Transcript political-social theory

Political & Social
Philosophy
Political philosophy:
is the legitimacy of
government
The proper
organization of
human beings
governed by law or
instinct
Legitimate &
illegitimate power
Social Philosophy: is
the problem of
justice
Presupposes a state
of authority
What role does that
authority have in the
distribution of goods
and services to the
citizens?
Political Philosophy
Jean Jacques Rousseau
“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in
chains”
We are NOT born with natural masters
On civilized society, rules govern every
aspect of our behavior
These rules are enforced by implied threats
of violence or loss of property, freedom, or
even life
PLATO
We are naturally social beings
As individuals, we are not self-sufficient
Deduces a natural division of labor
along class lines
Refers back to the City/State metaphor
Upper classes will produce children
according to eugenic principles
Plato (cont.)
Prescribes an absolute communism but
only for the upper classes
Greed permeates the lower classes
Greed is allowed to motivate the
workers and artisans, but is always
controlled by the philosopher/rulers and
the military caste
Plato saw society as natural but
capable of being undermined by greed if
not structured in such a way as to
contain it
The ideal society may through its
totalitarian practices be immune to the
dangers of greed, BUT it could still be
corrupted by Envy
The Noble Lie
A lie about why they must accept the
order of things
P.332-333
gold in the ones fit to rule
silver in their assistants (military)
iron & brass in the workers
You beget your likes
Part of the job of the Republic was to
destroy the authority of the myth in
the Greek world and replace it with
Reason, yet here Plato is required to
create a myth to keep the city
cohesive
Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan (1651)
This book’s main goal is the resolution
of the problem of politics
Presupposes psychological egoism and
is more sound in political theory than
ethical theory
Hobbes (cont.)
Assumes that all people are created
equal
Asserted the thesis of equality as a
purely physical fact
We, humans are more or less all the
same
Fact: Human nature is selfish, powermongering and equally distributed
Hobbes tried to imagine what human
beings would be like in a “State of
Nature”
I.e., prior to any civil state or any rule by
law
Therefore, from this equality of ability,
rises the equality of hope in attaining
OUR ends
Continual fear and danger of violent
death
The life of man would be solitary, poor,
nasty, brutish and short
Hobbes view:
Concepts like right /wrong; justice/injustice
and “mine and thine”(property) are concepts
generated by law, therefore dependent upon
law
Further, the concept of law is dependent upon
the POWER
LEGAL POSITIVISM: justice is whatever
legality calls just, and what is legal has been
established as legal by the powers that be
and for as long as they are able to enforce
the law
Legal Positivism
The passionate part of our self
desperately desires to survive.
There is a natural right to attempt to do
so
Hobbes Right of Nature: the
preservation of his own nature
For Hobbes there is only ONE natural
right
Hobbes assumes that in a state of
nature there will be a general scarcity of
goods
Based on our passions alone we would
not survive long enough to enjoy the
goal; of the natural right
Now REASON comes into play
NATURAL LAW : is a precept or general
rule, by reason, by which we are
forbidden to do that which is destructive
of our life
We would not survive if we only pursued
our natural right, we must also appeal to
reason and natural law
Therefore, the idea of natural right is the
foundation of Hobbes’ Social Contract.
We agree to transfer our right to
violence and our right to sovereignty
over ourselves to a mutually agreed
upon sovereign.
That sovereign will have political
authority over us
This sovereign agrees to pass laws that
create a state of peace
Retrains and punishes those who breaks the
contract
No guarantees that the sovereign won’t
abuse such absolute power
Almost certain they would
EVEN ABUSED AUTHORITY IS BETTER
THAN NO AUTHORITY ACCORDING TO
HOBBES
In Hobbes’ system revolt is never
legitimate unless it succeeds because
only power succeeds for Hobbes
For Hobbes the state is an artifice, (a
monster, a “Leviathan”)
But a NECESSARY one
Any state is better than no state
John Locke
Moral state into which all of us are born
by virtue of being God’s creatures
Grounded his theory in religious belief
God created humans, gave the basic
rights
Right to “Life, health, liberty, and
possessions.”
Locke (cont.)
Each born into a moral “state of nature”
in which these rights are ours
“Law of nature” with certain moral
obligations
Law of nature is law of reason (like
Hobbes)
Hobbes
No such thing as
natural property
Property created only
be laws
In a state of nature
there are no laws
Locke
God’s law creates natural
property
God created the earth and
provided it with natural
resources
Natural piece of property
is our own body
Extended to our labors
Locke (cont.)
One may accumulate as much “natural
property” as one can use without its
spoiling as long as one leaves enough
for everyone else
Hobbes:
Political philosophy
presupposes a
condition of scarcity
Locke
Political philosophy
presupposes a
condition of
abundance
Locke’s concept of “natural
property”
One can accumulate even hoard money
and pass it along to family
Convenient for Locke’s and his well to
do friends
Problems with Locke’s theory
Contradicts his view that the land
belongs to whomever tills it
Failed to recognize that the excessive
accumulation of wealth is a form of
power that can be used to undermine
the state of equality
If any person violates the rights of
others, that person alienates himself
from the state of nature and and forfeits
his own natural rights
He has “earned” a punishment and the
punishment must fit the crime
Locke’s theory of justice is retribution
and preventative
Distributive justice for Locke is a
meritocracy.
The sovereign has been given the
authority to create law by the social
contract.
For Locke the function of the political
state is to guarantee the moral state
The political state is potentially superior
to the state of nature because the state
of nature lacks:
Impartial judges
Precise laws
Sufficient power to uphold moral law
For Locke the Justification of the state is
the consent of the citizens
The citizens are bound by the contract
as long as the government upholds its
end of the contract
Revolution could be justified
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Believed all humans are born free and
that only LEGITIMATE government is
one that preserves and maximizes that
condition
Legitimacy can only come about
through consent to a social contract
However, Rousseau, like Locke &
Hobbes begins with the “state of nature”
Self- love is a natural virtue and natural
good
Moral development depends on it
Traditional societies pervert the virtue of
self love
And invert the second (pity)
Self love becomes pride
Pity is transformed in to its oppositedelight another's misery
Acc’d to Rousseau, pride and envy are
encouraged everywhere by traditional
social organizations
They prevent one from developing into
a full person
Therefore, a child (born free) should be
reared as far as possible from society's
corrupting influences
Reared in a “state of nature” the child will
then be allowed develop its own virtues
If one remained at the state of natural
virtues,one would fail to develop fully one’s
humanity
Rousseau (cont.)
The state of natural virtues must be
developed into a moral state, and
morality and politics go hand in hand
By filling out social side of our nature
can we find our fullest freedom
The natural and just society will be
constituted by the social contract
Problems with Rousseau
He completely rejects the notion of
representative democracy
A true democracy is a participatory one
where ALL citizens vote on every issue
The legitimate political body must be
limited in size in order to convene all its
members
More problems with Rousseau
Contradiction between his claim that only in
the political body does one find one’s true
freedom and what he calls the “General Will”
“General Will” = the constant will of all
members of the state
I.e., by consenting to live in a state, one is
consenting to abide by the will of the people,
but one is also recognizing that that will is the
state!
John Stuart Mill
Opposite of Rousseau
His goal was to distinguish between the
public and the private
There was a realm that was the concern of
society
And a realm that was the concern of the
individual
And in the latter, politics had no business
“The Principle of Liberty”
The political authority can legitimately
restrain members of society ONLY if
these actions harm other members of
society
He rules out “victimless crimes”
The state has no right to criminalize
behavior that is harmful to only me and
no one else
Problems with Mill
Historical perspective: it supports a
middle class Victorian dream- “A man’s
home is his castle”
The social world has become much
more complicated since Mill’s time
Solutions to Mill’s problems
Courts of law must determine exactly
what constitutes harm
Democracy becomes the best form of
government
Still difficult to reconcile public and
private interests
Laissez-faire
This doctrine of “hand off” means
literally “leave alone”
There are certain realms where the
government has no business
Associated with economic policy of
conservatism
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
The problem of Justice is the key issue
Fairness and deservedness in meeting
the claims of citizens and in the
distribution of goods and services
Three views:
Communists
 Minimal state
 Liberalism

Liberalism
Page 374
The “liberal state”
John Rawls book Theory of Justice
Exists today in Western democracies
Free enterprise
Natural resources
Any theory of justice has to balance claims
between legitimate & illegitimate claims
John Rawls
“Justice of Fairness”
All citizens will get a reasonable share
of the social goods
This doctrine establishes what people
may do to each other in pursuit of these
goods
Two principles of Rawls
Equal liberties
principle

Equal and maximum
liberty in all political,
education, religious
etc is available to
each person
consistent with the
equal liberty for
others
Difference Principle

Wealth & power to
be distributed
equally except where
inequities would
work to the
advantage of all.
Those unable to care
for themselves are
care for by those
who can
Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance
Like Plato’s “Noble Lie”
The “Veil of Ignorance” the facts we know
about ourselves are set aside
Some equalities in a naturally evolving
society are unjust because they are
undeserved
Society can only be just if it partially
redistributes wealth for the benefit of the most
disadvantaged
Criticisms of Rawls
Ignores our gambling nature
No contract is legally binding if the
signers of it are kept in ignorance of
their own real interest

Yet ALL signers of Rawls social contract
are ignorant of even their personal identity
Conclusions
Legitimacy of the State
We enter into a social contract
Better than anarchy, or totalitarianism
We should not settle for ANY form of
government
One of the primary features of a political
theory must be the development of a
theory of consent
Consent leads us to Justice, which is the key
to social philosophy
Rawls is convincing when he holds that a just
society cannot be based on entitlement alone
Claims of entitlement must be balanced with
claims of need or social victimization
Society has a moral obligation to provide
opportunities to the disadvantage