religious. Hypothetically speaking, if the printing press was never invented, it is possible that there would be no Renaissance, religious reformation, or scientific and intellectual revolution, and thus there wouldn’t be a modern world as we know it.
During 1448 a German inventor named Johann Gutenberg changed the world. With many different strategies that he overcame and ways that he could spread his creation, he did it so that the whole nation could experience his brilliant invention. Although, there were many achievements throughout the world that deeply impacted many things that we still use today, the most important achievement throughout technology is the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. It helped spread the sprouting of religion, books and as well as influencing the public’s opinion throughout articles and newspapers.
Should the most selfish elite individual take heed and meditate on the ideology behind community, he/she may awaken to the fact that many persons looking after one person has more advantages and a better survival rate than one trying to preserve one. The needs of the one will never outweigh the needs of the collective group. In the end individuality inevitably leads to self-destruction; therefore, commitment to community is a requirement for contemporary Americans and vital to its survival.
In its simplest form, cooperation may involve only two people who work together towards a common goal. Two college students working together to complete a laboratory experiment, or two inter-city youths working together to protect their 'turf' from violation by outsiders are examples. In these cases, solidarity between the members is encouraged and they share together the reward of their cooperation. Social satisfaction is achieved by a group of people working together or doing activities together. Even though cooperation isn’t that practical with our people in our own society it can be found within the youths involved in sports and other recreational activities. Cooperation within students in schools as mentioned as an example, is practiced on a regular basis during group discussions and group presentations. But speaking about cooperation and society together, cooperation is very essential for society to continue grow stronger and a good living residence for