2. • How do governments
deal with value
judgments concerning
what is right and
wrong?
• Normative questions
3. Plato
(427-347 B.C.)
• Taught by Socrates
• The search for
wisdom should
engage the mind
• Academy educated others in philosophy,
law, mathematics, and logic.
• 387? B.C. and A.D. 529
• Ideal system similar to fascism or
communism
• The Republic
5. Plato
• Highest purpose of the
state is the promotion of
justice
• The best form of state is one that
pursues justice
Justice presented as “following nature”
6. Plato’s
“Following Nature”
• Being true to the person
you are
• Doing what is natural, honest, correct
for yourself
• Following your natural calling, your
natural purpose
7. Plato
• When each person is acting
justly, the state itself is just.
• Natural class system
• Workers
• Auxiliaries (military leaders)
• Guardians (rulers)
• Each person should do what is natural and
enter the group consistent with his or her
natural inclinations, talents, and abilities.
8. Plato’s “Injustice”
• Acting contrary to nature
• Plato warns against
• Ambition
• Upward or downward mobility
• Doing something simply because it’s popular or
because you have the power to do it
• These actions can lead us away from our
nature and bring unhappiness to ourselves
and harm to the state.
9. Views re Teachings of Plato
• Plato hierarchical and authoritarian in
his thinking
• Plato was a critic of democracy
• Convinced that ruling and policymaking were
natural talents possessed by some people, but
not by all.
• Plato self-serving
• Philosophers the class most naturally
suited for ruling the perfect state.
10. Views re Teachings of Plato
• Plato’s criticisms of ambition,
competition, and individual self-
promotion are antidotes to U.S. culture’s
message that the only life worth living is
the frenzied climb-the-ladder-of-
success-to-the-very-top approach to life.
• Living justly is more important than
following personal ambitions.
11. Thomas Hobbes
1588-1679
• English political theorist
• We cannot know the
purpose of the state until
we have answered the
question:
“What is human nature?”
• To understand human nature, must look into
your own psyche.
• Will find passion, desires, fears, aggressive
impulses, and instinctive urges to acquire power.
12. Hobbes
• Must understand the mixture
of passion and reason in
human nature if politics is to be understood.
• The violent and impulsive components of human
nature lead to social conflict
• Whenever aggressive human beings live in
groups, violence is always a possibility
• Each of us is vulnerable to all others
• No one is safe
• The strongest can fall at the hands of the weakest.
13. Hobbes
• It is in our best interest to
join with others to create a
power over all of us
that will deter each individual’s natural
aggressiveness.
• It is natural to create a power that will leave
us alone unless we act aggressively toward
another, in which case it is to punish us
severely and quickly.
15. Hobbes’ State
• It’s purpose is to provide
security through deterrence
• Thus promoting the survival of humanity
• Rejects lofty and utopian dreams of the
perfect just state, and concentrates on
the importance of creating a state that
can crack down on violence.
16. Hobbes’ State
• We can have a powerful
no-nonsense state that
will protect us;
or
• We can live desperate and terrified in
a violent world in which every single
person has the power to kill any of us
at any moment.
17. Views re Teachings of Hobbes
• Hobbes attacked for justifying what looks
like a police state.
• Hobbes blamed for steering political
theory away from questions of justice
and toward issues of law and order.
• Hobbes a convincing argument that
governments need to be concerned with
fighting crime and promoting safety.
18. What are the purposes of states?
How should people be governed?
19. Should State Promote Equality?
• Theorists disagree
• Aristotle
• Thomas Jefferson
• Tecumseh
• Chico Mendes
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Kurt Vonnegut
20. Aristotle
• Equality means equal
consideration of interests.
• Should be promoted by
states
• Six forms states can assume:
• Monarchy
• Aristocracy
• Polity
• Tyranny
• Oligarchy
• democracy
21. Power to what people?
• Monarchy: Rule by • Tyranny: Rule by
one in the interests one in the interest of
of all the ruler
• Aristocracy: Rule by • Oligarchy: Rule by
the few in the the few in the
interests of all interest of the rulers
• Polity: Rule by the • Democracy: Rule
many in the by the many in the
interests of all interests of the
rulers
22. For Aristotle:
• It is less important to have
equal participation in the
process of decision making
than it is to have equality reflected in the
results of the decision arrived at.
• Example:
• Right-handers get 10 bonus points
• Left-handers lose 20 points
• Contrast with single ruler with same rules for all
23. Aristotle
• Good states serve the
public’s interest, not
most of the public’s
interest, but the interest
of the entire public
24. Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826)
• Theory of equality of natural
rights
• Individuals are created naturally
equal
• Individuals possess natural rights
• It is the proper role of government to protect and
respect these natural rights
• If governments aggress against these equal
natural rights, individuals may overturn such
governments
25. Jefferson
vs. Aristotle
• Equality is discussed not in terms of political
results, but in terms of human essences
• Equality an attribute of people, not an attribute of
decisions
• People, by their human nature, possess equality
of natural rights
• Having the right to life, liberty, and happiness is a
fundamental part of being a human being
• Fundamental duty of the state is to protect
these rights!
26. Tecumseh (1768-1813)
• Shawnee theorist
• Argued for equality of natural
rights with an emphasis on
property rights.
• A spiritual force placed Native American on their
lands and members of the Native American
community had an equal and natural right to the
lands.
• Argued that Native Americans could recover their
lands on the basis of natural equality doctrines.
• Equality is an attribute (a right) of people.
27. Chico Mendes
(1944-1988)
• Rubber-tapper in Brazil
• Depended upon rain forest for
livelihood
• Fought development of rain
forest
• Demanded equality of participation in the
decision-making process
• Advocated land set-asides
• Protection from deforestation
• Murdered in 1988
• Equality in the process of decision making is
the only way to ensure equality of results.
28. Aristotle, Jefferson, Tecumseh
and Mendes
Share the position that equality
is a desirable political goal for
individuals and governments.
29. Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900)
• Professor of classical
philology
• Controversial writings on the
death of God, the pettiness
associated with religious beliefs,
and the lies that make up the
teachings of traditional morality
• Father a Lutheran minister
• Maintained that equality is rooted in a certain
type of morality
30. Nietzsche’s
Morality
• Slave Morality
• A morality articulated by the weak and thus
designed to serve the interests of the weak
• Master Morality
• Ethical codes that serve the strong and praise the
attributes of strength, conquering, ruling, and
dominating
• Both self-serving
• Neither provides a concept of good or bad
that exists beyond its own context
31. Christianity
• A slave morality
• Teaches forgiveness, humility,
and meekness
• Advocates of slave morality seek a vengeful
retribution against those who are strong
• Christians deeply resent the powerful and love
the idea of the powerful being made to suffer.
• Equality a part of slave morality
• Weak uphold equality as “good” and “ethical”
because they want to destroy the privileged
positions of the powerful.
32. Nietzsche
• Both moral systems serve interests
• Master morality
• Serves the interest of those who need to
legitimize their position of dominance
• Slave morality
• Serves the purposes of those who need to
delegitimize dominance and legitimize equality
33. Kurt Vonnegut
• “Harrison Bergeron”
• Nietzschean themes
• Equality becomes a basis for attacking those
who use their talents to become strong or
intellectually dominant
• Equality is exposed as being a self-serving
position
• Equality is not a neutral concept but rather one that
harms some and favors others.
34. • Is it possible to equalize all without harming
some?
• Should individuals be equal in every way?
• Should laws pursue equality so diligently that
laws provide for equality of capabilities rather
than equality of opportunities?
• Can equality become a basis for oppression?
35. Should states be organized to
maximize their own power
or organized to restrain this
power?
36. Niccolo Machiavelli
(1469-1527)
• Argues in favor of state
organization to maximize
state power
• The Prince
• A blueprint for organizing states in a
manner to seize and maintain power
• Classic text on the mechanics of state
power
• “Win at any cost” approach to governing
37. Rulers should use just the right
amount of cruelty against
their own citizens so that fear
is created but popular
vengefulness against the
government is not.
• Use cruelty to make citizens fear politicians
but not hate them
• By being cruel, the state is really being
kind
• Maintain order and peace
• Provide protection and security
38. James Madison
(1751-1836)
• States should
intentionally restrict their
powers by a means of
• Separation of powers
• Checks and balances
• Limit state power to protect against
tyranny
39. Should states protect citizens
from government?
Or should states protect
citizens by government?
41. John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873)
• English Philosopher
• Individuals should be allowed to judge ethical
questions for themselves
• Governments should not interfere with individuals
unless individuals pose a threat to others
• Defended widest possible range of individual
freedom of thought and action.
• Respect the individual’s right to think any thought
no matter how outrageous or unpopular
42. John Stuart Mill
• Everyone benefits if
government removes itself from
questions of personal morality
• Individuals benefit because they possess the liberty
to live their lives as they please
• Society benefits because society gains whenever it
encourages freethinkers to express themselves and
explore new ideas
• Even if opinions are erroneous, they should be
expressed and the error exposed
• States should avoid the role of moral guardian
43. Fundamentalism
• Asserts that
• Religious truth is authoritative
• Religious truth is compelling and not to be
disregarded or reduced to being a mere option
• If fundamentalism is to guide government policy,
laws must codify the authoritative truths of the
religion
• Not a posture of neutrality or silence on the issues of
politics
44. The Taliban
Decrees
• Men must grow beards
• Girls and women forbidden from
attending school
• Women cannot be in public without religious
attire and without male escorts
• Ban most games
• Ban photography
• Ban American hairdos
• Ban nonreligious holiday observances
45. • How do we deal with those who disagree with
our understandings of what is ethical?
• Is it best to uphold no single morality as the
absolute truth?
• Should each person decide morality for him-
or herself?
• If so, are all opinions to be tolerated?
• If we live moral lives, does our morality
require us to speak up against immorality
wherever we see it?
47. “Your own property is at
stake when your
neighbor’s house is on
fire.”
~ Horace
48. The American
Revolution
“The Revolution was in
the minds and hearts
of the people; a
change in their
religious sentiments of
their duties and John Adams
obligation….
This radical change in the principles, opinions,
sentiments and affections of the people,
was the real American Revolution.”
49. Why Care?
• Impoverishment
breeds:
• Serious health
problems
• Inadequately
educated children
• Higher rates of criminal activity
50. • Poverty a “normal” life-course event
• A majority of Americans will experience
at least one year of poverty during their
lifetime
• Building bridges
• Create a more
accessible route
• Nonpoor ► poor ► back again
51. Impact of Poverty
• Drains us individually
and as a community
and society
• Is inconsistent with American core
values and principles
• Violates our concept of Citizenship
52. “Poverty is the parent of revolution
and crime.”
~ Aristotle
