Nayef Al-Rodhan: Trending quotes (page 3)

“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

“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

Nature

“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

Nature

“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

Knowledge , Dependency

“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

“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

Age , Knowledge

“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