As I begin to write this opening blog on AIPPDS website, one question is uppermost in my mind. Can we be totally focused on issues relating to public policy and development studies without any bias towards or against any government or political ideology. Can we be free from selfish instincts and interests?
Some politically minded folks and diehard utilitarian will say NO. For they take it for granted that our minds, thoughts and activities are inevitably political or otherwise self-serving. They might have Aristotle in mind when they say or think so. Aristotle had famously said that Man was a political animal. But Aristotle’s context was different. In Aristotlean society the slaves and toiling class of people were considered to be too sub-human to belong to the citizenry or any civic group. Naturally, his Polity was targeted at the powerful and privileged few who have to be necessarily political animals to protect their powerful and privileged status. But that was two Millennium-old history.
Today, when a student learns or a teacher teaches some subjects, say, history or political science or economics or natural science, do they necessarily have any political objective in mind that lurks behind their learning or teaching activities? Or, when a peasant toils in a firm, does he or she have any political objective behind their labor? We do not think so. Without being vitriolic, we can say that the powerful or privileged few or committed political ideologues who thrive on toiled labor of the rest are the ones think, strategize and manipulate politically.
In today’s supposedly democratic societies, the staple for social vitality is free agency. Most inspiring creative personalities in our societies are free agents who are not obligated to serve anybody’s vested interests. Of course, it is true that our minds cannot be totally free from some preconceived thoughts and perceptions. Yet it is also true that we have the capability to learn to change our preconceived mindset and worldview.
What is however more challenging is to be free from selfish interests and ego-driven instincts. But humanities have overcome these challenges in the past and we shall overcome such challenges in future. We shall transcend narrowness, selfishness, egoistic and subjective bias to develop our free agency and deliver value to all beings in our societies. For that purpose, we shall expand our mind and intellect. AIPPDS shall promote expansion of mind and intellect by developing our critical thinking and analytical abilities so that we can progressively develop our intellectual and moral free agency and generate value for all beings in our social action ecosystem.