Ancient History Frees the Political Imagination | Aaron Bastani Meets Josephine Quinn

Quick Overview

Ancient history, particularly the study of classics, frees the political imagination by demonstrating the vast diversity of human thought and societal organization throughout time, thereby challenging the assumption of a single, inevitable human nature or political system and offering alternatives to contemporary capitalist realism. Professor Josephine Quinn argues that understanding vastly different ancient perspectives on issues like sexuality, race, and gender, and recalling historical political regimes beyond democracy, opens up possibilities for envisioning future societal structures, a concept mirrored in science fiction but grounded in historical reality.

Key Points: Professor Josephine Quinn advocates for the study of ancient languages and history, not only for cognitive benefits and career advantages (e.g., classics degrees being favored by employers) but primarily to liberate the political imagination by showing the radical difference of past human societies and thought. Quinn argues against the concept of a fixed 'human nature,' asserting that ancient peoples held vastly different ideas about sexuality, race, and gender, demonstrating that current options are not exhaustive and that entirely different worldviews are possible, a realization she finds 'immensely liberating.' The study of ancient history, like science fiction, opens up a 'horizon of possibility for human affairs' by revealing that 'real people really have those ideas' and that alternative societal structures to modern democracy, such as more voluntary and equal communities, have existed historically. Quinn critiques the arbitrary division between ancient and modern history, particularly the notion of 'civilizational thinking' that emerged around 1500 CE, marking a shift from religion and culture as unifying forces to divisive ones, leading to concepts of separate, often hierarchical, civilizations. The Bronze Age collapse, where major empires like Egypt and the Hittites fell, serves as a historical example of systemic vulnerability due to over-reliance on interconnected states, leading to simpler lifestyles and a retrenchment, although Quinn worries modern states' collapse might be more catastrophic. Quinn suggests that the decline in writing after the Bronze Age collapse was a choice for safety and ease, not a loss of ability, as writing is often tied to taxation and control; she highlights the power of oral traditions, citing Australian Aboriginal histories remembering the end of the Ice Age (10,000 years ago) as an example of profound collective memory. The conversation links the study of classics to challenging 'capitalist realism' and expanding political possibilities, drawing parallels with thinkers like Mark Fisher and David Graeber, and questioning contemporary assumptions about the inevitability of current political and social structures.