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24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 1. Purpose of a State

[reasons why a people forms itself into a state]

39 ideas
Jeremiah implied a link between weakness and goodness, and the evil of the state [Jeremiah, by Johnson,P]
As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly [Plato]
All exchanges in a community are for mutual benefit [Plato]
Political science aims at the highest good, which involves creating virtue in citizens [Aristotle]
A bad political constitution (especially a tyranny) makes friendship almost impossible [Aristotle]
The main function of politics is to produce friendship [Aristotle]
The same four cardinal virtues which apply to individuals also apply to a city [Aristotle]
Every state is an association formed for some good purpose [Aristotle]
A city aims at living well [Aristotle]
What is the best life for everyone, and is that a communal or an individual problem? [Aristotle]
The happiest city is the one that acts most nobly [Aristotle]
Society exists to extend human awareness [Spinoza, by Watson]
The state aims to allow personal development, so its main purpose is freedom [Spinoza]
Politics is the right to make enforceable laws to protect property and the state, for the common good [Locke]
All states aim at preservation, and then have distinctive individual purposes [Montesquieu]
The safety of the people is the supreme law [Hume]
The only purpose of government is to administer justice, which brings security [Hume]
A state's purpose is liberty and equality - liberty for strength, and equality for liberty [Rousseau]
The greatest social good comes down to freedom and equality [Rousseau]
The measure of a successful state is increase in its population [Rousseau]
The purpose of society is to protect the rights of liberty, property, security and resistance [Mirabeau/committee]
The best form of government teaches us to govern ourselves [Goethe]
I aim to portray the state as a rational entity [Hegel]
Society draws people, and requires their work, making them wholly dependent on it [Hegel]
The state is the march of God in the world [Hegel]
The state only exists to defend citizens, from exterior threats, and from one another [Schopenhauer]
The great question is approaching, of how to govern the earth as a whole [Nietzsche]
The state aims to protect individuals from one another [Nietzsche]
Individual development is more important than the state, but a community is necessary [Nietzsche]
Government has a negative purpose, to prevent trouble, and a positive aim of realising our desires [Russell]
The state should produce higher civilisations for all, in tune with the economic apparatus [Gramsci]
States have a monopoly of legitimate violence [Sartre, by Wolff,J]
Every society has a politics of truth, concerning its values, functions, prestige and mechanisms [Foucault]
A minimal state should protect, but a state forcing us to do more is unjustified [Nozick]
The chief function of the state is to arbitrate between contending visions of the good life [Kekes]
Ideologies have beliefs about reality, ideals, a gap with actuality, and a program [Kekes]
The ideal of an ideology is embodied in a text, a role model, a law of history, a dream of the past... [Kekes]
We have achieved a sort of utopia, and it is boring, so that is the end of utopias [Svendsen]
The Nazi aim was to encourage progressive evolution, and avoid degeneration [Harari]