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Single Idea 23045
[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / d. General will
]
Full Idea
Where laws and institutions are apparently the work of deliberate volition, they are in reality the result of a compromise, which while by a kind of social contract it has the acquiescence of all, expresses the will of none.
Gist of Idea
Politics is compromises, which seem supported by a social contract, but express the will of no one
Source
T.H. Green (works [1875]), quoted by John H. Muirhead - The Service of the State III
Book Ref
Muirhead,John H.: 'The Service of the State: T.H. Green' [John Murray 2021], p.67
A Reaction
Politicians who claim to be enacting the 'will of the people' (e.g. when they won a referendum 52-48) are simply lying. Committees usually end up enacting one person's will, but often without realising what has happened.
The
15 ideas
from 'works'
23027
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Ideals and metaphysics are practical, not imaginative or speculative
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
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23030
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Truth is a relation to a whole of organised knowledge in the collection of rational minds
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
|
23044
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All knowledge rests on a fundamental unity between the knower and what is known
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
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23034
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The ultimate test for truth is the systematic interdependence in nature
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
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23032
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What is distinctive of human life is the desire for self-improvement
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
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23033
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Hedonism offers no satisfaction, because what we desire is self-betterment
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
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23045
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Politics is compromises, which seem supported by a social contract, but express the will of no one
[Green,TH]
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23050
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The ideal is a society in which all citizens are ladies and gentlemen
[Green,TH]
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23036
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The good is identified by the capacities of its participants
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
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23039
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A true state is only unified and stabilised by acknowledging individuality
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
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23038
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People only develop their personality through co-operation with the social whole
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
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23031
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God is the ideal end of the mature mind's final development
[Green,TH]
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23040
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If something develops, its true nature is embodied in its end
[Green,TH]
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23041
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God is the realisation of the possibilities of each man's self
[Green,TH]
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23052
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Enfranchisement is an end in itself; it makes a person moral, and gives a basis for respect
[Green,TH]
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