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Policy Review : The Future of Tradition

Policy Review The Future of Tradition

"But is it possible to defend tradition with the help of reason? Can a particular tradition be justified by reason? And what if our traditional belief conflicts with reason � can we rationally justify keeping it? Suppose we have been raised in the belief that we must wash our hands before every meal in order to appease a local deity in our pantheon, say, the god of the harvest; and suppose again that we have come to learn of the hygienic benefits of washing our hands before every meal. Must we keep the absurd tradition once we have grasped its scientific rationale? In either case, whether tradition and reason conflict, or tradition is revealed to be reason disguised, reason wins and tradition loses.

Where reason shines forth, then, tradition is no longer necessary. Hence the question before us: In a world that is being more and more rationalized, does tradition have a future? Or will we one day look upon it as we now look upon the myths of the ancient world � quaint and amusing, but of no real relevance to our lives?"

Danny Yee's Book Reviews The Invention of Tradition
""Many practices which are considered traditional are in fact quite recent inventions, often deliberately constructed to serve particular ideological ends. The Invention of Tradition is a collection of articles on the construction of symbolic and ceremonial traditions over the last couple of centuries, particularly by the British."

"Hugh Trevor-Roper describes the creation of the Scottish "Highland" tradition -- I was astounded to discover that the kilt was invented by an Englishman in 1730, while the so called "clan tartans" are a nineteenth century invention! In a similar vein (though without any revelations quite so surprising), Prys Morgan traces the development of Welsh national traditions during the Romantic period. David Cannadine's piece is quite topical, given the move towards a republic in Australia: he explains how most of the ceremonial associated with the British monarchy, which is often assumed to be of great antiquity, has in fact been constructed since 1870."

Anthony Giddens Tradition
" I don't think you can argue that just because, say, the Indianarmy uniform or the kilt were conscious inventions of the nineteenth century that these are not necessarily traditional. For something to be traditional it doesn't have to be embedded over a long period of centuries, and when you start to think about the role of tradition in the world you should reverse their argument and turn it on it's head. You should say that all traditions are invented traditions, because all traditions grow out of a continuous reappraisal of the past. Most traditions are involved with power, most traditions involve conscious elements of artifice, invention, deliberate creation. There are few traditions, if any, which just grew up in a spontaneous way. These things, therefore, should not disqualify a given set of behaviour from being called traditional. For beliefs and practices to be traditional, for them to repeat, they do not have to endure over very long periods of time."

So, what defines tradition?"

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Policy Review : The Future of Tradition

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