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Single Idea 23050

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 4. Citizenship ]

Full Idea

With all seriousness and reverence we may hope and pray for a condition of English society in which all honest citizens will recognise themselves and be recognised by each other as gentlemen.

Gist of Idea

The ideal is a society in which all citizens are ladies and gentlemen

Source

T.H. Green (works [1875]), quoted by John H. Muirhead - The Service of the State IV

Book Ref

Muirhead,John H.: 'The Service of the State: T.H. Green' [John Murray 2021], p.83


A Reaction

Call me old fashioned but, as long as we expand this to include ladies, I like this thought. Chaucer's knight (in his Prologue) should be our national role model. The true gentleman is an Aristotelian ideal.


The 15 ideas from 'works'

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