Institute for Policy Studies

The purpose of the Paths for the 21st Century project is to link knowledge to the betterment of the human condition through thinking and practical action. The project is based on the assumption that a renaissance of moral action and thought is on the immediate horizon. This new renaissance is brought by extending the circle and chain of creativity to the widest possible number of participants and activists. Their relationships through communication, knowledge and action can bring about a world civilization with many cultures that is not based on mutual self destruction, stupidity and greed. I realize that this requires reconstructions in many areas of thought and in the structure of social, political and economic institutions. And the task must be approached with humility, but with the willingness to call things by their right names. No one idea or set of ideas is the doctrinal answer for all present or future problems. However, it is possible to reconsider present frames of reference, the assumptions of specific institutions, who they served, who is penalized and what different directions can emerge which will result in the fulfillment of ideals and hopes that are central to enlightenment thought and practice. Whether the project is called reconstruction, modernism or post modernism we know that there are terrifying problems that we see in everyday life that can be corrected or ameliorated through the blending of rationality and explication of moral values.

There are three contending strands of knowledge. They are used in different ways and have different purposes. The first is knowledge and inquiry used for domination, control and colonization of others. This form of knowledge may be direct in its application or it may appear to be neutral and value free. The second strand focuses on specialization and subspecialization. Its intended purpose is dealing with particular problems and particular causes. This strand of thought focuses on narrowing and framing a problem .It downplays or avoids concern with wider consequences assuming, for example, that technological and scientific investigation is fenced off from social, political and economic consequences in the experiment itself and in the consequences of the experiment. The third strand assumes that knowledge and inquiry should be directed towards liberation rather than control. It does not eschew knowledge for its own sake. However, it believes that knowledge must be seen as a series of activities and programs that shows connections, presents humane alternatives and lays the basis for understanding our most difficult public problems. The third strand is to lead to reconstruction and one aspect of its methodology is the use and strengthening of democratic discourse and widening the circle of creativity. Its [political purpose is to end exploitation and the kind of hierarchy which leads to a system of domination and destruction of others, even nature itself.

Paths for the 21st Century draws together leading scholars and activists to create a college "without walls" and open to as many as want to participate. They are intended to work together, trade ideas and experiences, stimulate discussion and thinking, lay out possible lines of action, and discuss seeming failures. These discussions will take place in conferences, books, videos, articles and commentaries on written work by any who want to participate.

The Paths Project includes the preparation of a multivolume series on 12 fundamental areas of human endeavor. They are:

IDEOLOGY AND RECONSTRUCTION
ECONOMIC JUSTICE
CULTURE AND COMMUNICATIONS
THE WAR AND A PEACE SYSTEM
CHANGING FAMILY AND GENDER RELATIONS
DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE STATE
HEALTH POLICY, CONDITIONS OF DECENCY, AND SOCIAL CARING
EDUCATINGTHE YOUNG AND OLD
PRODUCTION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
NONVIOLENCE, SOCIAL AND PROTEST MOVEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTS, COLOGIES AND PRODUCTION
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MORAL CHOICES

The outcomes of the Paths Project are numerous. The ideas, proposals and analyses generated from the project are intended to aid fellow knowledge workers in pursuing their own inquiries beyond disciplinary lines. The ideas are intended to be catalysts towards the formation of citizen groups who will reshape the ideas and apply them in their respective spheres of endeavor. Over time these actions will have policy and political implications for governments nationally and internationally. It is expected that the first effect of the studies will be transnational in civil societies within the United States and in different parts of the world as people seek to work out understandings and solutions to common and seemingly intractable problems.

In a time when it is fashionable to denigrate progress, or to insist on the exhaustion of thought and action for good ends the Paths project rejects this form of immobilism, privatism and pessimism. Progress as reflected in the program of the Paths project involves reestablishing an account of humankind in ways that are more liberatory, respectful of other traditions, as well as combined with a moral and critical use of technical invention.

To the reader: The editors, writers and commentators encourage your active participation.