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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'

23044 All knowledge rests on a fundamental unity between the knower and what is known [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23034 The ultimate test for truth is the systematic interdependence in nature [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23032 What is distinctive of human life is the desire for self-improvement [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23033 Hedonism offers no satisfaction, because what we desire is self-betterment [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23050 The ideal is a society in which all citizens are ladies and gentlemen [Green,TH]
23045 Politics is compromises, which seem supported by a social contract, but express the will of no one [Green,TH]
23036 The good is identified by the capacities of its participants [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23039 A true state is only unified and stabilised by acknowledging individuality [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23038 People only develop their personality through co-operation with the social whole [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23031 God is the ideal end of the mature mind's final development [Green,TH]
23027 Ideals and metaphysics are practical, not imaginative or speculative [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23030 Truth is a relation to a whole of organised knowledge in the collection of rational minds [Green,TH, by Muirhead]
23040 If something develops, its true nature is embodied in its end [Green,TH]
23041 God is the realisation of the possibilities of each man's self [Green,TH]
23052 Enfranchisement is an end in itself; it makes a person moral, and gives a basis for respect [Green,TH]