Firstly, I was giving a quick caricature of some topics that tend to be “suppressed,” rather than expressing my own beliefs as I would defend them. Both points are somewhat inspired by contemporary Chinese political philosophy (the first being inspired by attempts to modernise Confucian political philosophy and the second being inspired by the position the Chinese government sometimes expresses on political censorship).
I would take the “class of persons” to be part of the state apparatus, attempting to determine the fate and development of the country as a whole. On this line of reasoning, the Western approach of valuing individual interests above all else and seeing the relationship between state and society as principally antagonistic is rejected. The state is an organic part of society, analogous to its nervous system, and its interests can be taken at face value provided it meets certain criteria. There is a reciprocal relationship between the individual and society; rather than society being seen merely as a collection of autonomous individuals in primarily antagonistic relationship with one another and the state, society determines individual interests and individuals, in turn, determine the kind of society we have. The state, therefore, must be as interested in guiding individual interests as it is in responding to them.
Here’s what I believe: I believe that the Western political tradition is almost entirely wrongheaded, primarily because it’s based on wrongheaded philosophical ideas that misrepresent the nature of society and of the individual in addition to being morally inept, and I think alternatives are worth studying. I’m more sure of the negative thesis than any positive account I could give.
On my previous comment: I care about the lives and happiness of people who don’t have long-term goals, I just don’t think we need to encouraged them to live forever if they don’t want to.
Okay, so you assign great value to certain complex systems that have fuzzy definitions and borders, are completely unlike any individual and are frequently damaging (if without hostile intent as we understand it) to said individual. Me, I don’t care about such a system on its own (whether you call it “State” or “Nation”—note that “Nation” can also be defined as a system of an entirely different type) any more than I would care about an UFAI. In general, I don’t assign inherent value to any pattern I have literally no possibility of sympathizing with.
Also:
Here’s what I believe: I believe that the Western political tradition is almost entirely wrongheaded, primarily because it’s based on wrongheaded philosophical ideas that misrepresent the nature of society and of the individual in addition to being morally inept, and I think alternatives are worth studying.
So you suggest that there’s no relationship between this fairly unique political tradition and the Western culture’s* fairly unique success (and, to be fair, unique disasters which were often “outsourced” to places like China and Russia) in the last 400 years?
*Using the broadest possible definitions of “Western” and “culture”, of course.
Firstly, I was giving a quick caricature of some topics that tend to be “suppressed,” rather than expressing my own beliefs as I would defend them. Both points are somewhat inspired by contemporary Chinese political philosophy (the first being inspired by attempts to modernise Confucian political philosophy and the second being inspired by the position the Chinese government sometimes expresses on political censorship).
I would take the “class of persons” to be part of the state apparatus, attempting to determine the fate and development of the country as a whole. On this line of reasoning, the Western approach of valuing individual interests above all else and seeing the relationship between state and society as principally antagonistic is rejected. The state is an organic part of society, analogous to its nervous system, and its interests can be taken at face value provided it meets certain criteria. There is a reciprocal relationship between the individual and society; rather than society being seen merely as a collection of autonomous individuals in primarily antagonistic relationship with one another and the state, society determines individual interests and individuals, in turn, determine the kind of society we have. The state, therefore, must be as interested in guiding individual interests as it is in responding to them.
Here’s what I believe: I believe that the Western political tradition is almost entirely wrongheaded, primarily because it’s based on wrongheaded philosophical ideas that misrepresent the nature of society and of the individual in addition to being morally inept, and I think alternatives are worth studying. I’m more sure of the negative thesis than any positive account I could give.
On my previous comment: I care about the lives and happiness of people who don’t have long-term goals, I just don’t think we need to encouraged them to live forever if they don’t want to.
Okay, so you assign great value to certain complex systems that have fuzzy definitions and borders, are completely unlike any individual and are frequently damaging (if without hostile intent as we understand it) to said individual. Me, I don’t care about such a system on its own (whether you call it “State” or “Nation”—note that “Nation” can also be defined as a system of an entirely different type) any more than I would care about an UFAI. In general, I don’t assign inherent value to any pattern I have literally no possibility of sympathizing with.
Also:
So you suggest that there’s no relationship between this fairly unique political tradition and the Western culture’s* fairly unique success (and, to be fair, unique disasters which were often “outsourced” to places like China and Russia) in the last 400 years?
*Using the broadest possible definitions of “Western” and “culture”, of course.