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Single Idea 7245
[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / c. Natural law
]
Full Idea
The laws of natural justice, lacking any natural sanctions, are unavailing among men. In fact, such laws merely benefit the wicked and injure the just, since the just respect them while others do not do so in return.
Gist of Idea
Natural justice, without sanctions, benefits the wicked, who exploit it
Source
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], II.06)
Book Ref
Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Social Contract', ed/tr. Cranston,Maurice [Penguin 1972], p.81
A Reaction
This seems a very accurate observation, and points us towards either contracts, or a justification of the use of force by good people.
The
132 ideas
from Jean-Jacques Rousseau
19745
|
The nature of people is decided by the government and politics of their society
[Rousseau]
|
19854
|
We all owe labour in return for our keep, and every idle citizen is a thief
[Rousseau]
|
20759
|
Feelings are prior to intelligence; we should be content to live with our simplest feelings
[Rousseau]
|
19747
|
Revolutionaries usually confuse liberty with total freedom, and end up with heavier chains
[Rousseau]
|
19748
|
Plebiscites are bad, because they exclude the leaders from crucial decisions
[Rousseau]
|
19749
|
In a direct democracy, only the leaders should be able to propose new laws
[Rousseau]
|
19746
|
Like rich food, liberty can ruin people who are too weak to cope with it
[Rousseau]
|
19775
|
People must be made dependent before they can be enslaved
[Rousseau]
|
19770
|
Primitive people simply redressed the evil caused by violence, without thought of punishing
[Rousseau]
|
19761
|
Men started with too few particular names, but later had too few natural kind names
[Rousseau]
|
19776
|
Small uninterrupted causes can have big effects
[Rousseau]
|
19756
|
Humans are less distinguished from other animals by understanding, than by being free agents
[Rousseau]
|
19755
|
Most human ills are self-inflicted; the simple, solitary, regular natural life is good
[Rousseau]
|
19762
|
Is language a pre-requisite for society, or might it emerge afterwards?
[Rousseau]
|
19763
|
I doubt whether a savage person ever complains of life, or considers suicide
[Rousseau]
|
19765
|
Savages avoid evil because they are calm, and never think of it (not because they know goodness)
[Rousseau]
|
19769
|
Rational morality is OK for brainy people, but ordinary life can't rely on that
[Rousseau]
|
19768
|
The better Golden Rule is 'do good for yourself without harming others'
[Rousseau]
|
19766
|
The fact that we weep (e.g. in theatres) shows that we are naturally compassionate
[Rousseau]
|
19767
|
Reason leads to prudent selfishness, which overrules natural compassion
[Rousseau]
|
19757
|
No one would bother to reason, and try to know things, without a desire for enjoyment
[Rousseau]
|
19760
|
General ideas are purely intellectual; imagining them is immediately particular
[Rousseau]
|
19759
|
Only words can introduce general ideas into the mind
[Rousseau]
|
19758
|
Language may aid thinking, but powerful thought was needed to produce language
[Rousseau]
|
19773
|
Without love, what use is beauty?
[Rousseau]
|
19771
|
Savage men quietly pursue desires, without the havoc of modern frenzied imagination
[Rousseau]
|
19774
|
A savage can steal fruit or a home, but there is no means of achieving obedience
[Rousseau]
|
19772
|
In a state of nature people are much more equal; it is society which increases inequalities
[Rousseau]
|
19789
|
It is against nature for children to rule old men, fools to rule the wise, and the rich to hog resources
[Rousseau]
|
19778
|
Leisure led to envy, inequality, vice and revenge, which we now see in savages
[Rousseau]
|
19779
|
Primitive man was very gentle
[Rousseau]
|
19780
|
We seem to have made individual progress since savagery, but actually the species has decayed
[Rousseau]
|
19787
|
People accept the right to be commanded, because they themselves wish to command
[Rousseau]
|
19783
|
A state of war remains after a conquest, if the losers don't accept the winners
[Rousseau]
|
19777
|
Persuading other people that some land was 'owned' was the beginning of society
[Rousseau]
|
19782
|
What else could property arise from, but the labour people add to it?
[Rousseau]
|
19781
|
Land cultivation led to a general right of ownership, administered justly
[Rousseau]
|
19784
|
Enslaved peoples often boast of their condition, calling it a state of 'peace'
[Rousseau]
|
19785
|
If the child of a slave woman is born a slave, then a man is not born a man
[Rousseau]
|
19786
|
Three stages of the state produce inequalities of wealth, power, and enslavement
[Rousseau]
|
19788
|
The pleasure of wealth and power is largely seeing others deprived of them
[Rousseau]
|
19754
|
If we have a natural right to property, what exactly does 'belonging to' mean?
[Rousseau]
|
19750
|
Writers just propose natural law as the likely useful agreements among people
[Rousseau]
|
19753
|
Both men and animals are sentient, which should give the latter the right not to be mistreated
[Rousseau]
|
19752
|
If we should not mistreat humans, it is mainly because of sentience, not rationality
[Rousseau]
|
19751
|
Our two starting principles are concern for self-interest, and compassion for others
[Rousseau]
|
20501
|
Rousseau assumes that laws need a people united by custom and tradition
[Rousseau, by Wolff,J]
|
20567
|
Rousseau insists that popular sovereignty needs a means of expressing consent
[Rousseau, by Oksala]
|
7233
|
The social order is a sacred right, but based on covenants, not nature
[Rousseau]
|
7232
|
Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains
[Rousseau]
|
19790
|
Force can only dominate if it is seen as a right, and obedience as a duty
[Rousseau]
|
7234
|
No man has any natural authority over his fellows
[Rousseau]
|
19791
|
Natural mankind is too fragmented for states of peace, or of war and enmity
[Rousseau]
|
7235
|
Without freedom of will actions lack moral significance
[Rousseau]
|
7236
|
War gives no right to inflict more destruction than is necessary for victory
[Rousseau]
|
7238
|
Minorities only accept majority-voting because of a prior unanimous agreement
[Rousseau]
|
7237
|
The act of becoming 'a people' is the real foundation of society
[Rousseau]
|
19792
|
To overcome obstacles, people must unite their forces into a single unified power
[Rousseau]
|
7239
|
The social pact is the total subjection of individuals to the general will
[Rousseau]
|
19793
|
We need a protective association which unites forces, but retains individual freedom
[Rousseau]
|
19794
|
If we all give up all of our rights together to the community, we will always support one another
[Rousseau]
|
7240
|
To foreign powers a state is seen as a simple individual
[Rousseau]
|
19795
|
The act of association commits citizens to the state, and the state to its citizens
[Rousseau]
|
19797
|
Citizens must ultimately for forced to accept the general will (so freedom is compulsory!)
[Rousseau]
|
19796
|
Individual citizens still retain a private will, which may be contrary to the general will
[Rousseau]
|
7241
|
In society man loses natural liberty, but gains a right to civil liberty and property
[Rousseau]
|
7242
|
Appetite alone is slavery, and self-prescribed laws are freedom
[Rousseau]
|
19799
|
Private property must always be subordinate to ownership by the whole community
[Rousseau]
|
19800
|
The social compact imposes conventional equality of rights on people who may start unequally
[Rousseau]
|
19798
|
Ancient monarchs were kings of peoples; modern monarchs more cleverly rule a land
[Rousseau]
|
19801
|
Sovereignty is the exercise of the general will, which can never be delegated
[Rousseau]
|
7243
|
Silence of the people implies their consent
[Rousseau]
|
7244
|
The general will is common interest; the will of all is the sum of individual desires
[Rousseau]
|
19802
|
The general will is always right, but the will of all can err, because it includes private interests
[Rousseau]
|
19803
|
If the state contains associations there are fewer opinions, undermining the general will
[Rousseau]
|
19804
|
If a large knowledgeable population votes in isolation, their many choices will have good results
[Rousseau]
|
19808
|
The general will changes its nature when it focuses on particulars
[Rousseau]
|
19805
|
Just as people control their limbs, the general-will state has total control of its members
[Rousseau]
|
19807
|
Both nature and reason require that everything has a cause
[Rousseau]
|
19806
|
We alienate to society only what society needs - but society judges that, not us
[Rousseau]
|
19811
|
Only people who are actually dangerous should be executed, even as an example
[Rousseau]
|
19809
|
We accept the death penalty to prevent assassinations, so we must submit to it if necessary
[Rousseau]
|
19810
|
A trial proves that a criminal has broken the social treaty, and is no longer a member of the state
[Rousseau]
|
7245
|
Natural justice, without sanctions, benefits the wicked, who exploit it
[Rousseau]
|
7246
|
The general will is always good, but sometimes misunderstood
[Rousseau]
|
19812
|
Human nature changes among a people, into a moral and partial existence
[Rousseau]
|
19814
|
A state must be big enough to preserve itself, but small enough to be governable
[Rousseau]
|
19815
|
Too much land is a struggle, producing defensive war; too little makes dependence, and offensive war
[Rousseau]
|
19816
|
A state's purpose is liberty and equality - liberty for strength, and equality for liberty
[Rousseau]
|
7247
|
The greatest social good comes down to freedom and equality
[Rousseau]
|
7248
|
No citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none so poor as forced to sell himself
[Rousseau]
|
19819
|
The state ensures liberty, so civil law separates citizens, and binds them to the state
[Rousseau]
|
19818
|
Political laws are fundamental, as they firmly organise the state - but they could still be changed
[Rousseau]
|
19817
|
Citizens should be independent of each other, and very dependent on the state
[Rousseau]
|
19820
|
The state has a legislature and an executive, just like the will and physical power in a person
[Rousseau]
|
19821
|
I call the executive power the 'government', which is the 'prince' - a single person, or a group
[Rousseau]
|
19822
|
If the state enlarges, the creators of the general will become less individually powerful
[Rousseau]
|
19823
|
If the population is larger, the government needs to be more powerful
[Rousseau]
|
19824
|
Large populations needs stronger control, which means power should be concentrated
[Rousseau]
|
19826
|
Democracy for small states, aristocracy for intermediate, monarchy for large
[Rousseau]
|
19825
|
If the sovereign entrusts government to at least half the citizens, that is 'democracy'
[Rousseau]
|
19827
|
Law makers and law implementers should be separate
[Rousseau]
|
19829
|
Natural aristocracy is primitive, and hereditary is dreadful, but elective aristocracy is best
[Rousseau]
|
7249
|
Natural aristocracy is primitive, hereditary is bad, and elective aristocracy is the best
[Rousseau]
|
19828
|
Democracy leads to internal strife, as people struggle to maintain or change ways of ruling
[Rousseau]
|
19835
|
When ministers change the state changes, because they always reverse policies
[Rousseau]
|
19830
|
Large states need a nobility to fill the gap between a single prince and the people
[Rousseau]
|
19832
|
Democratic elections are dangerous intervals in government
[Rousseau]
|
19833
|
Hereditary monarchy is easier, but can lead to dreadful monarchs
[Rousseau]
|
19834
|
Attempts to train future kings don't usually work, and the best have been unprepared
[Rousseau]
|
19831
|
The highest officers under a monarchy are normally useless; the public could choose much better
[Rousseau]
|
19836
|
The amount of taxation doesn't matter, if it quickly circulates back to the citizens
[Rousseau]
|
19837
|
If inhabitants are widely dispersed, organising a revolt is much more difficult
[Rousseau]
|
19838
|
The measure of a successful state is increase in its population
[Rousseau]
|
19839
|
The flourishing of arts and letters is too much admired
[Rousseau]
|
7250
|
Laws are authentic acts of the general will
[Rousseau]
|
19840
|
A citizen is a subject who is also sovereign
[Rousseau]
|
7251
|
The English are actually slaves in between elections
[Rousseau]
|
19841
|
Sometimes full liberty is only possible at the expense of some complete enslavement
[Rousseau]
|
19843
|
The state is not bound to leave civil authority to its leaders
[Rousseau]
|
19844
|
Assemblies must always confirm the form of government, and the current administration
[Rousseau]
|
19842
|
The government is instituted by a law, not by a contract
[Rousseau]
|
19846
|
The more unanimous the assembly, the stronger the general will becomes
[Rousseau]
|
19847
|
We can never assume that the son of a slave is a slave
[Rousseau]
|
19848
|
The sovereignty does not appoint the leaders
[Rousseau]
|
19849
|
In early theocracies the god was the king, and there were as many gods as nations
[Rousseau]
|
19850
|
By separating theological and political systems, Jesus caused divisions in the state
[Rousseau]
|
19851
|
Every society has a religion as its base
[Rousseau]
|
19852
|
Civil religion needs one supreme god, an afterlife, justice, and the sanctity of the social contract
[Rousseau]
|
19853
|
All religions should be tolerated, if they tolerate each other, and support citizenship
[Rousseau]
|
7252
|
A tyrant exploits Christians because they don't value this life, and are made to be slaves
[Rousseau]
|
23607
|
Wars are between States, not people, and the individuals are enemies by accident
[Rousseau]
|