A WORD FROM THE FOUNDER

Professor Emeritus ‘I.F. Helu
(1934-2010)

I gave the name ‘Atenisi (Tonganisation of Athens) to this institution to record the fact that we owe science and philosophy - and democracy as well - to the ancient Greeks. I was, however, fully aware of certain shortcomings in the work of the Greeks. But without that brilliant start, the greatest breakthrough in the intellectual-spiritual history of mankind, we could not have developed to the stage we now find ourselves in. One of the greatest gifts that came via this breakthrough is the formalisation of the entailment relation between situations. This became the foundation of the critical-analytical enterprise which the Greeks founded giving rise to the special sciences and the different disciplines. And incredibly enough the same tools have also provided us with the means for changing the 'rules of the game' as we have traditionally understood them as they derived from the ancient Greeks. One such rule of the game is the disinterested, value-free principle of scientific inquiry. This very principle is being questioned now under the influence of certain key advances in nuclear physics and especially molecular biology -- artificial insemination, genetic diagnostics and therapy, the manufacture of chromosomes, or closing via transplants of the egg nucleus, etc, etc. These have suggested that from now on ethical questions must be part and parcel of the scientific enterprise.

Whether this inference is valid or not it demonstrates the vitality and power of the Greek legacy. It shows also that the ills of progress, whether originating in science or somewhere else can only be cured by science itself. ‘Atenisi Institute understands this statement and is committed to its analysis. ‘Atenisi is a small and poor school in Tonga, an island in the South Pacific. It respects the classical achievements of the past and is devoted to the criticism, analysis and development of the cultural institutions we have inherited through those achievements.