In November 1953, The American Academy of Political and Social Science issued a thin hardcover issue of The Annals, edited by Robert A. Dahl, titled The Impact of Atomic Energy. This collection of essays and book reviews appeared during a rocky phase of the nuclear competition, with the advent of thermonuclear weapons and a geopolitical balance than seemed to be tipping away from Washington, where scapegoating was at full throttle.
Here are some excerpts from an essay by Wayne A.R. Leys, “Human Values in the Atomic Age.” Leys also wrote Ethics for Policy Decisions (1952).
The fear of the bomb is not the beginning of wisdom. Fearful men have a kind of foresight, but in their partial view of the future all signs point to a foregone conclusion. How else could the frightening consequences of nuclear fission justify both McCarthyism and pacifism?…
The release of atomic energy seems to foreshadow more conflict rather than less conflict. Increases in productive capacity multiply the possibilities of mutual interference, particularly in the case of hitherto subject or silent peoples. The diffusion of knowledge means that more diverse demands are articulated and become the source of political pressuring…
Mankind seems to be afflicted with small ideals at the very moment when the means for great achievement are available…
The impracticality of plausible political idealism may be explained by the confusion of two kinds of peace – political peace and peace of mind. Plato related ‘harmony of the state’ to ‘harmony in the soul.’ He insisted that there was a necessary connection between these two kinds of peace… The more we learn about political peace, the less it is identifiable with peace of mind…
Whereas the price of good government is eternal vigilance by an organized citizenry, one requirement of good citizenship is the emotional balance that comes to a person who can get a good night’s sleep…
Knowledge is power; but the more men know about the atom, the more they need to know about themselves. Our heavy investments in the release of atomic energy could have the effect of stampeding us into some single-minded folly of avarice, hatred, or fear…
Citizens may be victimized if they insist on upon finding peace of mind in public action…
Knowledge becomes wisdom when coupled with respect for the plurality of values. Then, no objective can be worshipped so idolatrously that it will seem to justify the sacrifice of all other human purposes.