Nayef Al-Rodhan Quotes (75 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

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Famous Nayef Al-Rodhan Quotes

“Human nature as we know it is, nevertheless, malleable and manageable. It may be radically modified as a result of advances in bio-, molecular, nano- and computational technologies. It will therefore be essential to establish a clear code of ethics regulating the use of these technologies sooner rather than later.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.17

“Cultural essentialism is, thus, intimately tied to power relations. Fixity, homogeneity and separateness are prioritised within an essentialist framework. Therefore, part of any effort to resist essentialism is recognising diversity within difference, contingency, mutability and connectedness.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.393

“Neuro-rational Physicalism is premised on the neuro-biological foundation of human nature, which implies that thoughts, perceptions or emotions correspond to a physical reaction in the brain.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Knowledge and Global Order https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/article/knowledge-and-global-order/?fullscreen=true - OpenMind September 2013

“In a globalized world, security can no longer be thought of as a zero-sum game involving states alone. Global security, instead, has five dimensions that include human, environmental, national, transnational, and transcultural security, and, therefore, global security and the security of any state or culture cannot be achieved without good governance at all levels that guarantees security through justice for all individuals, states, and cultures.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

The Five Dimensions of Global Security: Proposal for a Multi-sum Security Principle, p. 15-16 (2007)

“Those who are outside the centres of power, because of the need for a positive and not simply a stable identity, are likely to find an independent identity appealing.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.180

“By promoting justice and thus the interests of the international community as a whole, a state will be able to make its influence over others sustainable and achieve its own national interest.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Neo-statecraft and Meta-geopolitics (2009), p.147

Nayef Al-Rodhan Quotes about nature

“A lesser-known fact about the geopolitics of resources has escaped public polemics. This refers to rare earth metals or rare-earth elements (REMs), a set of 17 naturally occurring non-toxic materials, which play a pivotal role for emerging technologies and which are predominantly produced and exported from China.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Rare-Earth Metals: Anticipating the New Battle for Resources http://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/20/03/2014/rare-earth-metals-anticipating-new-battle-resources - Global Policy Journal, March 2014

“A set of global values in keeping with human nature and dignity need to be identified and developed.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.29

“Policies that assume that human nature is a tabula rasa (clean slate) should be reviewed and revised to reflect that man has an in-built genetic code for survival with no evidence for innate morality.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.203

“Human nature is governed by general self-interest and affected by genetic predisposition, which implies that there are likely to be limits to our moral sensitivities.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.15

“We are neither radically free to choose our nature nor entirely determined by our biological heritage.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.65

“Cultural and ethnic diversity benefit humanity’s future, survival, strength and excellence, promoting what I call cultural vigour, similar to the way in which molecular and genetic diversity promote “hybrid vigor” in nature and thus strength, resilience and a higher potential for a problem-free future.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

The Geopolitics of Culture: Five Substrates, (2014)

Nayef Al-Rodhan Quotes about knowledge

“Almost every golden age of geo-cultural domains has been characterised by good governance, exchanges, borrowing, innovation and the adaptation of earlier contributions to forms of knowledge, and rationalism.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.171

“Indeed, collective triumph will also depend both on the application of reason and the recognition that a great deal of knowledge is indeterminate and may be temporally, spatially and perhaps culturally constrained.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.437

“All knowledge is acquired through the application of reason and has a physical basis.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.28

“Much of what we often consider knowledge is actually a point of view held without sufficient grounds: in a word, dogma.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Knowledge and Global Order https://www.academia.edu/4418949/Knowledge_and_Global_Order_-_BBVA_OpenMind_August_2013/ - BBVA OpenMind, August 2013

“Knowledge about things beyond our immediate environment may be acquired through deduction, if the initial premises are believed to be correct.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.108

“Knowledge is also inferred from what is accepted as established knowledge, with new knowledge being based on the best explanation. This includes possible truths subject to proof.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.108

Nayef Al-Rodhan: Trending quotes

“Circumstances will determine what I term the survival value of humankind’s moral compass. Being highly moral in an immoral environment will almost certainly be detrimental to one’s survival and vice versa.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.71

“Institutions should focus on educating against clashes of culture and the promotion of a culture of tolerance and peace.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: The Role of Education in Global Security (2007), p.105

Education , Peace

“The power of emotions as drivers of behaviour, especially when survival is perceived as being at stake, needs to be recognised and taken into account at all levels of society and governance.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.203

Nayef Al-Rodhan Quotes

“Morality, if present, should not be relied on because it will be trumped by self interest in most circumstances.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.204

“In other words, it is my view that the brain is preprogrammed to feel good (i. e., to seek a sense of well-being/gratification). This is what I term the gratification principle. This usually occurs as the result of instinctive salient/relevant acts or what we normatively decide are salient/relevant acts.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.110

Feeling , Sense

“If states do not act according to principles of justice, the injustices they perpetrate will harm not just other states but ultimately also their own national interest.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Neo-statecraft and Meta-geopolitics (2009), p.117

Justice

“International cooperation is required to prevent anarchic situations developing and the unmasking of ever-present brutality and injustice that results from fear for survival in such situations.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.204

Fear

“One of the key ingredients of coexistence and successful cooperation is trust.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.403

Success

“Human and societal security should be seen as complementary to state security, and security must be thought of in multi-sum and multi-dimensional terms (human, national, transnational, environmental and transcivilisational).”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.203

“Policies should take account of the emotional dimensions of human behaviour rather than assuming rational action.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.203

“Many of the great achievements in history that are commonly attributed to one geo-cultural domain often owe a great debt to those of others. In this sense, some of the greatest achievements of human civilisation have been collective efforts and are part of the same human story.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.14

History , Sense , Effort , Parting

“All knowledge is to some extent interpreted.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.108

Knowledge

“Morally relevant emotions are essential for living in social groups and they provide the basis on which we may construct conceptual frameworks that help guide our actions, but human beings should more accurately be thought of as being endowed with morally relevant capacities rather than innate moral knowledge.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.128

Knowledge , Help

“Each high point in the history of human civilisation has taken place where the conditions were ripe and has borrowed and built on the achievements of other cultures whose golden age may have passed.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.138

Age , History

“It is unrealistic to imagine a US geostrategic vision which sees its pivotal interests linked exclusively to the Pacific region. More appropriately, we need to consider the wider Middle East, Central Asia and North-East Africa to be bound together in a geopolitical unit of pivotal importance.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

The Pivot Expanded http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/the-pivot-expanded - Small Wars Journal, October 2013

Imagination

“Globalization is a process that encompasses the causes, course, and consequences of transnational and transcultural integration of human and non-human activities.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Pillars of Globalization, p. 13 (2006)

“People should be educated about the links between education, ideology, and politics as a way to promote the virtue of humility.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: The Role of Education in Global Security (2007), p.106

People , Education , Way

“There is a physical neurobiological substrate to all human knowledge, including thoughts, memories, perceptions and emotions. To this end, mental states and thought processes are physical.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.109

Knowledge , Memory

“Human beings are largely motivated by their emotional repertoire, manifested through their need for attachment, physical security, a sense of belonging and a positive personal and collective identity.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p. 186

Motivation , Sense , Personality

“Strict ethical guidelines need to be developed in anticipation of significant technological and biotechnological advances in order to guarantee human dignity.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.29

“There is only one collective human civilisation comprised of geo-cultural domains and cultures.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.28

“Ultimately, I conclude that however we understand existence, what gives meaning to our lives are those things that serve our neurochemically based emotional self-interest in a sustainable way.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), pp.85-86

Way , Understanding

“In order to stop the cycle of disenfranchisement, frustration, and discontent, dignity must be central, paving the way for a governance model that is affordable, acceptable, and applicable to various regional and cultural sensibilities.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Arab Spring Transitions Need Home Grown Solutions http://www.theglobalobservatory.org/opinion/554-arab-spring-transitions-need-home-grown-solutions.html - The Global Observatory, 2013

Way

“The lack of collective dignity felt by so many in the Arab world is the result of a combination of internal autocratic and corrupt regimes, with predictable ineffective and unaccountable governance, supported by external actors with short-term geopolitical interests.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Dignity Deficit Fuels Uprisings in the Middle East http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/dignity-deficit-fuels-uprisings-middle-east - YaleGlobal, September 2013

World , Support

“One challenge is to agree on minimum criteria of good governance that are not perceived as a threat to cultural traditions and to draw on moral concepts that are indigenous to specific cultural settings. {{fix cite}”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009)

Drawing

“Addictive drugs misuse the brain’s existing pre-programming, activating reward mechanisms and extreme feelings of pleasure. When stimulated, the brain’s pleasure centres emit signals to repeat the behaviour. In this sense, the brain is pre-programmed to feel good.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.97

Pleasure , Feeling , Sense

“Emotional Amoral Egoism indicates that ethnic conflict should be understood in terms of a reaction to a failure to satisfy a group’s basic physiological, security and ego needs due to discrimination, experienced by a group whose relations are premised, above all, on cultural affinities.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.181

Failure

“Justice is paramount to civilisational triumph because of its centrality to human dignity needs, the success of individual geo-cultural domains and the well-being of human civilisation.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.219

Justice , Success

“Dignity is central to the sustainability of history.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.28

History

“Human beings are emotional amoral egoists, driven above all by emotional self-interest. All of our thoughts, beliefs and motivations are neurochemically mediated, some predetermined for survival, others alterable.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.27

Motivation

“I define sustainable history as a durable progressive trajectory in which the quality of life on this planet or other planets is premised on the guarantee of human dignity for all at all times and under all circumstances.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p. 13

Life , History , Time

“Indeed, there is no evidence to suggest innate morality. It is therefore important to create the conditions under which the expansion of our moral communities may become more likely.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.156

Communication

“Humankind is an insignificant part of existence.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.27

Parting

“What makes our existence meaningful is highly subjective and ultimately determined by sustainable neurochemical gratification.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.28

“The enduring assumption that human behaviour is governed by innate morality and reason is at odds with the persistence of human deprivation, inequality, injustice, misery, brutality and conflict.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.16

“Just like the threat of mutually assured destruction from nuclear weapons, an extensive war in space would make space useless, and the decisions taken today will influence the use of space for many generations to come.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Meta-Geopolitics of Outer Space - (2012) p.285

War , Decision

“Considerations of justice are also integral to efforts to generate transcultural security in the first instance and, ultimately, transcultural synergy.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.403

Justice , Effort

“Focusing purely on extremism, whether in the Arab-Islamic world or the West, will not alleviate the root causes of tensions between members of different cultures. It will only alienate those who do not recognise themselves in those stereotypes, and generate fear and misunderstanding.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.390

World , Fear

“Civilisational triumph is thus not a zero-sum enterprise that favours one geo-cultural domain over another.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.213

“A state’s foreign policy should not just be smart, it should also be just.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Neo-statecraft and Meta-geopolitics (2009), p.139

“We should aim for peaceful coexistence at least and transcultural synergy at best.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Symbiotic Realism: A Theory of International Relations in an Instant and an Interdependent World, p. 124 (2007)

Peace

“Much like addictive drugs, power uses ready-made reward circuitries in the brain, producing extreme pleasure.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

The Neurochemistry of Power http://politicsinspires.org/neurochemistry-power-implications-political-change/ - Politics In Spires, February 2014

Pleasure

“In my opinion, a life governed by reason is likely to be more dignified than one shaped by dogma and unbridled emotions.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.437

Life

“In the “stealth era,” battlefield strength might just be dictated by the level of stealth or invisibility technology at the disposal of combatants. This is likely to trigger a scientific and technological race, as well as provide new platforms for countries to enhance their prestige domestically and internationally.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Cloaks of Invisibility: The Latest Frontier in Military Technology http://journal.georgetown.edu/2014/03/06/cloaks-of-invisibility-the-latest-frontier-in-military-technology-by-nayef-al-rodhan/ - Georgetown Journal, March 2014

Country

“A good governance paradigm that limits excesses of human nature and ensures an atmosphere of happiness and productivity by promoting reason and dignity is required.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.27

Nature , Happiness

“The history of human civilisation is a history of mutual borrowings.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.28

History

“Harmonious interstate relations will be guided by the paradigm of Symbiotic Realism that stresses the importance of absolute rather than relative gains.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.28