more from this thinker     |     more from this text


Single Idea 23721

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / c. A unified people ]

Full Idea

Within the original tribal association the living generation always acknowledged a legal obligation towards the earlier generation, and in particular towards the earliest.

Gist of Idea

Old tribes always felt an obligation to the earlier generations, and the founders

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (On the Genealogy of Morals [1887], II.§19)

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'On the Genealogy of Morals', ed/tr. Diethe, Carol [CUP 1997], p.60


A Reaction

This is still a factor in modern politics, though the people remember are either military heroes or the great figures of a particular political movement. We remember the big artists and personalities, but don't feel obligated to them.


The 37 ideas with the same theme [how many individuals count as a single people]:

The community (of villages) becomes a city when it is totally self-sufficient [Aristotle]
A community must share a common view of good and justice [Aristotle]
People who are anti-social or wholly self-sufficient are no part of a city [Aristotle]
A city can't become entirely one, because its very nature is to be a multitude [Aristotle]
Friendship is the best good for cities, because it reduces factions [Aristotle]
A community should all share to some extent in something like land or food [Aristotle]
We are citizens of the universe, and principal parts of it [Epictetus]
The ideal for human preservation is unanimity among people [Spinoza]
Peoples are created by individuals, not by nature, and only distinguished by language and law [Spinoza]
People are drawn into society by needs, shared fears, pleasure, and knowledge [Montesquieu]
People are guided by a multitude of influences, from which the spirit of a nation emerges [Montesquieu]
Rousseau assumes that laws need a people united by custom and tradition [Rousseau, by Wolff,J]
The act of becoming 'a people' is the real foundation of society [Rousseau]
To overcome obstacles, people must unite their forces into a single unified power [Rousseau]
Human nature changes among a people, into a moral and partial existence [Rousseau]
The soul of the people is an organisation of its members which produces an essential unity [Hegel]
The family is the first basis of the state, but estates are a necessary second [Hegel]
Hegel's Absolute Spirit is the union of human rational activity at a moment, and whatever that sustains [Hegel, by Eldridge]
The people are just individuals, and only present themselves as united to foreigners [Tocqueville]
Old tribes always felt an obligation to the earlier generations, and the founders [Nietzsche]
An enduring people needs its own individual values [Nietzsche]
Gradually loyalty to a creed increased, which could even outweigh nationality [Russell]
Increasingly war expands communities, and unifies them through fear [Russell]
In early societies the leaders needed cohesion, but the rest just had to obey [Russell]
The need for order stands above all others, and is understood via the other needs [Weil]
The biology of societies: kin selection, parenting, mating; status, territory, contracts [Wilson,EO]
A community must consist of singular persons, with nothing in common [Derrida, by Glendinning]
Can there be democratic friendship without us all becoming identical? [Derrida, by Glendinning]
Rawls rejected cosmopolitanism because it doesn't respect the autonomy of 'peoples' [Rawls, by Shorten]
Society is alienating if it lacks our values, and its values repel us [Kekes]
Collective rationality is individuals doing their best, assuming others all do the same [Wolff,J]
Should love be the first virtue of a society, as it is of the family? [Wolff,J]
World government needs a shared global identity [Oksala]
Anti-colonial movements usually invoke the right of their 'people' to self-determination [Swift]
If a group is bound by gossip, the natural size is 150 people [Harari]
In a democracy, which 'people' are included in the decision process? [Tuckness/Wolf]
People often have greater attachment to ethnic or tribal groups than to the state [Tuckness/Wolf]