Foundations
Duncan McNair
Human Dignity, Power of Choice and How Systems Work
Foundations
I was exposed early to questions of human rights, responsibility, and public life through the work of my grandfather and father.
Their example, and the work later reflected in Peaceful Planet, helped shape the perspective from which I approach current projects.
Some of the deeper foundations of this work reach further back into older traditions concerned with justice, dignity, wise conduct, and responsible government.
I see this work as part of a continuing tradition—developing and applying enduring principles across new domains including education, infrastructure, and civic systems.
These traditions are often expressed in a simple progression:
Good thoughts. Good words. Good deeds
Ideas associated with these principles influenced the freedoms advanced under Cyrus the Great, remembered for acts of justice and freedom of worship (523 BCE), Alfred the Great (reigned 871–899), The Charter of Liberties or Coronation Charter (Henry 1 of England 1100), Magna Carta (King John 1215), The Bill of Rights (The English Parliament 1689), The American Declaration of Independence (The Thirteen Colonies 1776), The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
The aim now is to carry such principles forward in practical contemporary forms.