"We must revitalise the enlightenment and recommit to honouring its values of freedom, respect for knowledge and democracy." — Joseph Stiglitz Stiglitz, a renegade, has been attacking "neoliberalism" and intellectual orthodoxy. I wonder though which part of "the enlightenment he wants to revitalise." Is it the Steven Pinker's way of cheriching "the enlightenment"? "Recommiting to honouring the values of freedom." What were these "values of freedom" before the 40 years of "neoliberalism"? What were they in regard to what imperialism inflicted on what used to be called at that time "the third world" or the support of despotism, etc? If the solution is some sort of a new social democracy, what socio-economic form of capitalism could be the foundation?
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” —Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996, p. 51