[February 2000 journal entry]
‘Freedom’ (understood as individual choice and responsibility) makes my short list of great ideas and highest values, meaning that ‘freedom’ has been/is central to my intellectual efforts and that to diminish my ‘freedom’ is to diminish my ‘self’ (and, therefore, my integrity or identity).
The establishment/protection of ‘freedom’ in a society such as the United States is analogous to the concentration in medical school and residency training on the mastery of the core scientific/medical knowledge base and the technical skills prerequisite for practicing medicine. These tasks have to be treated – at least temporarily – more as ‘ends’ than as ‘means’. However, as special knowledge and technical skills do not equal being ‘professional’ or result in ‘the art of medicine’, neither does the establishment/protection of ‘freedom’ necessarily result in a ‘well-lived life’.
I would propose (1) that the Christendom era (@600-1600 AD) had no foundational or weight-bearing place for ‘freedom’ (understood as individual choice and responsibility) and (2) that, in the modern era to date, the establishment of ‘freedom’ (understood as individual choice and responsibility) still remains more an ‘end’ to be achieved than a ‘means’ by which to achieve other ends. Reaching back for and attempting to recreate medieval Christendom are neither realistic nor appealing aspirations. Instead, using the above analogy of medical education/training, I see the modern era at present as analogous to recently graduated residents who face the realization that they are not yet ‘professionals’ or able to practice in a seasoned way the ‘art of medicine’. The context in which they mature is often not particularly helpful/encouraging. Nor is the present context in the United States very supportive for maturing from treating ‘freedom’ as an ‘end’ to treating ‘freedom’ as a ‘means’.
‘Freedom’ (understood as individual choice and responsibility) makes my short list of great ideas and highest values, meaning that ‘freedom’ has been/is central to my intellectual efforts and that to diminish my ‘freedom’ is to diminish my ‘self’ (and, therefore, my integrity or identity).
The establishment/protection of ‘freedom’ in a society such as the United States is analogous to the concentration in medical school and residency training on the mastery of the core scientific/medical knowledge base and the technical skills prerequisite for practicing medicine. These tasks have to be treated – at least temporarily – more as ‘ends’ than as ‘means’. However, as special knowledge and technical skills do not equal being ‘professional’ or result in ‘the art of medicine’, neither does the establishment/protection of ‘freedom’ necessarily result in a ‘well-lived life’.
I would propose (1) that the Christendom era (@600-1600 AD) had no foundational or weight-bearing place for ‘freedom’ (understood as individual choice and responsibility) and (2) that, in the modern era to date, the establishment of ‘freedom’ (understood as individual choice and responsibility) still remains more an ‘end’ to be achieved than a ‘means’ by which to achieve other ends. Reaching back for and attempting to recreate medieval Christendom are neither realistic nor appealing aspirations. Instead, using the above analogy of medical education/training, I see the modern era at present as analogous to recently graduated residents who face the realization that they are not yet ‘professionals’ or able to practice in a seasoned way the ‘art of medicine’. The context in which they mature is often not particularly helpful/encouraging. Nor is the present context in the United States very supportive for maturing from treating ‘freedom’ as an ‘end’ to treating ‘freedom’ as a ‘means’.
