What do you think?
Rate this book
Parapolitics: Toward the City of Man
What is living and what is dead in contemporary political ideas, traditional beliefs and inherited allegiances? How may a better future be constructed from our complex past? Considering such questions, Parapolitics unveils a radical new perspective extending far beyond the pessimism of the current predicament. Raghavan Iyer moves with ease from the Greek polis to the California communes, from the psychology of self-actualization to the dynamics of social structures. He shows the critical distance needed to see clearly the costs of commitment, the limits and possibilities, in a global community. The book explores the subtle relationships between technology and politics, democracy and liberty, scarcity and abundance. Parapolitics calls for audacious diversity and dialectical skill in the responsible exercise of will and imagination. By distilling the ideas of seminal political thinkers from Socrates and Plato to Marx and Gandhi, the book provides a firm basis for a fresh vision of Civitas Humana - the City of Man.
- GenresPoliticsPhilosophy
381 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1985
1 person is currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Raghavan N. Iyer
28 books7 followersRaghavan Narasimhan Iyer was born in Madras, India on March 10, 1930, the son of Narasimhan Iyer and Lakshmi Iyer. He was educated at the Universities of Bombay and Oxford. At Bombay he received first class honors in Economics and won a variety of commendations and prizes, including the Chancellor's Medal. At the age of 18 he became the youngest lecturer in the University of Bombay, at Elphinstone College. After being awarded his master's degree in Advanced Economics in Bombay, he was sent as the sole Rhodes Scholar for India for 1950 to Magdalen College, Oxford. He secured First Class Honors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and later received the D. Phil. Degree in moral and political philosophy. While a student at Oxford, he was elected President of the Oxford Union, the Voltaire Society, the Oxford Majlis, the Oxford University Peace Association, the Oxford Social Studies Association and several other societies.
On returning to India, he served as Director of the Indian Institute of World Culture and as Associate Editor of the Aryan Path. He then served as Chief Research Officer for the Head of the Planning Commission of the Indian Government, and helped to elaborate the theory of democratic planning.
In 1956 he returned to Oxford, where he taught Moral and Political Philosophy for eight years. He was Fellow and Lecturer in Politics at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oslo, Ghana and Chicago. He also lectured at the College of Europe in Belgium, the Erasmus Seminar in Holland, and at Harvard, Bowdoin, Berkeley, U.C.L.A., Rand Corporation and the California Institute of Technology. He was actively associated with the world federalist movement in Europe, participated in many television and radio programmes of the B.B.C. and lectured at various international conferences in Sweden, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia and Japan.
He settled permanently in Santa Barbara in 1965, where he was a Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara until his retirement in 1986. He became a Consultant to the Fund for the Republic, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Academy of World Studies and the Management Development Institute of the State of California. From 1971 to 1982 he was a member of the Club of Rome, and from 1978 to 1988 he was a member of the Reform Club in London. In the Spring of 1985 he was Alton Brooks Visiting Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. He was also a member of the American Society for Legal and Political Philosophy, the International Society for Gandhian Studies and the International Society for Neo-Platonic Studies.
In 1988 he visited the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, met Dr. Broadus Butler and Bishop Featherstone, and intoned the Gayatri mantram for the sake of all souls. In New Orleans he paid tribute to the memory of Louis Armstrong, the herald of 'the American Century'. In Savannah, Georgia he entered into a deep midnight meditation at the Pulaski monument by the sea, invoking myriad stars in accordance with ancient custom, on behalf of the disinherited billions upon this earth.
After five and one-half decades of service to the Theosophical Movement and to the emerging City of Man, Sri Raghavan Iyer passed away on June 20, 1995 in Santa Barbara, California. His profound insights into the spiritual promise and therapeutic trials of contemporary man, his radical proposals for creative modes of individual and collective growth, and his deep devotion to a new and more vibrant world culture will continue to resonate to myriad, receptive souls for generations and centuries to come.
On returning to India, he served as Director of the Indian Institute of World Culture and as Associate Editor of the Aryan Path. He then served as Chief Research Officer for the Head of the Planning Commission of the Indian Government, and helped to elaborate the theory of democratic planning.
In 1956 he returned to Oxford, where he taught Moral and Political Philosophy for eight years. He was Fellow and Lecturer in Politics at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oslo, Ghana and Chicago. He also lectured at the College of Europe in Belgium, the Erasmus Seminar in Holland, and at Harvard, Bowdoin, Berkeley, U.C.L.A., Rand Corporation and the California Institute of Technology. He was actively associated with the world federalist movement in Europe, participated in many television and radio programmes of the B.B.C. and lectured at various international conferences in Sweden, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia and Japan.
He settled permanently in Santa Barbara in 1965, where he was a Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara until his retirement in 1986. He became a Consultant to the Fund for the Republic, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Academy of World Studies and the Management Development Institute of the State of California. From 1971 to 1982 he was a member of the Club of Rome, and from 1978 to 1988 he was a member of the Reform Club in London. In the Spring of 1985 he was Alton Brooks Visiting Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. He was also a member of the American Society for Legal and Political Philosophy, the International Society for Gandhian Studies and the International Society for Neo-Platonic Studies.
In 1988 he visited the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, met Dr. Broadus Butler and Bishop Featherstone, and intoned the Gayatri mantram for the sake of all souls. In New Orleans he paid tribute to the memory of Louis Armstrong, the herald of 'the American Century'. In Savannah, Georgia he entered into a deep midnight meditation at the Pulaski monument by the sea, invoking myriad stars in accordance with ancient custom, on behalf of the disinherited billions upon this earth.
After five and one-half decades of service to the Theosophical Movement and to the emerging City of Man, Sri Raghavan Iyer passed away on June 20, 1995 in Santa Barbara, California. His profound insights into the spiritual promise and therapeutic trials of contemporary man, his radical proposals for creative modes of individual and collective growth, and his deep devotion to a new and more vibrant world culture will continue to resonate to myriad, receptive souls for generations and centuries to come.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 19, 2018
This book would surely be a much hotter seller today if its author had titled it “Metapolitics” instead, but Iyer is aware of the difference between “meta-“ and “para-“ and is careful in his definitions. “Parapolitics” is a politics of transcendence, but not necessarily a transcendence of politics. Much of it is based on ancient philosophy, especially that of Plato, and my recommender writes, “do not attempt until you have mastered” the Dialogues. I don’t consider myself such a master (for that matter, I’d be dubious of anyone who did claim to be), but I still got something out of it since Iyer takes the time to explain his uses of Plato.
People who think “The Republic” is some kind of proto-fascist or autocratic text will be surprised at Iyer’s application of Plato, which is informed by his religion (Theosophy) and his deep admiration for his countryman (Gandhi). The most concrete political recommendation made here is for a Guaranteed Annual Income, something which will appeal to many people who reject Plato out of hand. Writing in the late 1970s, he uses the term “millennial” in its historic context of transcendence and uses this as a point of departure to consider possibilities for the year 2000. The fact that few if any of them manifested is no reason to reject them as possibilities for an imminent future, even today.
What I found myself wondering as I read this is how much acceptance Iyer’s work found in the field of political science, which he had worked in as a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His Wikipedia page mostly talks about how much his students liked him, not what his peers thought (not to say that having rapport with students isn’t a worthy accomplishment for a teacher). I suspect that he was accepted as long as he stuck to accepted political writings, and smilingly ignored or “tolerated” when he went into parapolitical philosophy.
People who think “The Republic” is some kind of proto-fascist or autocratic text will be surprised at Iyer’s application of Plato, which is informed by his religion (Theosophy) and his deep admiration for his countryman (Gandhi). The most concrete political recommendation made here is for a Guaranteed Annual Income, something which will appeal to many people who reject Plato out of hand. Writing in the late 1970s, he uses the term “millennial” in its historic context of transcendence and uses this as a point of departure to consider possibilities for the year 2000. The fact that few if any of them manifested is no reason to reject them as possibilities for an imminent future, even today.
What I found myself wondering as I read this is how much acceptance Iyer’s work found in the field of political science, which he had worked in as a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His Wikipedia page mostly talks about how much his students liked him, not what his peers thought (not to say that having rapport with students isn’t a worthy accomplishment for a teacher). I suspect that he was accepted as long as he stuck to accepted political writings, and smilingly ignored or “tolerated” when he went into parapolitical philosophy.
January 5, 2011
A must-read for anyone interested in living a meaningful life as a contributing member of society. Brilliant and inspiring! One could contemplate a single phrase in this book for a very long time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews