Thursday, April 14, 2011
Is the social contract still alive - Hobbes, Locke
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Yes, the social contract still exists, barely, one would admit, after the events of last week, where it took until the 11th hour of the crucial day, Friday the 8th of April 2011, to avert the complete shutdown of the government of the United States of America.
Social contract or social compact is the most basic principle of morality that we hold ourselves responsible for, whether or not we recognize it as such. It is that unwritten voluntary agreement that we mankind subscribe to, to surrender some individual liberties to our chosen rulers, and to behave in a mutually agreeable manner that the existence of society requires. It is truly mutual, and involves accepting authority but holding those who govern us to certain moral principles. Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and J.-J. Rousseau are the modern authors (o.k., 18th century) who proclaim these principles, as necessary, to take us out of the anarchistic state of nature, where “life is poor, rude, nasty and short” and to create a society. The American Declaration of Independence has been the weightiest implementation of the social contract impacting lives on this continent (try to recite “when in the course of human events…” to prove it to yourselves).
We are confronted with breaches of the social compact constantly: in a simplest form it may be a hurried co-tenant who closes the elevator door on you when you are only ten paces away, or most complex, when unarmed Libyans (Tunisians, Egyptians, Tibetans) protest against government oppression by marching into the gunfires of dictatorial rulers. The anarchistic tax protesters of the tea party willing to destroy government functions (“shut it down!” shouted Rep. Mike Pence, R., IN) fit someplace in between. If the anger observed in protesters on television is genuine, some of it borders on pathological. There is a lot of lying and blame-shifting, and and cover-your –butt doubletalk prevails, as in the case of Michele Bachman (R., MN 6th CD), who . in an interview, claims a desire for compromise , and screams denunciations of the opponents in gatherings of the faithful. Whether the 87 new Republican congressmen elected on tea party principles were swayed towards the last minute compromise by re-election concerns, or by the persuasiveness of the media remains uncertain, but the gains reported back to them by the House Speaker John A. Boehner – cutting the US budget by $38 billion rather than $30 billion may have been impressive, and the surrendered financing for Planned Parenthood’s birth control therapy became minimized even in the eyes of some anti-abortionists. Certainly the media did a lot in outlining such losses as furloughing 800,000 government employees, shot-cutting veteran benefits and funeral expenses, closing 395 national parks and sending home the vacationers, involving closing of tour contracts, motel reservations and tourist enterprises, a vulnerable industry producing jobs and foreign exchange income. The objective of creation of jobs in the face of the closings became ridiculous, even to some fanatics. Even after the compromise, House Speaker John A. Boehmer’s statement that “We sought to keep government spending down because it really will create a better environment for the job creators in our country” is hard to swallow, given that most savings will come from firings of government employees and teachers. One shudders to think what the price will be when in mid-May the raising of the national debt limit comes up - a necessity, so that we can pay out interest on our $14.2 trillion debt, and to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the world's economy. The GOP budget planer, Rep/ Paul Ryan (R., IN) wants to repay $5.5 trillion in 10 years, but will use $4 trillion to reduce business taxes and thus grow employment. He will repeal Obama Healthcare act, shrink or privatize Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory, but boost military spending. Unless Mr. Obama counters, our social compact will collapse. In all these years of reduced taxes for the rich, few (e.g. T. Boone Pickens) offered evidence of domestic employment gains . The billionares invest in FaR East industry, helping the trade imbalamnce grow.
The earliest expression of adherence to the social contract was probably that of Socrates (400-300 BCE) who questioned all men in their conclusions, letting his disciple Plato record the dialogues. Accused of destroying young men’s morality, Socrates was sentenced to death by an Athenian jury of 500, and chose to drink hemlock rather than be jailed or escape abroad, because he had chosen to live in Athens, and had to adhere to Athens law, as expressed by a randomly but popularly chosen jury. Humanity in general has mostly expressed its adherence to the social compact by revolution. Another philosopher, Hugo Grotius in 1625 explained that was war is justified, to defend individual rights, if an enemy interfered with them. Interfering may be punished, even if this meant to deny a monarch’s God-given rights. Even earlier, Fr. Francisco Suarez (1546-1617 of the Salamanca school) theorized against the natural law of divine rights of absolute monarchy. Much of the early social compact reasoning is related to the Golden Rule of Christianity, or Sermon of the Mount (“do unto others as you would others do unto you….), which has precedents in nearly all early moral or religious forms: starting with the Code of Hammurabi, the Sumerian dicta, Judaism (Hillel, most famously), Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and other Eastern forms.
Wally Dobelis thanks the NYTimes, internet sources and the sages at Baruch and NYU 50-plus years ago, who taught us to trust the social contract.
Yes, the social contract still exists, barely, one would admit, after the events of last week, where it took until the 11th hour of the crucial day, Friday the 8th of April 2011, to avert the complete shutdown of the government of the United States of America.
Social contract or social compact is the most basic principle of morality that we hold ourselves responsible for, whether or not we recognize it as such. It is that unwritten voluntary agreement that we mankind subscribe to, to surrender some individual liberties to our chosen rulers, and to behave in a mutually agreeable manner that the existence of society requires. It is truly mutual, and involves accepting authority but holding those who govern us to certain moral principles. Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and J.-J. Rousseau are the modern authors (o.k., 18th century) who proclaim these principles, as necessary, to take us out of the anarchistic state of nature, where “life is poor, rude, nasty and short” and to create a society. The American Declaration of Independence has been the weightiest implementation of the social contract impacting lives on this continent (try to recite “when in the course of human events…” to prove it to yourselves).
We are confronted with breaches of the social compact constantly: in a simplest form it may be a hurried co-tenant who closes the elevator door on you when you are only ten paces away, or most complex, when unarmed Libyans (Tunisians, Egyptians, Tibetans) protest against government oppression by marching into the gunfires of dictatorial rulers. The anarchistic tax protesters of the tea party willing to destroy government functions (“shut it down!” shouted Rep. Mike Pence, R., IN) fit someplace in between. If the anger observed in protesters on television is genuine, some of it borders on pathological. There is a lot of lying and blame-shifting, and and cover-your –butt doubletalk prevails, as in the case of Michele Bachman (R., MN 6th CD), who . in an interview, claims a desire for compromise , and screams denunciations of the opponents in gatherings of the faithful. Whether the 87 new Republican congressmen elected on tea party principles were swayed towards the last minute compromise by re-election concerns, or by the persuasiveness of the media remains uncertain, but the gains reported back to them by the House Speaker John A. Boehner – cutting the US budget by $38 billion rather than $30 billion may have been impressive, and the surrendered financing for Planned Parenthood’s birth control therapy became minimized even in the eyes of some anti-abortionists. Certainly the media did a lot in outlining such losses as furloughing 800,000 government employees, shot-cutting veteran benefits and funeral expenses, closing 395 national parks and sending home the vacationers, involving closing of tour contracts, motel reservations and tourist enterprises, a vulnerable industry producing jobs and foreign exchange income. The objective of creation of jobs in the face of the closings became ridiculous, even to some fanatics. Even after the compromise, House Speaker John A. Boehmer’s statement that “We sought to keep government spending down because it really will create a better environment for the job creators in our country” is hard to swallow, given that most savings will come from firings of government employees and teachers. One shudders to think what the price will be when in mid-May the raising of the national debt limit comes up - a necessity, so that we can pay out interest on our $14.2 trillion debt, and to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the world's economy. The GOP budget planer, Rep/ Paul Ryan (R., IN) wants to repay $5.5 trillion in 10 years, but will use $4 trillion to reduce business taxes and thus grow employment. He will repeal Obama Healthcare act, shrink or privatize Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory, but boost military spending. Unless Mr. Obama counters, our social compact will collapse. In all these years of reduced taxes for the rich, few (e.g. T. Boone Pickens) offered evidence of domestic employment gains . The billionares invest in FaR East industry, helping the trade imbalamnce grow.
The earliest expression of adherence to the social contract was probably that of Socrates (400-300 BCE) who questioned all men in their conclusions, letting his disciple Plato record the dialogues. Accused of destroying young men’s morality, Socrates was sentenced to death by an Athenian jury of 500, and chose to drink hemlock rather than be jailed or escape abroad, because he had chosen to live in Athens, and had to adhere to Athens law, as expressed by a randomly but popularly chosen jury. Humanity in general has mostly expressed its adherence to the social compact by revolution. Another philosopher, Hugo Grotius in 1625 explained that was war is justified, to defend individual rights, if an enemy interfered with them. Interfering may be punished, even if this meant to deny a monarch’s God-given rights. Even earlier, Fr. Francisco Suarez (1546-1617 of the Salamanca school) theorized against the natural law of divine rights of absolute monarchy. Much of the early social compact reasoning is related to the Golden Rule of Christianity, or Sermon of the Mount (“do unto others as you would others do unto you….), which has precedents in nearly all early moral or religious forms: starting with the Code of Hammurabi, the Sumerian dicta, Judaism (Hillel, most famously), Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and other Eastern forms.
Wally Dobelis thanks the NYTimes, internet sources and the sages at Baruch and NYU 50-plus years ago, who taught us to trust the social contract.
Labels: Grotius, Hillel, Hobbes, Locke, Mike Pence, Montesquieu, Paul Ryan, Rousseau, social compact, social contract, Socrates
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 7:01 AM 
