I could fill volumes with descriptions of temples and palaces, paintings, sculptures, tapestry, porcelain, etc., etc., etc.—if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences: the art of legislation and administration and negotiation, ought to take place, indeed to exclude in a manner all other arts. I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
It's a beautiful quote and sentiment. But seriously, how unrealistic is that? The bad guys are still going to be here three generations from now and the world is still going to need people with hard skills.
You need to be able to protect your village before you can grow it.
You need to be able to feed your village, before you can have artisans.
You need to establish the basic needs before you can have a renaissance, and having everyone be a soldier when the borders haven't changed in 150 years doesn't make economic sense. "Kill them with kindness" and 2 trillion in exported goods instead.
I think it is a pretension to assume it is the artists and leisure enthusiasts who are the weak. Perhaps it is all the men of strong skills and closed minds who cannot achieve, or even envision good times - they bring the hard times because that is all they think is possible in the world, or perhaps all that it deserves.
How about maintaining some sense of balance, responsibility, and austerity in our societies, instead of forever marching towards a fictional leisure-filled utopia?
in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
As far as I can tell, you are the only one inferring that studying architecture and similar civilized topics equates to leisure and irresponsibility. That doesn't make sense to my mind. Here's my context for such remarks:
My dad grew up in the Great Depression. He fought in two wars. He was awarded a purple heart. My mother grew up in Germany during WW2 and its aftermath.
They raised me well with values like eating well matters and petty conflicts aren't worth being grudging over. I spent nearly 6 years camping -- aka homeless -- to get myself healthier while the world heaped verbal abuse upon me for it and called me a liar and crazy.
My dream job is in the urban planning and economic development sphere. Among other things, I would love to help artists and writers and others figure out how to monetize their work and live well, even if they don't make scads of money. I would like to help homeless people access an earned income.
Before my life was derailed, I was a military wife and homeschooling parent. I would like to return to that kind of role, but on a larger scale. I would like to help raise up the region wherein I live.
Perhaps I shall figure out how to pull that off. I don't imagine it will involve a lot of leisure, though it will be the antithesis of war, even the antidote to it. Though I assume you won't see what I see there. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict. Trying to put it into words tends to be elusive.
I continue to be largely dismissed, not given support, have doors slammed in my face, etc. I also run multiple websites with useful info for people with big problems. Once in a while, someone kicks a few bucks my way and I get a smidgen of Patreon support.
So perhaps it can be grown. Perhaps this small candle I've lit in the dark void of my life can become a bonfire for others less fortunate than I am whose parents didn't similarly arm them for the battle ahead in life.
What leisure-filled society are you referring to in the post you originally responded to, and where are you getting the notion that somebody here thinks such a thing would be a utopia? All I saw in that quote was the ideal of achieving a world where we have the right to work hard at whatever passions we have, which sounds like a hacker's utopia to me.
I think the charitable interpretation would be [0]: Conflation of economic value with non-leisure classification. That is, if it had economic value, then they should be able to make a living doing it. And doing an activity for a living could certainly be seen as an operating definition for "non-leisure activity".
So, by such definition, if everyone is free to run around and do whatever activity they want, then either every activity is economically valued and thereby non-leisure... Or everyone can somehow take part in leisurely activities without regard to making a living. Which could certainly be seen as an operation definition for "leisure-filled utopia".
[0] Not GP. This is me possibly putting words into GP's mouth, while also asserting that these are not my words.
The Adam's quote only says that they are given the right to study, this isn't the pessimistic statement of Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Adams' great-grandchildren can focus on: politics, war, mathematics, philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, agriculture, painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, porcelain... and probably more.
I could fill volumes with descriptions of temples and palaces, paintings, sculptures, tapestry, porcelain, etc., etc., etc.—if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences: the art of legislation and administration and negotiation, ought to take place, indeed to exclude in a manner all other arts. I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.