Is the Magna Carta a radical change--like a discontinuity in a function--or an inflection point in an oscillation. One of several books that had the virtue of challenging my world view is Lies My History Teacher Told Me. http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/ In this book, Loewen challenges, among others, the notion that American history is a steady march toward liberty for all. Rather, we expand liberty for a while, then in contracts, then we expand it--and so on.
Anyway, and this is sparked by how far back the first document you mentioned goes, is there a habit among humans to give up liberty to a leader for certain social advantages, then take some back, then give some up? Are the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence and the Civil Rights Act all examples of taking some liberty back?
It impacts our primary discussion thusly: if religion does something for a society, it gives society values, desires, aims, etc. that would not otherwise be there. Likewise, with thinkers, I suppose. We don't need great thinkers to tell us to eat or have sex, for example.
Okay, I had a few minutes and I wanted to avoid letting the discourse die. Also, I haven't read enough of Spinoza yet.
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