The Purpose of the State - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Purpose of the State http://www.psfk.com/2011/04/is-our-world-full-of-deep- symmetries-and-ordered-pairs-video.html Power (cont.) and Justice

Hobbes, Thucycides, and Machiavelli: The rise of the National Security State • If the aim of the state is to amass power, is it inevitable that freedom of citizens be destroyed? • Patriot Act?

Amass power….Six ways • 1. Force • 2. Fear – It is better to be feared than loved – The Three Bears Rule of Cruelty – Deterrence = public punishments • 3. Favors to create dependence – Reward loyalty • 4. Freedom: Rulers will amass power when there is prosperity – Enable everyone to pursue their calling – Protect citizens’ property* – Don’t tax too much and reward those who contribute to prosperity

5. Use any means necessary to expand your power

Break Promiss if you Must • Delegate Unpopular policies to others

6. Make a lot of Hype and Hoopla • Become a good propagandist • Invent or use a state religion • Have lots of Ceremony and celebrations • Project an image!

Image

Hoopla

The logical consequence of Machiavelli's thought • Machiavelli represented a breakthrough in thought: “evil” is legitimized • Effects seen on the battlefields of 20 th century Europe • The Doctrine of no regard for justice ultimately led to the politics of Lebensraum, two world wars, the Holocaust, nuclear weapons

The State and Human Nature: Do we need a state to decide who gets what? • No state can be • Hobbes: We need constructed in community with a opposition to human government to repress nature our solitary warring natures • Machiavelli laughed – We consent to at Plato and Aristotle repression – So we get enforcement of community view of just distribution of goods

A Just state must conform to human nature • What is Human Nature? • The tripartite soul – Rational soul – Spirited soul – Hungry soul • Disunity in the Tripartite soul

Principles of just distribution? • The Mastercard principle: repaying our debts? • The lobbyist’s principle: helping our friends and hurting our enemies? • Might Makes Right principle: Justice is the advantage of the stronger?

The “three-souls-harmony” principle of justice • The tug of impulses! • “obey your thirst” is a violation of our true nature • If we are irrational, we will be unhappy • True justice is the harmony of the three souls…..????? • What does THAT have to do with political economy

From Individual to Society • Why we form society – 1. The founding myth: order, love, community – 2. Economic Necessity! • We aren’t self-sufficient • We need a division of Labor • Our place in the division of labor is determined by nature – 3. Self-Actualization in the division of labor

The Birth of the State

Who gets to be in each group • Philosopher kings have escaped the cave!

The “Noble Lie” and the Birth of the State • What is the lie? • Is it really a lie? Why is it considered noble? Can a lie ever be good? Can a noble lie go bad? • Are noble lies told by the rulers just to keep themselves in power? What would Plato say? • Why is it that most states tell “noble lies?”

The Noble Lie Today: Is it the noble lie gone bad? • Why tell this particular kind of lie? • Was the invasion of Iraq based on a “noble lie?” • Why am I belaboring this issue Noble Lie?

Justice under Different forms of government…..