display all the ideas for this combination of texts
9 ideas
7595 | The idea of a right seems fairly basic; justice may be the disposition to accord rights to people [Scruton] |
Full Idea: The idea of a right seems to be as basic as any other; we might even define justice in terms of it, as the disposition to accord to every person his rights. | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'rights') | |
A reaction: I am inclined to think that a set of fairly pure values (such as equality, kindness, sympathy, respect) must be in place before the idea of a right would occur to anyone. Aristotle has a powerful moral sense, but rights for slaves don't cross his mind. |
14822 | If self-defence is moral, then so are most expressions of 'immoral' egoism [Nietzsche] |
Full Idea: If we accept self-defense as moral, then we must also accept nearly all expressions of so-called immoral egoism. | |
From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 104) | |
A reaction: I find this idea rather disconcerting, because I have always thought that the clearest possible 'natural right' was that of self-defence - but this implication (if it be so) had never struck me. Hm. |
14838 | The state aims to protect individuals from one another [Nietzsche] |
Full Idea: The state is a clever institution for protecting individuals from one another. | |
From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 235) | |
A reaction: This is Nietzsche allying with Hobbes, and presumably aiming this remark at Hegel. |
14852 | Culture cannot do without passions and vices [Nietzsche] |
Full Idea: Culture absolutely cannot do without passions, vices and acts of malice. | |
From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 477) | |
A reaction: I'm not sure how you test the truth of that aphorism, given that humanity is perpetually doomed to live with such things. If those qualities disappeared, I suppose we would drift apart. We are 'dependent' beings, as MacIntyre says. |
7588 | Allegiance is fundamental to the conservative view of society [Scruton] |
Full Idea: Conservatives have made the concept of allegiance, conceived as a power, fundamental to their description of the experience of society | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'allegiance') | |
A reaction: This provokes the famous slogan of "My country - right or wrong!" However, the issue here is not going to be decided by a consequentialist analysis, but by a view a of human nature. I think I would want to carefully prise allegiance apart from loyalty. |
14846 | If we want the good life for the greatest number, we must let them decide on the good life [Nietzsche] |
Full Idea: If the business of politics is to make life tolerable for the greatest number, this greatest number may also determine what they understand by a tolerable life. | |
From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 438) |
7594 | Democrats are committed to a belief and to its opposite, if the majority prefer the latter [Scruton] |
Full Idea: The paradox of democracy (emphasised by Rousseau) is that I am compelled by my belief in democracy to embrace conflicting - perhaps even contradictory - opinions. If I believe A, and the majority vote for B, I am committed to enacting them both. | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'paradox of democracy') | |
A reaction: The paradox would have to be resolved by qualifying what exactly one is committed to by being a democrat. I would say I am committed to the right of my opponents to enact a policy with which I disagree. |
7593 | Liberals focus on universal human freedom, natural rights, and tolerance [Scruton, by PG] |
Full Idea: Liberalism believes (roughly) in the supremacy of the individual, who has freedom and natural rights; it focuses on human, not divine affairs; it claims rights and duties are universal; and it advocates tolerance in religion and morality. | |
From: report of Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'liberalism') by PG - Db (ideas) | |
A reaction: I find it hard to disagree with these principles, but the upshot in practice is often an excessive commitment to freedom and tolerance, because people fail to realise the subtle long-term erosions of society that can result. |
23137 | Liberty without socialism is injustice; socialism without liberty is brutality [Bakunin] |
Full Idea: Liberty without socialism is injustice; socialism without liberty is slavery and brutality. | |
From: Mikhail Bakunin (works [1867], 3), quoted by Adam Gopnik - A Thousand Small Sanities 3 | |
A reaction: [1867, but no reference] Bakunin was an anarchistic socialist. This must be the best one-line defence of socialism ever written. Gopnik quotes it as part of the anarchist critique of liberalism. So are liberty and socialism long-term compatible? |