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Full Idea
Any group which has not secreted an abstract entity will probably not be dangerous.
Gist of Idea
A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity
Source
Simone Weil (Gravity and Grace (9 extracts) [1943], p.255)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.255
A Reaction
Written in the 1930s, the era of many political -isms. No group can be united if it lacks a clear label, and a few simple slogans.
Related Idea
Idea 23827 Modern wars are fought in the name of empty words which are given capital letters [Weil]
| 21384 | The Stoics saw the whole world as a city [Stoic school, by Long] |
| 20859 | The best government blends democracy, monarchy and aristocracy [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 23830 | A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity [Weil] |
| 15664 | Ideology is 'socially necessary illusion' or 'socially necessary false-consciousness' [Adorno, by Finlayson] |
| 23955 | Ideologies are mythologies which guide our actions [Solomon] |
| 21906 | Political theory should not focus on the state or economy, but on the small scale of power [Deleuze/Guattari, by May] |
| 23424 | An ideology judges things now, and offers an ideal, with a strategy for reaching it [Dobson] |
| 22851 | In the 1950s they said ideology is finished, and expertise takes over [Lukes] |
| 20530 | Political choice can be by utility, or maximin, or maximax [Wolff,J] |
| 21118 | Constitutional Patriotism unites around political values (rather than national identity) [Shorten] |