The Perry Scheme of Ethical and Intellectual Development

The Perry Scheme of Ethical and Intellectual Development Perry said, while teaching at Williams College he developed: "a fateful curiosity about the ways in which so many of my students succeeded in not learning that which I was teaching them so well. " William Graves Perry 1913 -1998 "like the rest of us I was born at an impressionable age. " http: //www. news. harvard. edu/gazette/1999/05. 27/mm. perry. html

The most difficult, disturbing, destabilizing and dangerous stage for an individual "I prefer the simple world I grew up in. " Retreat "Wait a minute, this is going Temporizing too fast. " "I can’t play this game. . Feels the pull of Escape relativism but does not want to be there.

"I prefer the simple world I grew up in. " Retreat “Gone is the safe and understandable world of dualism. We can no longer rely on our authorities to give us the answers, yet nothing before this has prepared us for the full weight of the choices that are laid out before us. Some common reactions to this transition are fear, anger, betrayal, depression, and grief. This is a very difficult shift, and virtually no one makes it out unscathed. People who get hurt or overstressed while trying to reason at Position 4 or higher often regress to Position 2 and hold it even more vehemently than they did before. ”

In reaction to the terrifying uncertainty of relativism, the student regresses to Position 2, but with an added moralistic righteousness and a hatred of otherness. Not only are others wrong, but they are so wrong that they deserve no rights at all. An immense amount of prejudice, bigotry, and closedmindedness emerges as the student attempts to regain the certainty he once understood. "I prefer the simple world I grew up in. " Retreat

Fundamentalisms 1. A movement in North American Protestantism that arose in the early part of the 20 th century in reaction to modernism and that stresses the infallibility of the Bible not only in matters of faith and morals but also as a literal historical record, holding as essential to Christian faith belief in such doctrines as the creation of the world, the virgin birth, physical resurrection, atonement by the sacrificial death of Christ, and the Second Coming. 2. Strict adherence to any set of basic ideas or principles: the fundamentalism of the extreme conservatives.

Fundamentalisms Beliefs Reverend Davidson Loehr Fundamentalism is too fearful, too restrictive, too lacking in faith to provide a home for the human spirit to soar or for human societies to blossom. http: //www. uuworld. org/2004/01/feature 2. html

Fundamentalisms Beliefs American Academy of Arts and Sciences The Fundamentalism Project More than 100 scholars from all over the world took part, reporting on every imaginable kind of fundamentalism. And what they discovered was that the agenda of all fundamentalist movements in the world is virtually identical, regardless of religion or culture. http: //www. uuworld. org/2004/01/feature 2. html

Fundamentalist Beliefs Dr. Walter B. Shurden, founding Executive Director of The Center for Baptist Studies. Fundamentalism is "not so much an ideology as it is an attitude, an attitude of intolerance, incivility and narrowness. It is an attitude that says, 'We have the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and we are going to impose it on you and control the system so that you will have to knuckle under to it. ' “It is an attitude that cuts off microphones, rudely terminates debate, stacks committees and centralizes power in order to control. It is not restricted to the right or the left. " http: //www. baptiststandard. com/2001/7_23/pages/left_fundies. html

Fundamentalist Beliefs Richard Dawkins (left) and Daniel Dennett (right) When I thought about which features of the book I would talk about tonight, knowing who the others were who were going to be speaking about it, I realized that I should perhaps stick to some of the grander, larger, more philosophical themes and leave some of the wonderful details to people who are more expert in those. And I also thought, on rereading the book, that the late Steve Gould was really right when he called Richard and me Darwinian fundamentalists. http: //www. albertmohler. com/blog_read. php? id=575

Fundamentalist Beliefs Richard Dawkins (left) and Daniel Dennett (right) And I want to say what a Darwinian fundamentalist is. A Darwinian fundamentalist is one who recognizes that either you shun Darwinian evolution altogether, or you turn the traditional universe upside down and you accept that mind, meaning, and purpose are not the cause but the fairly recent effects of the mechanistic mill of Darwinian algorithms. It is the unexceptioned view that mind, meaning, and purpose are not the original driving engines, but recent effects that marks, I think, the true Darwinian fundamentalist. http: //www. albertmohler. com/blog_read. php? id=575

Fundamentalist Beliefs Richard Dawkins (left) and Daniel Dennett (right) And Dawkins insists, and I agree wholeheartedly, that there aren't any good compromise positions. Many have tried to find a compromise position, which salvages something of the traditional right-side-up view, where meaning and purpose rain down from on high. It cannot be done. And the recognition that it cannot be done is I would say, the mark of sane Darwinian fundamentalism. http: //www. albertmohler. com/blog_read. php? id=575

Fundamentalist Beliefs In Institutions "Underneath the civilizing fantasies of any institution lie the archaic issues of anxiety management and self interest. When these two threats are activated, institutions, like individuals, tend to regress and abandon their founding vision. Such regression leads to our multiform fundamentalisms, because all fundamentalisms are driven by fear, and each is captive to some ideology that is worshiped without doubt, for it promises to deliver them from what they fear. "

Fundamentalisms Beliefs A Psychological Analysis of Fundamentalism Anitra Lenore Freeman • A strictly hierarchical and authoritarian worldview. Everything has to have a First, a Somebody in Charge. In any partnership, one partner has to have the deciding vote. Groups and societies work best with rigidly defined roles and stratifications. (There are people who believe this way who are not fundamentalists: at least, not religious fundamentalists. ) • Ethical development at the "reward and punishment" stage: morality must be defined and enforced by an external authority. • A lot of guilt and fear about sex. http: //anitra. net/activism/fundamentalism/psychology. html

Fundamentalisms Beliefs A Psychological Analysis of Fundamentalism Anitra Lenore Freeman • Basic distrust of human beings; certainty that "uncontrolled" human beings will be bad and vicious, particularly in sexual ways. • Low tolerance for ambiguity. Everything must be clear cut, black and white. Nothing can be "possibly true but unproven at this time, we're still studying it. " Fundamentalists regard science as flawed precisely because science changes. (A striking characteristic of fundamentalists is that their response to any setback which may instill doubt is to step up evangelizing for converts. ) http: //anitra. net/activism/fundamentalism/psychology. html

Fundamentalisms Beliefs A Psychological Analysis of Fundamentalism Anitra Lenore Freeman • Literalism, usually including a limited sense of humor. • Distrust of their own judgment, or any other human being's judgment. • Fear of the future. The driving motivation of fundamentalism appears to outsiders to be fear that oneself or the group one identifies with is losing power and prerequisites and is in danger from others who are gaining power. This is not how fundamentalists put it. • A low self-esteem that finds satisfaction in being one of the Elect, superior to all others. It seems to be particularly rewarding to know that rich people have a real hard time getting into Heaven. http: //anitra. net/activism/fundamentalism/psychology. html

The bodies of the men and boys over age 16 of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, murdered by the Nazis on June 10, 1942, in reprisal for the assassination of SS Leader Reinhard Heydrich.

Surviving the walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and fearing no evil. . .

Characteristics of Commitment Positions 7 -9

Commitment Does Not Assure Being Rightsomething in your life Commitment is just finding to dedicate your life too. Commitment could be to. . . • A profession • A person • A religious conviction • A way of life • Or anything else you choose to believe in.

Commitment Does Not Assure Being What you commit to Right depends on. . . • • • Parental predilections Genetic predisposition Sibling influences Peer pressure Educational experience Life impressions – how confident, or how threatened you feel. How vulnerable or how adventurous you feel.

Commitment Does Not Assure Being What your commit to. Right is not based on your intelligence. High intelligence Shermer argues that the intellingence scale. . . Weird Beliefs Normal Beliefs . . . is orthogonal to (at right angles to) the belief scale. Low intelligence

hy People Believe Weird Things Commitment Does Not Assure Being Right Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrive at for non-smart (read emotional) reasons.

Fundamentalisms in Historical Context Why the sway of fundamentalism varies historically, and is well developed in our times

David Hackett Fisher The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History

The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History Are we living in normal times, or unusual times? Are fundamentalisms today normal, high, or low? We found evidence of four pricerevolutions since the twelfth century: four very long waves of rising prices, punctuated by long periods of comparative priceequilibrium. This is not a cyclical pattern. Price revolutions have no fixed and regular periodicity. Some were as short as eighty years; others as long as 180 years. They differed in duration, velocity, magnitude, and momentum.

The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History The first stage of every price-revolution was marked by material progress, cultural confidence, and optimism for the future – an equilibrium condition. The second stage was very different. It began when prices broke through the boundaries of the previous equilibrium. This tended to happen when other events intervened-commonly wars of ambition that arose from the hubris of the preceding period. These events sent prices surging up and down again, in a pattern that was both a symptom and a cause of instability. The consequences included political disorder, social disruption, and a growing mood of cultural anxiety.

The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History

The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History The third stage began when people discovered the fact of price-inflation as a long-term trend, and began to think of it as an inexorable condition. They responded to this discovery by making choices that drove prices still higher. • hoarding, price gouging, cheating, price fixing, etc. A fourth stage began as this new institutionalized inflation took hold. Prices went higher, and became highly unstable. They began to surge and decline in movements of increasing volatility. Severe price shocks were felt in commodity movements. The money supply was alternately expanded and contracted. Financial markets became unstable. Government spending grew faster than revenue, and public debt increased at a rapid rate. In every price-revolution, the strongest nationstates suffered severely from fiscal stresses.

The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History Finally, the great wave crested and broke with shattering force, in a cultural crisis that included demographic contraction, economic collapse, political revolution, international war and social violence. These events relieved the pressures that had set the price-revolution in motion. The first result was a rapid fall of prices, rents and interest. This short but very sharp deflation was followed by an era of equilibrium that persisted for seventy or eighty years. Long-term inflation ceased. Prices stabilized, then declined further, and stabilized once more. Real wages began to rise, but returns to capital and land fell.

The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History “These material events had cultural consequences. In literature and the arts, the penultimate stage of every pricerevolution was an era of dark visions and restless dreams. This was a time of lost faith in institutions. It was also a period of desperate search for spiritual values. Sects and cults, often very angry and irrational, multiplied rapidly. Intellectuals turned furiously against their environing societies. Young people, uncertain of both the future and the past, gave way to alienation and cultural anomie. ” Fishers argues that looking at the long term historical trends, world culture today

The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History Fishers argues that looking at the long term historical trends, the world economic system today is near the top of the 20 th century wave crest. The system is about as critical as it can get. Cultural stresses are near the maximum, with great imbalances in just about every segment of society. There is a general feeling of ennui and alientation among the world’s citizens. People are looking for stability and security – absolutes - in an unstable and insecure world.

David Hackett Fisher The Troubles of Our Times

David Hackett Fisher The Troubles of Our Times Crime and Consumer Prices

David Hackett Fisher The Troubles of Our Times “(In the United States) economic instability in general, and inflation in particular, took a heavy toll in human suffering. Crime increased rapidly around the world during the period from 1965 to 1993. In the U. S. homicide rates rose in a series of surges that peaked in 1974, 1980, and 1991. These movements correlated very closely with rates of inflation. Similar patterns also appeared in theft and robbery. Similar patterns appeared in the use of drugs and drink. It should be understood that the primary cause was not inflation, but the stress that inflation caused. ” (P 225)

David Hackett Fisher The Troubles of Our Times In the 1980's and 1990's, material tensions approached the breaking point. Everywhere in the world, established orders came under heavy strain. Entire systems began to collapse, in a sequence of events that was similar to the climax of every other price-revolution since the Middle Ages. (P 229)

David Hackett Fisher The Troubles of Our Times In another part of the world, the crisis took a different form. From Afghanistan to Algeria, the many nations of Islam were in turmoil during the 1980's and 1990's. . With the exception of oil-rich Arab sheikdoms, Islam experience the same economic stresses that were felt around the world. The price revolution took its toll. The cost of living surged. Real wages fell. Inequalities increased. The teeming urban slums of this vast region were among the worst in the world. Many in Islam blamed their troubles on western values. Fundamentalist movements began to sweep the Islamic world. One by one, the secular regimes were attacked, and some were destroyed. (P 230 -231)

David Hackett Fisher The Troubles of Our Times Even the strongest national economies showed signs of severe stress in the 1990 s. A case in point was Japan. Labor costs were high; productivity gains lagged behind those of other nations. By 1994 -1995, Japan had negative rates of economic growth. The Japanese stock market fell sharply, and individual investors suffered huge losses. A growing spirit of cultural alienation began to develop in Japan, similar to that in other nations throughout the world. Religious cults grew rapidly. A militant buddhist cult that called itself Aum Shinrikyo, who believed that the universe would end in 1997, began in their madness to manufacture a deadly nerve gas. (P 232)

David Hackett Fisher The Troubles of Our Times In time of crisis, when so many possibilities were hanging in the narrow balance, much depended on the wisdom of our choices. Wise choices in turn required intelligent leaders and informed electorates. But intelligence and wisdom and even the information that we needed most were not much in evidence in national capitals throughout the world.

David Hackett Fisher The Troubles of Our Times As the great wave of the twentieth century approached its climax, the condition of many nations called to mind a Melville novel, or perhaps a Masefield poem. The ship of state raced onward, through high seas and heavy weather. All sails were set, and her helm was lashed to the course that she had long been steering. On the quarterdeck, several parties of myopic navigators squinted dimly at the dark clouds behind them. Somewhere below was their amiable captain, who wanted mainly to be loved by his sullen crew. The first-class passengers amused themselves in their opulent cabins, knowing little of the suffering in steerage, and nothing of the dangers that surrounded them. On deck amidships, a lone bookish traveler turned his collar against the wind, leaned precariously across the lee rail, and tried to read the signs in the sky. (P 234)

Positions 7 -9 One of William Perry’s great strengths was the ability to listen to people with compassion. In his book he lets people speak for themselves. The following quotes represent people at positions 7, 8, and 9.

Positions 7, 8, and 9 Commitment Stage 7 “There are so many values you can’t possibly line up all of them. Maybe what you do is pick out one, or two, or three, after a while. It’s not a fast thing. It’s slow. But you pick out something that you kind of like after a while, rather than trying to do what you see is being liked. I mean, you come here, and you get a total view of everything, and you see a whole lot of values. I mean you’re confronted with them. ”

Alternative to Fundamentalism A Psychological Analysis of Fundamentalism After exploring the characteristics of fundamentalist belief, Freeman lists the beliefs and practices that emerge when one grows beyond fundamentalisms (into Perry stages 7, 8, and 9). She says it is not necessary to abandon all personal faith and beliefs in order to be tolerant of others. The majority of the followers in any of the world's religions are able to hold a strong personal belief and not feel threatened that others hold different beliefs. Anitra Lenore Freeman • A trust that one can "figure things out, " along with a willingness to learn from others and to change one's mind. • A faith that whatever the fluctuations in life and society, things can and will get better. A feeling of personal responsibility and resolve to make it so. http: //anitra. net/activism/fundamentalism/psychology. html

Positions 7, 8, and 9 Commitment Stage 8 - Student experiences implications of commitment, and explores issues of responsibility. “What you have to do is set up a set of rules for yourself that you’re going to live by, . . . You can’t lose your self respect. . You have to operate within a certain set or rules, a certain set of principles, or you’re going to lose you self respect. ”

Alternative to Fundamentalism A Psychological Analysis of Fundamentalism • A spiritual epiphany, with a new faith that one's relationship with God is not conditional on "perfect" faith or behavior, that it can grow and change. • Free social and intellectual interaction with others, beyond -- or even without -evangelism. Anitra Lenore Freeman • Relationships with "non-believers" who become emotionally valued. http: //anitra. net/activism/fundamentalism/psychology. html

Positions 7, 8, and 9 Commitment Stage 9 Student realizes commitment is an ongoing, unfolding, evolving activity “You can’t let go of your own standards, but you can’t really afford to look down on anyone who has a different – I won’t say lower anymore – a different set of standards. Perhaps it isn’t tolerance, perhaps it’s just awareness of the fact that’s the way it should be, if it isn’t. ”

Alternative to Fundamentalism A Psychological Analysis of Fundamentalism • A tolerance -- even enjoyment -- of ambiguity and diverse beliefs. One can cheerfully live with the fact that one's neighbor on one side believes that his little blue pickup truck is God and one's neighbor on the other side doesn't believe in God at all, and feel no Anitra Lenore Freeman compulsion to convert either of them. One is not frightened to question one's or explore alternatives. • faith A strengthened self-esteem, with the loss of the need for others to be Wrong. • An unconditional self-esteem and (usually in consequence) an unconditional love of others. http: //anitra. net/activism/fundamentalism/psychology. html

Positions 7, 8, and 9 Commitment Tolerance Humility Compassion

Some Feature of Perry’s Scheme • We can be in different positions in different parts of our life: academic, social, religious, sports, etc. • When we are in a new situation with new rules and/or new knowledge we typically return to earlier strategies for coping.

Basic Duality Full Dualism Early Multiplicity

Late Multiplicity Contextural Relativism “Pre. Commitment” Commitment Forseen

What Can We Do With This Knowledge of A Person’s (Our Own) Ethical and Intellectual Development ? How does a person’s position equip them to deal with: • Ambiguity? • Novelty? • Complexity and subtlety? • Ability to work collaboratively with others? • Ability to do science?