Modern Social Imaginaries - Article Example

Throughout the of time, man’s ideas and views towards the world have changed. Sometimes they change slowly, and sometimes it almost seems thatthe view of the world changed in an instant. These different theories and ideas are what starts off this article. The article starts of by discussing the new visions of moral order that developed during the time of John Locke and Grotius. These theories laid the groundwork for how we think, and also set up guide maps for how people should live inside of a society.

And the moral background of the society is one of the natural rights that were bestowed upon us, depending on which philosopher you ask, by life itself. More important to us today is the whole idea of order that has become into what people think a society should be, and how it should behave. This idea has shifted and grown throughout the centuries, to becoming one of the most important parts of how we think of ourselves inside of a society. The idea of Sainthood, as presented in the Catholic Church can be used to demonstrate and give an example of this moral ideal that some people strive for, and others can measure themselves against.

However, in was not an uncommon thought for people to think that only a few people actually worked that hard, and the rest of us were just here to live not as morally correct lives as these “saints”, and thus would not strive for the same moral perfection. From this we can see that the whole idea of order can be one of two things, a higher order and morality that is the Ultimate, such as the ancient order of Sainthood, or it can be a rational experience in the current time and the present, and if that is the case the whole idea of order is very much rational and perceived.

And this is where the modern idea of order split from the medieval, Christian ways, into a sense of order that is here and now, not to be judge later. And it is this idea of order that underlines all political theory, and all current government, using ideas that are all based off of Grotius, Locke, and Pufendorf. Of course, we have become so embedded in our now thinking, that it is often times hard to look back and dwell on how exactly we got where we are standing now. If we already know the answer, it sometimes makes it difficult to try to work backwards and solve the problem.

The new understandings of the individual works on the flip side of the understanding of society now, and this can both work for and against modern thinkers. Upon reaching our conclusion however we can easily state that the order of mutual benefits works between individuals, these benefits involve both life and all the means associated within life, and that this order is meant to help to secure freedom and make it easy for people to express themselves and their own rights. We also must not forgot that these rights must be applied to all people equally, or we are again missing the point.

The article concludes with what exactly the writer’s definition of a social imaginary is. The author was referring to something much more deep and complex that what a normal person would think when dwelling on the matter, but more along the lines of how people together fit together this own ideas about society into a whole, including how people treat them how they treat others, and wither their expectations are or are not met by the society they live within.