Poli 64 Modern Political Thought
description
Transcript of Poli 64 Modern Political Thought
Poli 64 Modern Political Thought
TURN YOUR PHONE OFF!WHITE HOUSE CORNERSTONE LAID:
October 13, 1792The cornerstone is laid for a presidential residence in the newly designated capital city of Washington. In 1800, President John Adams became the first president to reside in the executive mansion, which soon became known as the "White House" because its white-gray Virginia freestone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings.
The effects of “enlightenment”:Creation of the modern “citizen”
Opacity
Uniformity
Deference and lack of authenticity
Insincerity
Mutual suspicions, violations, fear, lack of pity, deceit
Rousseau on the Sciences and Arts (or, where we are)
Origins of power? Needs Basis of power? Knowledge
Sciences and Arts today
Serve power by knowledge
Origins: Vice
Of vigor
Of morality itself
Of judgment
Of courage
Source of abuses: INEQUALITYObjects: IdlenessEffects: laziness, skepticismvanity, manipulation,
unjustified distinctionLosses
Value of: virtue
The inequalities of modern citizens
Superficial talents
Sources of distinction Objects of contempt
Integrity
Rhetorical skill Resolute action
Fortune Glory
Self-interest Citizenship
Who are our heroes???
How did we get like this? Whence these inequalities???
Rousseau on the origins of inequality (or, how we got here)
Knowing the origin of inequality requires knowing human nature in its ‘natural’ state, but no such state exists, and may never haveexisted.
‘State of nature’ arguments are tautologies; they presuppose what they ‘prove.’
The only real truths about human nature are those that take us for what we are, and help us see the difference between:
*what we have made ourselves and what we could be*what we would be without society, without speech, without
reason and what society has made us*what we did -- or could have done – to get to here and what
can do about it
Rousseau on the origins of inequality (or, the paradox of society)
-- Society, by way of reason, “smothers” our nature
Human nature: Self-preservationPityPhysical (natural) inequality
Social nature:DominationIndifferenceConventional inequality
Dispositions:Condition:
The transformation of man:Survival difficultiesMutual dependence
Language and propertyReason and conventions
Corruption comes from human vice (passions for idleness, vanity, distinction)
Property is the embodiment of vice: 1. Property divides individuals, multiplying “needs,” burdens, and fears2. Property enables distinctions3. Property becomes the means of ambition, and ambition is secured by domination
Dangers: Violence and insecurity
The paradox of society:“The vices that make social institutions necessary are the same ones that make theirabuses inevitable.”
The desire for domination is the vice that makes social institutions necessary – and the vice that makes the corruption of social institutions inevitable.
But property also requires security, and this makes civil society possible1. Force is unstable:Power is secured by right, when obedience
becomes duty2. Right is reciprocal: No one would give up natural liberty just to be
dominated; laws must serve all equally or they allow for the growth of corruption
3. A good society is a society of equality and reciprocity
Those with the most to lose must convince everyone else to respect property – and this they can do only by promising equality and reciprocity.
Natural inequalities are moot, social inequalities are conventional,conventions presuppose reciprocity, but social inequalities are non-reciprocal.
Summary: Rousseau’s redemption of republicanism
1. We’re in a bad way. Corruption is rampant.
2. It’s our own fault. Each believes s/he can benefit from corruption, but everyone suffers because of selfishness. Preoccupation with security forproperty is the cause and the result of selfishness.
3. Security – and freedom -- is impossible without self-control. But no onewill forebear unless:
A. Everyone gets the same benefits from the civil association.(If anyone suffers, everyone is in danger of suffering). EQUALITY
B. Everyone shares the same burdens. (If anyone gets off easy, they aretaking advantage of everyone else’s efforts). RECIPROCITY
Rousseau on the Social Contract (or, how to redeem the promise of society)
Origins of societyJustification: equality and reciprocity
Reality: inequality for domination
Society makes it possible to realize our humanity
The challenge: turn force into right and obedience into duty
The conventions of reasonable consent
-- Strength is unstable-- Slavery is non-reciprocal
1. Total alienation of all rights to the community Effect: complete equality
2. Commitment to the public good: agree to be directed by the General Will3. Participation in the exercise of sovereign power
The conditions of sovereignty1. The General Will is inalienable2. The General Will is indivisible3. The General Will is never wrong4. The General Will is impossible to discover; hence the need for “legislators”
The conditions of sovereignty
1. The General Will is inalienable
2. The General Will is indivisible
3. The General Will is never wrong
4. The General Will is impossible to discover; hence the need for “legislators”
The will of the body politic is the interest of the whole public:
The body politic cannot exist without the security of all members The interest of each member as citizen is coextensive with the interest of the whole body
Some fundamental features of the sovereign power:
Sovereignty is absolute; thus freedom requires participation in sovereign powerThe interests of individuals as citizens must always take precedence over their
interests as private persons
The sovereign body politic can only represent itself
No part or faction of the association can arrogate sovereignty
Individuals may misunderstand what the public good requires
The influence of private interests, the limitations of human knowledge, the difficulties of unanticipated consequences, the contingencies of historical change, must be recognized.
We must not assume that we are “free”; we can only be free by continuing to participate in the exercise of sovereign power
The Challenge of Citizenship (or how to become a “legislator”)
The General Will – and the aim of laws -- must be liberty and equality
The difficulties of these ideals are no excuse for not trying to realize them
Individuals are both citizens – as members of the sovereign power and subjects -- as private persons in relation to the state
The challenge for citizens: Private interest must never be allowed to subvert the public good
--Natural inequalities are irrelevant-- Conventional inequalities must be “power-free”
Laws are not enough; vigilance is the cost of liberty and equality:Apathy is a sure sign of degeneracyRepresentative government is only good for citizens who are slaves to their interests
The challenge of good citizenship is to become a “legislator”:A “moral” beingCognizant of human nature, but not swayed by itDedicated to the common – not one’s own -- happinessWilling to forbear in claims to power or sovereignty
Sovereignty and government
-- It is not laws, but the power to make laws, that is the “heart” of the state-- Government is not sovereignty; it is merely the executor of the sovereign will
*Government mediates relations between private persons*The ideal government is a democracy
-- Those making the law are in the best position to know how itshould be interpreted and enforced-- But:
*It is dangerous for those who make the law to execute it*Modern societies cannot be democracies
If you want freedom, you must have a democracy, and if you want a democracy, you must control your “human nature”and strive to be like “a god”
Democracies must be small societiesDemocrats must be morally rigidDemocracies must be radically egalitarianDemocracies must be simple societiesDemocracies are subject to civil strife
The Classical and the Modern Political Ideals We can no longer enjoy the liberty of the ancients, which consisted in an active and constant participation in collective power. Our freedom must consist of peaceful enjoyment and private independence. The share which in antiquity everyone held in national sovereignty was by no means an abstract presumption as it is in our own day. The will of each individual had real influence: the exercise of this will was a vivid and repeated pleasure. Consequently the ancients were ready to make many a sacrifice to preserve their political rights and their share in the administration of the state. Everybody, feeling with pride all that his suffrage was worth, found in this awareness of his personal importance a great compensation. This compensation no longer exists for us today. Lost in the multitude, the individual can almost never perceive the influence he exercises. Never does his will impress itself upon the whole; nothing confirms in his eyes his own cooperation. The exercise of political rights, therefore, offers us but a part of the pleasures that the ancients found in it, while at the same time the progress of civilization, the commercial tendency of the age, the communication amongst peoples, have infinitely multiplied and varied the means of personal happiness.It follows that we must be far more attached than the ancients to our individual independence. For the ancients when they sacrificed that independence to their political rights, sacrificed less to obtain more; while in making the same sacrifice we would give more to obtain less. The aim of the ancients was the sharing of social power among the citizens of the same fatherland: this is what they called liberty. The aim of the moderns is the enjoyment of security in private pleasures; and they call liberty the guarantees accorded by institutions to these pleasures.
Benjamin Constant, 1816
Poli 64 survey, Fall 2001Would you take an "A" without learning anything?
Maybe2%No
25%
Yes73%
BACK
Abe
Lizzy and Susan
Martin
Bill
Brittany and Madonna
Alan
OR