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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?
The Purpose of the State - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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
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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
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- 5. Use any means necessary to
expand your power
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- Delegate Unpopular
policies to others
Break Promiss if you Must
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- 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!
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Image
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Hoopla
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The logical consequence of Machiavelli's thought
- Machiavelli represented a breakthrough in
thought: “evil” is legitimized
- Effects seen on the battlefields of 20th
century Europe
- The Doctrine of no regard for justice
ultimately led to the politics of Lebensraum, two world wars, the Holocaust, nuclear weapons
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The State and Human Nature: Do we need a state to decide who gets what?
- No state can be
constructed in
- pposition to human
nature
- Machiavelli laughed
at Plato and Aristotle
- Hobbes: We need
community with a government to repress
- ur solitary warring
natures
– We consent to repression – So we get enforcement
- f community view of
just distribution of goods
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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
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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?
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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
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From Individual to Society
- Why we form society
– 1. The founding myth:
- rder, love, community
– 2. Economic Necessity!
- We aren’t self-sufficient
- We need a division of
Labor
- Our place in the division
- f labor is determined
by nature
– 3. Self-Actualization in the division of labor
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The Birth of the State
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Who gets to be in each group
- Philosopher kings have escaped the cave!
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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?”
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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?
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