About the Book
We must establish our world order on the principles of human dignity if we want a credible future for humanity. This book shows how and why this is so. It investigates the meaning of human dignity in relation to current scholarly work as well as in terms of the depths of our subjective lives from which the concept of dignity arises. It contrasts the concept of dignity with our current world system engulfed in endless wars, immense inequality, systems of economic injustice, and on-going environmental destruction. It shows the relationship between dignity, human rights, and global moral principles and lays out ten fundamental principles for a planetary ethics. The book contrasts the holistic paradigm uncovered by 20th century science with the fragmented paradigm that persists at the heart of the present world system, showing how and why a conversion to holism and dignity is both necessary and possible.
Human Dignity and World Order shows that we have not yet fully understood our human existential situation as temporal beings oriented toward the future who possess the largely untapped power of a liberating “utopian imagination.” Through examining our fundamental human condition, it unveils our vast potential for self-transcendence and transformation leading toward a redeemed and credible human future in which we flourish on the Earth within a planetary civilization of freedom, justice, peace, and sustainable prosperity. This book also presents the Constitution for the Federation of Earth as a paradigm or model for practical action toward a credible human future. Altogether, the book constitutes a watershed in human self-understanding, opening possibilities for the future hitherto ignored or misunderstood. Every thoughtful person concerned for our common human future needs to read this book.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Ervin Laszlo
Prologue: Freedom and the Ethical Dimension
Chapter 1: Human Dignity: Moral, Legal, and Cultural Dimensions
Chapter 2: Contemporary Reflections on Dignity
Chapter 3: The Phenomenological Dimensions: Subjectivity, Freedom, and Infinity
Chapter 4: Theories of Evolutionary and Moral Growth
Chapter 5: Our Pathological World System
Chapter 6: The Telos of Globalization toward Unity in Diversity: Completing the
Paradigm
Chapter 7: World-System Transformation: Sovereignty, Earth Constitution, and the Dialectic of Conscious Evolution
Chapter 8: Creative Moral Laws and Human
Chapter 9: Ten Core Values for a Civilizational Ethic
Chapter 10: Power, Justice, and Freedom: Links Between Global Democracy and Human Liberation
Chapter 11: Utopian Horizon Value Theory: A Transformative Power at the Heart of Human Futurity
Chapter 12: Planetary Democracy as Our Fundamental Possibility
Chapter 13: The Constitution for the Federation of Earth: Nine Defining Principles of Authentic Democracy
Epilogue: “The World’s Base Trembles”
Appendix: Constitution for the Federation of Earth
Works Cited
Index
About the Author
About the Author :
Glen T. Martin is professor emeritus of philosophy at Radford University in Virginia. He is recipient of many peace awards and author of 12 books and hundreds of articles directed toward human liberation, world peace, justice, and sustainability.
Review :
This new book by Prof. G. Martin cannot leave anyone indifferent, because it directly affects each of us. The fragmented world community, divided into opposing blocs and alliances, has come very close to a planetary catastrophe. And this is not only nuclear suicide, but also catastrophic anthropogenic destruction of the biosphere and geosphere. What can and should be done in this regard? It is precisely these existential questions that G. Martin answers in his book. He puts human dignity and universal morality at the forefront, and also asserts the need for global democracy. And this is absolutely correct! This book answers the most important question of our time - what it means to be a human being in a global, closely interdependent world, its value increases many times, both for decision makers at the state and international levels, and for a wide audience.
This impressive and inspiring work is a philosophic tour-de-force that demonstrates why achieving democratic global government, and thereby saving our planet from perdition, requires a courageous leap rather than an incremental series of steps. Dr. Martin goes further than previous world federalist thinkers in providing an integrative argument that explicates the systemic and even cosmological and theological foundations for such a planetary transformation. He convincingly shows that the ratification of the Earth Constitution is the proper vehicle for this achievement and that the universal restoration of human dignity is both its premise and goal.
Albert Einstein stated that in the nuclear age, “We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.” Dr. Glen T. Martin’s timely new book is an example of a “new manner of thinking” in which our species may not only survive, but thrive, in a future of unimaginable achievement. Human Dignity and World Order is a compendium of the most advanced thinking concerning sustainable politico-economics, ecological sanity, and a holistic “planetary consciousness” based in dignity and the primacy of the person. Let us approach our “utopian horizon” by first ratifying the Earth Constitution.
All great political revolutions have a philosophical underpinning to explain and justify the need for change and what those changes will look like. Professor Martin provides a powerful intellectual and moral foundation that challenges the world's fatally flawed geopolitical system and provides an exciting new alternative for governing the world under the authority and leadership of the Earth Constitution, while offering us an inspired, positive future which includes the end of war itself.
Professor Glen Martin has written an exciting new book dealing with the crucial questions facing humanity in this period of armed conflicts and strong socio-political tensions. The book sets out how we may develop a potential for freedom and liberation from the chains of narrow nationalism and economic disorder. There is a need for a common moral framework for the world society. The book sets out clearly the need for a democratic world order based on this common moral framework. It is vital reading for our time!
Deeply anchored in historical wisdom while being futuristic, Prof. Glen Martin expertly fuses centuries of our shared endeavor for optimal human existence. This work, mirroring the profound Quranic verse, 'Laqad karramna bani Adam' - 'We have accorded dignity to the progeny of Adam,' stands out as a prophetic narrative. It marks Martin as a modern-day visionary, a seer, who weaves a discourse on human dignity with almost prophetic acuity.
Moving forward in dignity, driven by everyone's goal (telos) as the consummation of mankind, along the path of utopia (eu topos) as the highest form of critical thinking, one day arriving at the peaceful tranquility of a federal, world-encompassing state system, carried by the Constitution for the Federation of the Earth as the endpoint of that path: global civilization. What began as a draft with Aristotle is completed by Glen Martin.
This is a monumental work in 400 pages, covering moral, legal and cultural dimensions of peace, freedom and all life on planet earth. Everything is wrapped around the Constitution of the Federation of Earth, and finds its fulfillment in it. Citing Polish philosopher Zygmunt Bauman, Glen Martin points out that: "Within the world’s dense network of global interdependence, we cannot be sure of our moral innocence whenever other human beings suffer indignity, misery, or pain…. We might be impotent individually but we could do something together, and 'togetherness' is made of and by the individuals…" Professor Martin makes use of a vast number of sources to make his case. This is highly recommended reading.
Like many philosophers before him, Dr. Glen T. Martin enunciates unwavering truths about our human condition. Unlike many of those same philosophers, Martin provides a path to salvation for humanity by weaving together disparate threads of morality, ethics, sovereignty, governance, and law, in support of a primordial vision of human oneness and a bold plan for action. Martin calls upon holistic thinking and the Earth Constitution to help us envision how to build an ethical governing system that will allow dignity to flourish, transform human society, and safeguard the planet. We, the people, for each other and the planet, must heed this call!
With an erudite, academic, and holistic knowledge, Glen Martin envisions an emerging global democracy capable of responding to our great global challenges. Martin deconstructs the backbone of the UN system of militarized sovereign nation-states with a penetrating vision of democracy and human dignity animated by an existential theme of openness to the future as a “utopian horizon” drawing humanity toward self-realization and fulfillment. A masterpiece, realistic and full of hope.
This book elucidates the concept of human dignity in depth and contrasts a world based on dignity with our present world system that is destructive of that dignity. It shows the power of using our “utopian imagination” to transform human civilization toward a flourishing, dignity-based world order in the future. It offers concrete proposals for establishing a planetary system founded on human dignity. I strongly recommend it to all those who long for a better world of freedom, peace, justice, and environmental integrity. This is a must read!
