This book is a dramatization of an Philosophical essay that will be published soon. It serves as the backdrop for the clashing of ideas concerning the sources of values and the deplorable living conditions.
“Concern, the values under fire in Cows Island”, represent a dramatization of my essay recently publish un the title “The sources of values, their claims and their failure, an observer’s viewpoint”. The main character, Frank, as a student of human behavior and their institutions, may not prevent himself to the following conclusion: based on the presumed functions of the sources of values he has mentioned earlier, humanity should have straightaway experienced a civilization more and more beneficial to its members throughout the planet. Indeed, the sources of values keep spreading their moralizing tentacles into the communities and offering them the prism of their ideals as guiding lights. Men, women, children should have practiced more objectivity, because of lessons taught by the positive era. They should have shown more compassion, because of religious precepts disseminated daily. They should have felt more comfortable, because of promises of happiness made by politics, technology and science. They should have betrayed less greed because of disinterestedness advocated by art. They should have displayed more understanding and clear-headedness, because of the atmosphere of reflection and transcendence created by philosophy. However, humanity has rather shown a gloomy picture, to such par that, first, I believe that this somber vision may result from the compelling power of the human brains. I would say that the reading of “Concern, the sources of values under fire in Cows Island” may facilitate the reading of the philosophical thesis above-mentioned.
Excerpt
Frank closed his eyes in an attempt to travel back in time; then, he recollected the circumstances under which he had met with Lorraine for the first time.
He whispered, “Yes, it was an extraordinary event the outcome of which has gone beyond my wildest expectations.”
It was dull weather. Fleecy clouds covered the sky, and a rainstorm appeared imminent.
Frank had already left Beauregard High School premises and headed towards his car parked not far from there, when he spotted an adolescent of about fourteen years of age. She could have been older or younger, but he could not tell with certainty.
That adolescent, for some unexplained reason, called up in Frank’s mind the image of an abandoned post he had seen once standing in the middle of Congo River, in Africa.
That post, at the mercy of the wind and the wave, could drift downstream to the unknown, disintegrated or broken up, without causing the slightest modification or a glitch in the course of events.
It symbolized the existence of the poor experiencing hardship, trying in vain to satisfy their basic human needs, remaining at the mercy of blind destiny.
“But,” had observed Frank, while standing by the Congo River, “a little flick, the action of a concerned hand could have changed the history of that post. One could have made baseball bats, rulers or any useful instrument out of it. Its standing in the middle of the river seems purposeless.”
Now, while he was looking at the lonely adolescent standing in a décor having an apocalyptic complexion, he thought he could serve as “the concerned hand, the little life-saver flick” for her.
In the twinkling of an eye, that idea burst in his mind and followed the exact consistency of a feasible enterprise. Then, before he could have time to reconsider “his folly”, he drew near to the girl and put his hand on her shoulder.
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Reviews for "Concern, the sources of values under fire in Cows Island"
The making of “Concern,
The sources of values under fire in Cows Island”
By Antoine Archange Raphael
The backdrop for this dramatic work, Cows Island, may be anywhere in the world and even becomes confused with the planet.
The elite as well as the ordinary people assume that we are living, as said a contemporary thinker, in the best possible world.
They profess such optimism despite the fact that throughout the island, there is a widespread distressing situation, confusion, perplexity, a lack of contact with the ideal of civilization, a sad and unthinkable state of affairs.
However, according to Frank Legar, the main character, a controversial mind, that optimistic view expresses a free assumption based on nothing; since we don’t know any other world, we shouldn’t embark in this kind of comparison.
Actually, he believes that he may imagine a better world than the one in which we are living.
Of course, he is a decent fellow, shying away from politics and other activities usually conducive to social turmoil. Therefore, he wouldn’t express and maintain his dissenting opinions everywhere. Yet, his views are sort of oozing out of his philosophy teaching in the classroom and affecting generations of students who appear, in the eyes of traditional leaders, too unruly, iconoclastic, because, like their professor, they turn open-minded.
Such intellectual tension, finally, reaches a larger audience at the court, when Frank allegedly has a love affair with one of his students Lorraine Pinson, the daughter of one of the Cows Island masters.
Then, the expert witnesses come from the main sources of values: religion, philosophy, art, science and politics.
During this clash of ideas, the claims and the failure of these human activities are questioned.
Note: The book may be bought directly from www.lulu.com. I would appreciate your opinions on it, in case you read it. There is a French version of this book entitled "L'altruisme, les sources de valeurs vivement critiquées dans l'Ile-aux-Vaches.
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