How Switzerland Changed the World 

Script & sources at: www.thenandnow.co/2023/06/26/how-switzerland-changed-the-world/ ► Sign up for the newsletter to get concise digestible summaries: www.thenandnow.co/the-newsletter/ ► Why Support Then & Now? www.patreon.com/user/about?u=3517018

I have a brilliant Chinese high-school student living with me. We have watched three of your videos, including this one, together. Each one took 1 1/2 hrs or more because we stop it so often to discuss what it means historically, philosophically, linguisticly, scientifically - you name it. Today he said he has learned more from those 3 videos and our discussions than in a whole year of philosophy and history in his private school. Thank you for that pleasure.

I once went on a vacation with my family to Switzerland and i was really amazed with the structures i saw, The unmentioned factor is that everyone works hard. They had an unbelievable work ethic. The pioneer generation were given a good opportunity by an intelligent government, but they worked hard to improve themselves. Another unmentioned thing is the significant economic pressure on working families.

That was incredible. Your filmmaking and storytelling has become the best on RU-vid. Thanks for your hard work and dedication to research and education.

I went to Switzerland many times. I am Australian. I found that when I 1st went there I honestly felt like I was returning HOME. Lucerne was my favourite place. I have read much of Carl Jung and so much of his work speaks deeply to me. Definitely there is magic in the mountains and Switzerland nature serves as a physical realm of our deep inner spiritual world. Lauterbrannen is Tolkiens inspiration of home for Elves..a perfect and quiet peaceful realm in a world of turmoil. I spent an afternoon on a pier in Zurich with my father sharing some beers and talking about life, he is now passed on but that moment remains one of my most significant and enduring of all my life. I hope others might experience such joy when they travel there. Oh yes . And who can forget the trains.. immaculate and wonderful.

May the algorithm bless this content.

I've been following this channel for about 6 years, it gets better and better, if you can top this video, I cant wait to see it. Wow!!! Great stuff Lewis.

I love all the little artistic flares in the editing of your videos! the little edits to background noise feel experimental and really fun/authentic

So pleasurable to watch this piece of art

I live in Switzerland and knew it was where I had to live the day I arrived for the first time (23 years ago). Many things contributed to this feeling but significant among them was the direct democracy.

This is quite possibly the best traditional documentary I've seen in many, many years. Once this would have been on BBC2 at 9PM on a Sunday night. Great work.

I went to Switzerland a couple of months ago and for me was amazing to see the culture. You can feel how people live there, methodic, pragmatic and well organized. For me was very expensive but the reward was to feel other way to experience life. When I was at the train station, I asked myself: Am I seeing the top of the top of the world?

I love Rousseau, I am currently rereading his "Emile or on education" to use in a small thesis of mine how education should change focus to not only allow but encourage creativity and critical thinking instead of "marketable skills". Oh, and I love this channel as well :)

Impressive, thought-provoking and inspiring, as always.

Then & now is one of my absolute favourite creators. Each video lifts me up and reignites my interest in philosophy and culture. This video was yet another great one and one I will watch again!

As a Swiss citizen I couldn’t agree more, especially interesting is how our constituons is written, and how these seemingly abstract ideas were translated to very real laws and principles. Swiss law is the basis for our political system and therefore may be, imo one of the greatest texts to have been written, period.

I just wanted to say that I have learned so much through your videos. Thank you for the work that you do, you have an undeniable ability for teaching and although your political position is clear from the content you create, I also admire your effort to remain as objective as possible. Truly, thank you.

Thank you for your service ❤ I'll be looking into joining patreon soon. Getting disclaimers are really helpful for helping those of us in our naivety of new tech and business models, adapt to changing economics. Sincerely yours, Jeff h. Cheers mate

Incredible work, as always. As another commentor has done, this deserves several re-views with anyone with whom a deep conversation about ideas and ideals possible.

Wow, Lewis, one of your best so far!!

How are you this good! Seriously this amazing.

Good job! You made me desire reading Rousseau :)

A wonderful video. enjoyed it so much.

I love the integration of sociopolitical circumstances into the discussion of Rousseau's philosophy! Amazing work!

Awww that was awesome to see my name lol excellent marketing strategy lol binge on again! Love the work!!

Bravo. I love your videos! Amazing work

Incredible work ! Thank you

Great work!! I was really hoping you would touch on James Baldwin's time in Switzerland, and where he was a 'Stranger In The Village.' Not sure if it would fold easily into the main trust of this essay, but hope springs....

Swiss dude here, amazing work. Just wanted to point out that while it's true people call themselves Swiss here since at least the 15th c., one can find evidence dating back to the 2nd c. BC of a people inhabiting the Swiss plateau (and southern Gaul) calling themselves "Helvets" (Helvetii), which is the origin of the Roman name "Helvetia" for (proto-)Switzerland from the 1st c. AD onwards and is still today the literary term for the country. We still call ourselves Helvets :) Anyway, Keep it up!

the roar of this river! haha love it... rich history and philosophy content on top of a filmmaker's editing... fantastical!

Very good thank you. ❤

Without a doubt one of your most beautiful works thus far. Merci, Lewis.

This show was very informative. Quite fantastic!

Amazing man... It was rather captivating, even for me (being swiss myself). I might add that in my state, one of the original founding members (a rather isolated alpine region, I live where the black and white footage in your video was shot), we have had what is best described as cooperative/collective for over a thousand years. it has historically conveyed over the grazing rights (the alps), and still does. they own 80% of the land to this day. we call it the state within the state. it's all that existed until modern switzerland came into being. nowadays it's engaged in hydro power, logging and preservation and finances a lot of the states public amenities charitably with the proceeds. just like a thousand years ago, members meet annually and cast their votes by raising their hands. democracy is in our blood.

Great video!👍

Great video! To me Rouseau's ideas sound much like the ideas in Plato's Republic.

excellent video

funny thing about the habsburgs, their ancestral home and the actual castle of habsburg are, in what is now aargau, switzerland.

Small addition: Switzerland as a real nation state hasn't existed for that long. A true swiss identity has existed even shorter with local identities playing a much bugher role (and they still play a large role). In the old confederacy, regions were independent even in their foreign policy and some parts of what tiday is switzerland were Ubtertanengebiete (subordinate regions). Along with that, most wars the swiss fought were against other swiss political entities, often with support from abroad. The sonderbund wars fir example were a very defining moment in swiss history. And lastly: A lot of the founding myths are mostly myths. Other defensive pacts existed throughout europe.

This must be one of Lewis' favourite productions

This looks amazing! Great work!

damn, this was such a beautiful video!

Rousseau critiquing the paradoxes of modernity as a Swiss is interesting. His ideas are totally counter to the ahistorical portrayal of him by Graeber and Wengrow.

I love every video you produce i haven't watched it do far but tomorrow is my free day and i couldn't have spent the time better thank you!

So glad I found this video again!!!

Thanks!

As a swiss person I was very interested to learn a lot of these things. A problem that we have nowadays is that many inhabitants migrated from other countries and don't have swiss citizenship, therefore not being able to participate in politics.

It is absolutely hilarious to see Hegel transcribed as "Hey, girl"!

The tug-of-war between individual and communal impulses is something I observe in myself, and reconciliation of these impulses appears to be very elusive, if not impossible.

Nice nod to the respect for geography in the formulation of world ideas and embodiment. I could see how Foucault could appreciate this. We accept what we think are good ideas -- which we in turn shape ourselves with by participating in power, pro and con.

Beautifully filmed and edited

Excellent essay, thank you. As so many of your channel. For some helping criticism :David Graeber, who in his boek: The Dawn of everything, starts with a critical (in the sense of Kant) assessment of Rousseau (and his audience). I find that this kind of essays make a lot of intellectual work more accessible, than only reading, but.... reading we should, to make our own minds up. Not many people red the treatise of Rousseau, like so many cited men (and women). Is this where we auteurs find our grave: in citations?

Just subbed to your Patreon. Your work is too important, video-essays of this quality are non-existant on internet today.

Lovely job. Thank you.

Wonderful! Guess I gotta read Rousseau then.

This is one of the best documentary I’ve ever seen about switzerland, the funniest part about this is that the narrative of the history of my country is almost entirely made from a genevan perspective, and the whole swiss people are telling us that we are not swiss, we are french. Thank you for this historical lesson and cheers from Calvingrad! 😅

This one was really good, even among your other really good ones.

Democracy: Two wolves and a sheep discuss what they gonna eat for dinner. Greetings from Switzerland

🧡thanks so much for this

So very helpful a d beautiful.

Bravo!

Switzerland's greatest advancement to the Western world is the numbered bank account.

I love Switzerland and Rousseau 🇨🇭

Great video. Subbing your Patreon.

Brilliant- neauri

I am really sorry for going away from video's topic, but I just blown away by this magnificent melody in 22:22 I would really appreciate it if someone could tell me the name and author of it.

puts my feeling into words, real talk life n society is deep an infinite loop.

I wish I had realized this when I lived near Geneva

"How switzerland gave us democracy" - thumbnail has seceda and sassolungo both in italian tyrol

Hi just found out about this channel the other day and I’m pleasantly surprised and have binged plenty of videos & subscribed of course. Many thanks for high quality videos and great content. Respectfully, Grace 🩰

wow this whole Video is Poetry. Thank you so much to hear something nice about "my" Country, in a time where the negatives overboard

Nice video, although the thumbnail might be wrong because langkofel and plattkofel are in italy. You could have used the Matterhorn or piz Bernina instead 😊

I can only recommend everyone to take a trip through Switzerland. A wonderful country, very close to paradise. Original and yet a model for future ideals.

please do one on France!!!!!!

Fantastic vid. I have some disagreements with Rousseau but I do agree he moved us forward in the right direction more so than just about anyone

Spinoza is the father of the modern democracy.

that you switzerland for frankenstein and varney

consciousness is hunger hunger is consciousness satisfaction is sleeeeeep

One of the letters to Rousseau you quoted ("Thank you for the present you have given us. It is an arsenal of the most excellent weapons.") reminded me of an interviewers comment on Cory Doctorow's writing. Sounds weird I know. But I found the quote so here ya go: Terry Bison: "These days a lot of SF writers (and others!) are moving into YA because it’s more profitable. But it seems to me that you also have a political agenda. Can say anything about that?" Cory Doctorow: "That goes back to what you said earlier, about having a project. I don’t have a name for it, but it’s about technology and liberation. Those are the words I’d use. My work is all in service to it-the blog, the YA fiction, the technological advocacy, the standards work, the lobbying. All of that stuff is part of a bigger project. Where YA comes in, I guess, is that kids are never part of the status quo. They are outlaws by hereditary design. Plus they are tuned into technology. And technology always favors the attacker, not the defender." TB: "Cool. So you’re arming a constituency that’s interested in changing things. You’re passing out weapons to the kids.." CD: "That’s a lovely way to put it. I’m sure that’ll read great on my indictment sheet. But it does seem a little like that. The weapons of course are ideas and information. I’ve thought a lot about what it’s like to be an activist in the era of Google. I think it’s less important to know facts than it is to know keywords. Keywords are capabilities: if you know something can be done, you can figure out how to do it."

Today, we are again at a turning point; while we've parliamentary democracies, the wisest aren't in charge. One could argue that the soul of the state is turning tyrannical, just like the souls of the individuals constituting the state.

virtue creates wealth wealth creates narcissism....

Impenetrable fortress of greed.

I've seen must of your videos, enjoy each one of them. I have a comment/question. Can you talk about women's contribution to culture and politics? I believe there are women philosophers that you can talk about as well. Thanks for reading.

"In reality, the difference is, that the savage lives within himself while social man lives outside himself and can only live in the opinion of others, so that he seems to receive the feeling of his own existence only from the judgement of others concerning him. It is not to my present purpose to insist on the indifference to good and evil which arises from this disposition, in spite of our many fine works on morality, or to show how, everything being reduced to appearances, there is but art and mummery in even honour, friendship, virtue, and often vice itself, of which we at length learn the secret of boasting; to show, in short, how abject we are, and never daring to ask ourselves in the midst of so much philosophy, benevolence, politeness, and of such sublime codes of morality, we have nothing to show for ourselves but a frivolous and deceitful appearance, honour without virtue, reason without wisdom, and pleasure without happiness." JJR

This is a very nice essay about Rousseau and his influence over different fields of society and humanity as a whole. But i find the title of this video very missleading. Whe in Switzerland consider Rousseau to be genevan but not swiss. This is mainly beacause Geneva joined our confederation in 1815 years after Rousseaus death. Why not call the video "How Rousseau Chanced the World"? it has little to do with Switzerland in the end.

Swtizerland has many strict laws

Nice.

Wait, did you change the title?

For me, his greatest insight, and most important was on the absurdity of land ownership, when he said, “The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought to himself, saying, ‘This is mine’, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not someone have saved us all by pulling up those stakes or filling in the ditch, and crying to his fellows, "Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody."

Always stay safe. Traveling can be quite dangerous, so it's better to always be mindful whenever it's necessary for you to do so.

This was a brilliant and eye-opening video. I loved it. My only disappointment was that you did not mention other major figures who were influenced by Switzerland. For example, Albert Einstein got the inspiration for his theory of general relativity (and how time slows down in accelerating objects) from the Swiss train system while he was working in Bern. I have also heard that Friedrich Nietzsche was inspired in his thinking while travelling in the mountains of Switzerland. But otherwise a fantastic video. I've travelled to Switzerland a few times during winter and I agree with you, it is a beautiful country. Your analysis of Rousseau was very interesting. Some of the things you mentioned about him were totally new to me. I also love your style of explaining difficult ideas while travelling. I have started to do the same thing as you - I am listening to science and philosophy audiobooks while walking in beautiful parks. Many thanks Lewis for your great work. Cheers!

Abandoning one’s children does not qualify said some one as being a genius, in my opinion. I hope for a world with out this, children abandoned.

As someone who grew up and lives in the German Part of Switzerland, it baffles me how romanticized switzerland is by so many people. Especially when it comes to things like "Neutrality" which in reality has been on shaky grounds since WWI, especially so in WWII. While i do agree that in some ways switzerland may have had long lasting effects on the world, it to has been changed by the world. It had a human zoo all the way back in 1874 in Basel, the swiss government supported and worked closely with the government of Appartheid Southafrica until the international pressure was to high. The story of the Verdingkinder, the long and slow way to Womens Rights, or that switzerland, while not directly participating in colonialism, was still benefiting from it. It is also fascinating how a country that is made up of diverse can be so reactionary and conervative when it comes to foreign people. So materially Switzerland may have alot of great things like Welfare or Healtcare (although its getting increasingly more expensive), but i hardly see the ideals of Rousseau reflected in the German part of Switzerland, maybe its deep down somwere.

Can someone list out the music in this video?

good: fulfils a purpose true: it is witnessed reality = god

Who are the Landolts?

Burgers + milkshakes = freedom!

Wow, 2nd time I learnt or got confirmed essentials of CH - not got teached here in my 20+ years of eduction, especially not what it did idealogically to ourselves and consequentially to the world. 1st it was one of the many sleepless nights in the USA due to jet-lag, just changed channels and was hanging on one where a US report was about Geneva and the fathers of their constitutions when they visited the place after the independence wars. I never heart that - that Washington and fellow were in CH - we know the travel stories of Mark Twain, the contribution to the Myths by Goethe and Schiller but such political figures - not even a foot note in Swiss historical teachings. I tried to find out what it was what made Geneva so geo-politically special since centuries. It did not start with Rousseau, Calvin 150years before was shifting gears significantly, eliminated the Catholic base rule for the mass: "Ora et labora" and if you behave in carrying your cross in pain you get the award in the afterlife... - maybe the American dream in fact was dreamt the first time in Geneva 250years prior of their revolution - as well and I guess all was a result of ingredients injected in a longer term "fermentation" process by the initial setup of the Burgundy Kingdom which where at the end of the High-middle-Ages maybe the most innovative Kingdom in all Europe: Based on Constitution, Equal rights for boys and girls and Savoy to which Geneva belonged then was part of it, till in the 15th century Berne defeated Burgundy and occupied what today is the french speaking part of CH. Ironically what started in Geneva in the 15th to the 17th century, affected Northamerica and France in the 18th and then came from outside into Switzerland by Napoleon only to be erased few years later but then in 1848 the first federal state constitution in CH was to a high degree copied from the US one and pasted to the Swiss needs (no absolute power for the politicians - maybe the closed State setup of what Lincoln was saying in Gettysburg 20years after "of the people, for the people, by the people") also co-worked (enriched?) by refugees from other countries where their revolutions failed and many of their liberal / radical master minds moved to Switzerland. That's why - thanks a lot for your brilliant contribution

8:05 blood brothers work when you have common enemies and constant threats. America doesn't so Americans become their own worst enemy

The thumbnail is not Switzerland , its Italy