An Introduction to Political Theory: Twelves Lectures At Harvard

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An

Introduction to Political Theory

An

Introduction to

Political

Theory

TWELVE LECTURES AT HARVARD

Carl

J.

Friedrich

Harvard University

HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS New

York, Evanston, and London

c^v' An

£L

Introduction to Political Theory: Twelve Lectures at Harvard

Copyright

©

1967 by C.

J.

Friedrich

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

may be used

No

part of this book

or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in

For information address Harper Street, New York, N.Y. 10016.

&

Row,

critical articles

and reviews.

Publishers, Incorporated, 49 East 33rd

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 67-11648 C-R

Contents

Preface

vii

Lecture

1

The Dimensions

Lecture

2

The Doctrine

Lecture

3

Revolution and Social Justice

Lecture

4

Marx, Marxism and the Totalitarian Challenge

Lecture

5

Justice

Lecture

6

Plato's Idea of Justice

and the

Lecture

7

Community and Order

90

Lecture

8

Aristotle, Philosopher of the Political

9

Lecture 10

Freedom

Machiavelli and Hobbes

29

59

Political Elite Political Elite

—

74

Theorists of Political

133

and the

Political Equality

Lecture 12

Equality in Rousseau and

179

43

121

Lecture 11

Index

14

105

Power and Authority Power

1

of Liberalism: Locke and Mill

and the Function of the

Community Lecture

of

Common Man Kant

164

150

Preface

The

idea of preparing these twelve lectures, given once a

week

during the second half of the Harvard introductory course called

Government 1, was first proposed by Mr. Rolin Posey, now at New They were first given in 1964, and reports about the students' keen interest caused Mr. Posey to suggest that they might

College.

be taped and prepared for publication. This was done in the spring of 1965 with the assistance of Professor Isaac Kramnick,

now

of Brandeis University.

The Manuscript was

edited by him and

reviewed and revised by the author in the spring of 1966 while

re-

peating their oral presentation. Obviously, they do not pretend to be

anything but what the into the vast

title

and complex

rangement shows

indicates field

an introduction for beginners

:

of political theory.

The

very ar-

clearly that they are not intended as a survey of

the history of political thought. Rather they select six basic and

perennial problems of political argument and discussion, sketch, in

one

lecture, the nature of the issue

was treated by one or two of the

and show,

"classics"

contribution to this particular problem area.

ceedingly grateful to Mr.

Kramnick

I

a

how

it

major

am, of course, ex-

make me more blatant

for all that he did to

tighten the argument and to eliminate vii

in another,

who have made

some of the

viii

§

PREFACE

am prone

extravagancies of popular speech which

I

am

Greenberg for her

also

much indebted

tarial

and

many

years. It

to Mrs. Valerie

editorial help. is

And

my hope

last,

but not

that these lectures

to commit. I secre-

my

helper of

may prove

helpful to

least, to

others engaged in similar tasks, as well as to their students; perhaps

they too will

whenever

Ours

is

to feel the excitement

subject,

future of

and

politics is

understanding as the

all

which

is

aroused in

to deal with one of the great issues of

a bitter time,

all else. Its its

come

have

I

is

Romans

depends upon

me

politics.

proving the testing ground for

the "master science" once again, and

urged, "a hard matter." Indeed the its

grasp.

The

search for

it is

a never-

ending quest. C.

J.

Friedrich

An

Introduction to Political Theory

The Dimensions of Freedom

IN

tackling the problem of freedom and

start

by observing that

political

would modern

I

this issue occupies the center of

thought. Ancient writers like Plato and Aristotle

modern theorist who how does one combine order with freedom? The Greeks, to

were not bothered by asks

rights

this

problem.

be sure, called themselves the

It is

the

hoi elentheroi. Indeed they

free,

looked upon themselves as the only free men, contrasting themselves with the rest of aliens

who

mankind, hoi barbaroi. These

latter

were the

could not share the intimate relationship with freedom

which the Greeks claimed for themselves. There

is

no more moving manifestation of

freedom than the celebrated funeral oration of in Thucydides. "In this land of ours

mitted to us as

this

Greek idea of

Pericles as recorded

which our ancestors

a free one," he proclaims. All through

its

trans-

moving

sentences Pericles makes the idea of freedom the heart of his

speech to the people gathered in the marketplace of Athens. These

Athenians were the relatives and friends of in the Peloponnesian

in

Athens

there

as the

War, which

Vietnam war

is

in in

men who had

some ways was

as

died

unpopular

America today. Then

was the same questioning, why, why, why should

as it

now be?

2 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

was

Pericles' great funeral oration

answer in

some extent an attempt

to

to

terms of the Athenians' love for and pride

this question in

freedom. Towards the end of his address Pericles says "Such

men

the city for which these

the other values and convictions to that of freedom.

happiness and courage

is

"We

can boldly assert:

is

nobly fought and died," having linked

freedom.

And

as free

Freedom

is

men, the Athenians

no extrava-

are lovers of beauty yet with

gance and lovers of wisdom yet without weakness." Freely spending they are too: "wealth

we

look upon rather as an opportunity

..." Hence

for action than as a subject for boasting

Pericles con-

Athens "the school of Hellas" and therefore "each man

siders

could in his

own way prove himself

self-sufficient.

..."

This reference to self-sufficiency did not mean, however, that Pericles and the Athenians had the modern idea of personal liberty. Freedom for the Greek clearly had primarily the one dimension of his polis being fully

power. This

when

is

independent and not subject to any outside

not far from what developing nations today

they speak of freedom

dependence, standing on one's

freedom for life.

The

Pericles

free

—freedom own

meant the

man was

as

The

feet.

mean

self-sufficiency,

in-

other dimension of

ability to participate in political

the active citizen

who

helped shape the

laws and policies of the Polis. In the west the ideal of freedom

is

individual himself. In a sense this has

personal and related to the its

origins in the

freedom of

religion, the right to believe. Its roots are in the Christian faith

and

traditions. In the early writings of St.

Augustine one finds the

recognition that people in order to be real

must be free

their convictions,

The

Christian doctrine

must

version

rest

is

to believe

men must

what they

be free in

really believe.

that faith cannot be forced, that con-

on persuasion and can never be based on

coercion.

There are other It is

roots of such a personal conception of freedom.

an error to think that freedom of religion

human The constitutional documents

rights. Equally important

of

is

freedom

to

own

a certain

the sole basis of

seventeenth-century

are full of provisions regarding property. This age;

is

the protection of property.

is

England

the feudal herit-

amount of property

is

seen as a

THE DIMENSIONS OF FREEDOM

§ 3

necessary condition for being able to maintain personal independence.

Closely related to this distinctly western notion of personal

freedom

human

the idea of

is

rights proclaimed in a very special

Magna Carta of 1215. This was no universal declaration of human rights such as that proclaimed by the United Nations in 1949. The Great Charter of the thirteenth sense for the

first

time in the

century refers to the particular rights of particular persons, the

who

barons and high clergy in Britain claim of absolute power over them. very special freedoms. Yet

it

free Englishmen. Therefore received;

versal declaration of

like Sir

was a limited charter of

included some rights of freemen, of

it is still

entitled to the honors

has

it

contained the seed that ultimately grew into the uni-

it

human

was forged

great link

It

objected to the King's

rights of the twentieth century.

when

in the seventeenth century

Edward Coke made

the

Magna

One

lawyers

Carta the foundation for

the Bill of Rights of 1628 as well as a

number of other

bills

formulated during the Revolution. In these

you find the

bills

characteristic western

combination of

something very material, the rights of property, with something very spiritual, the right of religion. In between these rights, and equally important, appear the procedural personal rights like the right of habeas corpus

men

word about since

it is

The

idea

jury

trial.

a trial by

men

It

trial

by

jury, a trial

has

come

is

in

less

tried.

it.

by

A

chance of blunder,

and

beliefs.

done out of ignorance of the

The

entire notion of

and procedural,

is

human

rights,

associated with the idea

of the essence of man, seen as an individual person.

to be associated with the idea of a constitution

spells out these rights.

curred

means

familiar with your background

being

religious, proprietary

freedom

Trial by jury

men

to prevent injustice

is

motivation of

that

and the right to a

equal to oneself, by one's peers, as the old phrase has

England

in

The

first

which

attempt at such spelling out oc-

the Revolutionary era with

Cromwell's

Instrument of Government (1653) attempting an elaborate written constitution. There followed, of course, the more drastic efforts in

1787 and 1789, and others down to this very day. One of the main points I want to make is that this idea of hu-

4 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

man

rights has

POLITICAL THEORY

undergone a very striking evolution since the eight-

eenth century. Until that time the prevailing notion was that of natural rights, rights based on

and

inalienable. This

is

human

nature and thus unalterable

the notion which underlies the

ten

first

amendments to the American Constitution which contains a good of what we recognize as basic American rights. Since that

many

time the idea of guaranteeing personal freedom has undergone a dramatic development which in a sense

which

is

a shift in emphasis

expressed in our vocabulary. In the nineteenth century

is

people came to talk more and more of

liberties rather

than of

More important, in particular they talked about civil liberWith the forward march of democracy in America in the

rights. ties.

second half of the nineteenth century the political participation

came

to the fore.

being looked upon as all-important.

It

connected with

liberties

Such

civil liberties

were

was no longer possible

talk in respectable intellectual circles of natural rights.

twentieth century, there occurred a third

shift.

Then

to

in the

President Franklin

Roosevelt issued a famous declaration of "four freedoms," not liberties

but freedoms. Between 1787 and 1947 a transformation

had taken place from natural

rights to civil liberties to

human

freedoms.

What

does this evolution indicate, what does

know, when speech

come

different.

on natural

The

rights

is

is

it

mean? As you

changed thoughts have changed, have be-

stress

on

civil liberties as contrasted

actually indicative of a

move

with that

to a different

dimension of freedom, one which had been of primary importance to the ancient Greeks. Natural rights refer to rights against the

government, to the freedom of independence.

Human

beings

on having it recognized that a personal sphere exists which government cannot invade. This is the dimension of freedom as insist

independence. Civil

liberties,

dimension of freedom which can participate in

civil

on the other hand, point toward that is

concerned with

government.

It is

how human

beings

not concerned with

in-

dependence from government but with participation in government. This dimension of freedom is concerned not with persons by themselves apart but with activity.

citizens in the

midst of political

THE DIMENSIONS OF FREEDOM

Now

§ 5

look at President Roosevelt's proclamation of the four

freedoms.

It

speaks primarily of

human freedoms and

find that the older notions of rights

not rights.

You

have been con-

liberties

two of his four freedoms. Freedom of expression which is a more general word for the right of religion also includes other kinds of convictions and the means of expressing tracted into

them and thus refers to free speech and generally freedom of There is also freedom of participation in the community to which most of the civil liberties are contracted. But much more important really than these two links with older trafreedom ditions is that Roosevelt referred to two new freedoms expression.

—

from want and freedom from

These two

fear.

refer neither to

human

beings by themselves nor to

politics

and government, but rather to human beings

human

beings participating in

who must

protected against something, against fear, against want.

here a totally different dimension of freedom

freedom through government, that

is

when

We

the talk

freedoms which

be

have is

men

of

can

only attain with the help of their government.

Freedom from want

is

of course today epitomized in the quest

for the Great Society but

throughout

this century. It

its

achievement has preoccupied

men

has taken the form of guaranteeing, for

example, the right to work, or full employment, which provides

human

beings not merely with right to

own

property but more

es-

Now what of freedom from fear, means freedom from the fear of being killed in war; it is the freedom which calls for something more than existing government can provide, such as world-wide organisentially

with economic security.

what does

this

mean?

It

zation in order to eliminate the danger of war.

how

alteration

in

Thus you can

see

the terminology symbolizes an alteration in

point of view.

The entire development from human freedoms is epitomized Rights of 1949. The declaration

rights through civil liberties to in

the Declaration of

recognizes the

Human

two dimensions

of freedom in terms of independence and participation but

proclaims a third dimension. called? It encompasses the tive capacity of

men

What

it

also

should this dimension be

development of

creativity or the effec-

to unfold their personalities. It

is

the freedom

AN INTRODUCTION TO

6 § of

men

POLITICAL THEORY

to be fully themselves

and not to be cramped by the fear

of war or by poverty and disease which prevents

from

human

realizing their full potential. This dimension of

for social security, for work, for education, a rich cultural life

We

of freedom.

and

beings

freedom

rest.

calls

requires

It

and internal order. All of these are now

a part

can also say, putting these three dimensions an-

other way, that rights related to oneself instead of to the govern-

ment

are self-conserving; such are the rights of freedom of inde-

pendence.

Or

freedom of

they might be self-asserting as are the rights of

participation.

Or,

they are self-developing

finally,

which comprise the freedom of creation and innovation.

rights

freedom

Political

is

never again going to appear satisfactory unless

concerned with each one of these dimensions.

it is

We

are never

again going to have people satisfied merely with freedom of

independence, nor as

satisfied

merely with freedom of participation,

were our forebears. People will ask for some of both and they

go even beyond

will

that.

There are a number of points which

I

think

we

should take up

in connection with this evolution of the beliefs about

freedom and

the rights and liberties which express

all,

clearly

see that this

modern far

development goes

liberalism. It has roots

beyond

it.

First of

you can

beyond the age of

far

deep in the past and yet

liberalism into the future.

the United Nations, for example, was

The

it

worked out

in a long series

of discussions between the Soviet Union, the United States other countries in the United Nations. a result of liberal views.

It

was only

points

universal declaration of

and

all

therefore not merely

It is

after protracted negotiations

that formulations satisfactory to all participants could be found.

One men

of the difficulties in the discussion between ourselves and the

of the East

is

that

not, they say no, quite

the slaves.

You

when we on the

say

we

contrary,

are the free and you are

we

are the free, you are

are the slaves of capitalism, whereas

we have

true

freedom. At international meetings at which the Soviet Union represented one discovers that they put

freedom of whereas

we

creation, stress

much

greater stress

freedom from want and freedom from

the freedom of independence.

With

is

on the fear,

respect to

THE DIMENSIONS OF FREEDOM freedom of balanced.

participation,

They

are

think at present the scales are about

I

proud that the people they

really care about, the

Com-

class-conscious elements of the proletariat, organized in the

munist Party, enjoy really extensive participation.

we

that everyone participates, although

participation

is

always very impressive.

it,

some

compulsory, while others say this

say

We

are prouder

are not so sure that the

We

percentages of participation in elections.

what we should do about

§ 7

worry about the low

When we

we

about

talk

should make voting

an invasion of freedom and

is

arguments become somewhat involved.

The next to

point

is

The when

whether there are rights only

have the rights are aware that they

may be raised as people who personally

question

quite tricky.

the

exist or

whether these rights

have objective existence independent of subjective recognition.

You may really

consider this an abstract and theoretical question but

is at

the very heart of the great struggle being

waged

it

in this

Negro to improve his position in American society. Supreme Court said in its decisions in the 50's is that

country by the

What

the

people had been mistaken about the Constitution.

The

rights

which we now recognize the Negro to have are rights which have always been in the Constitution although they have hitherto not

been fully appreciated. The fact that

it

could be argued that

Negroes themselves were not aware that these rights existed valid argument.

Constitution.

They

But

it is

is

no

existed because they are recognized in the

not only because of their recognition in the

Constitution that these rights exist; after

merely a creation of men, of

human

all

the Constitution

is

beings bringing subjective

No, the underlying belief is that these rights were always there and that the Constitution merely made them explicit. insights to bear.

So that you can see that there

human

rights as natural

few modern

human

persists this older notion of

still

rights. Indeed, there are quite a

instances of this explicit recognition of natural rights.

For example, the constitution in post-war plicitly states that the rights therein

inviolable.

Any

violation of

them

Italy

and Germany ex-

contained are inalienable and

is

merely a failure to execute,

to enforce; the right itself cannot be affected;

it

continues to

exist.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

8 §

One

important objection to such a view

development which in

POLITICAL THEORY

what men take

have sketched for you suggests an evolution

I

to be the rights or the freedoms of

Furthermore, what should are recognized in tions? Let

me

that the very historical

is

some

we make

human

beings.

of the fact that some rights

and some

jurisdictions

give you an illustration.

in other jurisdic-

The Germans

are very keen

about academic freedom and they have very explicitly recognized in

Constitution for

their

and students

teachers

freedom

The

years that there

central

"freedom

as

it

and

human

to teach

however, has not been made

right,

when

the notion. This

is

it;

it

Academic

right to the Ger-

it

of in this country.

and only a few

was suggested, they emphatically

issue with us.

in this

a

Almost the only mention of

Commonwealth, Massachusetts, but only

is

found

for Harvard Col-

This Constitution was drawn up by people

good deal of

rejected

freedom has

academic freedom in an American constitutional document lege!

states'

even the new Puerto Rican Constitution

curious, since in fact academic

become an important

a right of

and freedom to learn."

much

federal constitution does not speak of

constitutions allude to

does not, and

is

in universities to be entirely free.

a very important

is

man. They describe This

many

who had

seen

and they were very much concerned

religious conflict

with the right to express conviction.

No rights.

two

constitutions are in fact identical as to their bills of

There are innumerable and often quite curious differences

between them. The Bavarians,

saw

fit

nature.

to guarantee every

On

a

jolly

man

more serious level, some detail what

spelling out in

and nature-loving

as they are,

the right to enjoy the beauties of a bill of rights really calls for it is

munity particularly cherishes. The

that a given political

com-

Puerto Ricans, progressively

embody in new freedoms which had found a declaration. The American Congress dis-

led and world-conscious in their outlook, wanted to their constitution

many

place in the universal

of the

allowed a number of these as not compatible with the American tradition.

I

believe they were quite mistaken about that; these

freedoms had found a place in a number of American tutions, but not in a majority of

them and

that

was

state consti-

decisive,

along

THE DIMENSIONS OF FREEDOM

§ 9

with the argument that Puerto Rico did not have the wherewithal

implement these

to

rights. It is

an objection which troubles

of the developing countries. For obviously the

new

many

freedoms, the

freedoms which embody rights that can only be attained through governmental resources.

That

why

is

action,

presuppose a strong government with ample

But the primary

issue

is

that of the community's beliefs.

debates concerning a bill of rights are apt to become

so protracted, and frequently so very bitter. For the consensus in

community

a political

As communities

is

differ

never complete, as

from one another

never permanent.

it is

in values

and

their constitutions reflect this. It stands to reason that as ties

new

develop they form

beliefs

communi-

values and preferences and their bills

of rights will to some extent reflect this evolution.

Because of this difference in time and in place apart

difficult to insist that rights exist

those

who

benefit

from them. Yet

I

from

it

might be

their recognition

would be

by

inclined to say that

they do, though not absolutely, but politically. It

is

necessary that

the existence of these rights be recognized by the political com-

munity in which they are to rights to

exist.

It is

be recognized by the person to

words, what the Supreme Court

is

not necessary for these

whom

saying

they apply. In other that the

is

American

when they put down certain particular rights in the Bill made them come into being, made them the prevailing

people,

of Rights,

norms

in the

United

States,

even though Negroes did not realize

they applied to them. Principles that rights, liberties and freedom

embody rights,

are dependent

upon the community

not on the individuals to

that recognizes the

whom they apply.

Another question, equally important and equally emerges from rank order

this discussion is

among

rights.

whether there

Does one

some who the

Negro

this

difficult,

which

or should be a

right have a priority over

another right when, as always happens, rights

with one another? In

is

come

into conflict

country at the present time there are

say that the recent civil rights legislation

which gives

the right to stay in inns deprives the proprietor of

of his property rights. This

is

some

perfectly true. Recognizing the

right of everyone to stay in certain places does restrict property

AN INTRODUCTION TO

10 §

Indeed

rights.

this is

POLITICAL THEORY

one of the most ancient of

on

restrictions

keeper of an inn must take in everyone

common law that the who comes to his door.

He

he would make

property rights for

it is

an injunction of the

only had the right to keep an inn

if

able to any traveler on the King's highway. This

ample of

Which

of free speech often conflicts with other rights.

My own

There

clear-cut answer.

is

it

avail-

good

ex-

Others can easily be found. The right

conflict in rights.

priority over the other?

a

is

no

belief

definite

is

that there

is

right has

no

definite

rank order. People have

at

various times tried in the United States to describe such an order. It

has been suggested, for example, that the rights of the

amendment have

priority over the rights in other

that they follow each other in order of importance.

not work, nor

view to first

But

does

this

there evidence that they were arranged with a

is

Furthermore, what of the several rights in the

priority.

amendment?

placed on the

first

amendments, or

first

How

are they to be ranked? Such emphasis

amendment

also does not help us with regard to

the crucially important rights embodied in the Constitution.

they to be ranked higher or less high?

How

Are

does the right of

habeas corpus compare to due process?

The people who wrote the Bill of Rights never thought of rank. The Anglo-American tradition is not to argue

in terms

over an

inherent rank order. Rather than trying to figure out a priority of rights

it

has sought to organize procedures for settling specific

cases, for deciding which right has preference over another at any

one time in any one concrete herently important right a lesser right

weigh the

In a particular case, an in-

involved in a small way whereas

involved in a big way, so that

is

more important

case.

may be

one.

Hence we have

conflict of rights

it

outweighs the

a system of courts set

and to decide

in each case

how

up

to

rights

should be ranked in the particular situation.

This

last

point brings to

forcement which

is

mind once more

the problem of en-

important in connection with

all

questions of

Mention of the courts illustrates the dependupon the potentialities of enforcement. Rights without remedy are not very useful rights to anyone. The reason freedom and

ence of

rights.

all rights

THE DIMENSIONS OF FREEDOM

why most

of us do not put

of the United Nations of Rights

it

is

much

n

§

stake in the universal declaration

precisely because in contrast to our Bill

has no enforcement machinery.

one thing for the

It is

United States and the U.S.S.R. to agree on the right to work but another for them to agree on

We

how

such rights should be enforced.

thus encounter the problem of political order. Rights exist

only within the context of a political order wherein they can be

Freedom thus presupposes order. It might appear that order and freedom are contradictory, but in reality there cannot be freedom without a certain order and what is more there cannot enforced.

The

be order without a measure of freedom.

fact that all rights in

order to be provided with remedies presuppose enforcement ma-

why

chinery explains

freedom and

rights,

the west, in developing

had

its

great traditions of

and did indeed develop

to develop

its

great tradition of constitutional government.

There

is

another point which

want

I

to mention,

the necessity to be alert to emerging rights. If suggested, and as

I

it is

and that

true, as I

is

have

think the evidence supports, that rights are

expressive of values and beliefs prevalent in a community, then as the values and beliefs in a

community change there must

occur a change in the rights found in that community. lation of the provisions for

One must still

not

start

human

rights

also

The formu-

must be made

flexible.

from the premise so very prevalent and indeed

expressed in the Constitution that rights are inalienable and

unalterable.

We

must be aware that

private property as

it

nized but in Socialist Yugoslavia

from what

it

meant

this

was understood it

is

not

so.

in the past

The is

means something very

in the eighteenth century.

The

right of

still

recog-

different

property right

has universally, not only in Yugoslavia, been gradually reduced,

and more and more the idea has come forward that only acceptable

when

it

is

this right is

associated with obligations.

Any

pos-

session of property thus recognizes the obligation that this property

should be put to satisfactory uses. This

is

a radical change

from the

concept of property rights of the seventeenth century. Another

example of such emerging reformation ciation

which

is

is

the right of free asso-

the basis of the trade union

movement

in all

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL THEORY

12 §

modern

industrial nations. It

is

not recognized in the American

federal Constitution, but recognition

and

stitutions

even

now

Act and

it is

is

becoming acceptable

found

in the

few

in a

state con-

United States though

14B of the Taft-Hartley a few states to pass legis-

the battle goes on over Section

made

being

efforts are

lation that affects

in quite

union organization.

Evolution of values and beliefs means conflict and disagreement in the

community.

a political

We can

community

think, with the assumption that

start, I

agreement on some values and beliefs

in

is

we must also assume that while most support the consensus there may be some dissent. When this is creative dissent pointing ahead and anticipating future developments it may well crystallize into new and different rights. One such prospect is academic but

freedom which

as I suggested

important in the United point where

is

something becoming increasingly

States. It

has not yet progressed to that

seen as a central and important right.

it is

It is

usually

not seen as a separate right but as included in the right of free I would suggest that if it is denied explicit recognition it is more appropriate to put academic freedom under the right of

speech.

religion because

sor

I

am

it

relates to conviction.

spoken of as a

which means

to

man who

I

am

confess.

is

inherent recognition that the

stand on the academic platform are people

true to convictions, the

called profes-

from the Latin word In the term professor derived from

medieval universities there

who

When

professes,

first

of which, of course,

who

men

should be

the dedication

is

to truth.

This steady development of rights is

an ongoing process.

man

Rights

we

find

Thus

is

we

change

beliefs

Germany

find a different package

Hu-

yet another one.

and

in the

Each of these

bills

an expression of a particular stage of evolution in the particular

community quite apart from what

The is

and

one package of rights described and in the

Yugoslavian Constitution Federal Republic of

as values

in the Universal Declaration of

final

is

enforced and what

that one need recognize that freedom

tive term.

is

not.

point of this analysis of the dimensions of freedom

Men

is

not primarily a qualita-

are not either "free" or "not free/'

Man may

be

THE DIMENSIONS OF FREEDOM § way and

free in one free.

One

yet not in another.

can be more or less

Americans before 1941 were freer than during the war. They

were freer

after

1945 than they had been before. Germans today

are freer than they

were

thirty years ago. In other

ongoing changes in the degree of freedom. This

Freedom

is

want

to leave with you,

The

ment.

is

words we have very important.

not an absolute and purely qualitative something;

a relative thing. In this connection there I

13

is

it is

one concluding thought

which may find you in violent disagree-

great tradition of liberalism holds that not only should

freedom be maximized, but also that Experience in the

last

in error. In the

first

maximized. Actually

all

people want

one hundred years has shown place, people I

think

it

is

it

maximized.

this to

be quite

do not want freedom

much more

to be

nearly true to say

want a minimum of freedom, rather than a maximum. Most people are very glad to leave a lot of things to other people. that people

If

you say you are being interfered with, they say that they are

glad to be interfered with, that they do not want to be concerned

with

all

the decisions that they

advantage of

all

would have

the different freedoms.

to

It is

make

if

they took

even doubtful that

one ought to say that freedom ought to be maximized. In connection there

After

all,

a lot of really

is

each time a

new

this

the question of man's capacity for freedom.

man

decisions. Is

gets a

new freedom he

also has to

make

he capable of making them? Should he

have to face so many decisions which he then needs to think

about?

good political order amount of freedom for everybody is by no means a political order in which the maximum amount of freedom is provided for everybody. If human beings achieve freedom in one area they may lessen their freedom in another. They may also lose very easily and quickly the amount of freedom they have won in long struggles. I have opened up these many issues not because I feel I can settle them but to start the debate and invite you to argue and discuss freedom in its several dimensions and Such questions are a

which provides a

to reach your

own

clear indication that a

certain

conclusions.

The Doctrine of Liberalism: Locke and Mill

Freedom,

like all the great basic values of

modern invention nor Friedrich

place.

embraced, yet,

all

we owe

to

modern

no

any particular time and was right when he sang: "Be

liberalism to have

center of political teachings.

is

restricted to

Schiller

ye millions, one great kiss to

it

humankind,

all

Never before had

And

the world."

made all

this value the

other concerns

man been highlighted in terms of this one all-absorbing question: how can men be given the chance to achieve freedom, not of

for

some chosen

ones, but for all?

How

must a

Nor had

be organized to make

this possible?

before the great liberal

movement penetrated

freedom

is

related to order,

political society

political thinkers

to the heart of

how

and therefore to law. That the value

of order has limits, has always been apparent to those

who

value

freedom. That freedom in turn depends upon a measure, a degree of order, has been stressed by

under law. But

this

all

who have

argued about freedom

freedom which has been

a large portion of political thought

at the heart

and action

of such

in the last three

THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERALISM: LOCKE AND MILL hundred

years, is the

hard core of the doctrine of

§ 15

political liberal-

ism. I

am

undertaking the

of the historical companion lectures,

first

having talked to you before on the problem of freedom and rights in the general terms

it

presents itself to us today.

go into what one might

more

I

want now

to

the doctrinal aspect of the problem,

call

particularly the thought of

two

writers,

Locke and Mill,

who

figure prominently in your reading. I

think

it

might be interesting

to start this discussion of the

doctrine of liberalism with an observation of a

Liberalism

more general

kind.

or at least was until very recently in the United

is,

States, a praise

word of such general appeal

the United States was, and

still

that the tendency in

to a certain extent in public

is

meaning by applying it to Twenty years ago it was particularly striking that liberalism seemed to be at the same time the doctrine of Herbert Hoover's rugged individualism and the doctrine of the Daily Worker expounding the Marxist faith. All of writings,

to

obscure

historical

its

practically all political doctrines.

these claimed to be liberals.

What

signifies

this

is

that in the

United States everybody wanted to associate himself and his pro-

gram with

highly desirable general name. In this respect

this

American experience

is

and Germany liberalism astically

evoked.

As

quite different is

a historical

bourgeoisie and Babbitry.

from European. In France

sort of dated

It

and much

category

it

is

even carries with

it

less enthusi-

related

to the

the connotation

of nineteenth century humanitarian sentimentality. This very different attitude toward liberalism in Europe, forty or fifty years ago,

Marxism which

I

is

which was already true

essentially a result of the challenge of

expect to elaborate

later.

This different apprecia-

may also have something to do with the fact some of the greatest writers on the doctrine of liberalism were English and American and never achieved the kind of universal

tion of liberalism that

popularity on the continent which they did achieve in this country

and I

in England.

might mention,

at least in passing, that there

has recently been

a revival of liberalism on the continent of Europe, doctrinally

l6 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

designated as neo-liberalism. This extent, the

new

school transcends, to

predominant doctrine of liberalism

century with

its

emphasis on

laissez-faire, "let

some

in the nineteenth

alone" individual-

ism. Neo-liberalism accepts the need for a strong state to cope

with monopoly power and other abuses of liberty by economic and social forces.

This neo-liberalism

in a sense, a response to a

is,

response. Laissez-faire liberalism elicited the challenge of socialism

and Marxism which we will discuss

later.

In response to this re-

sponse neo-liberalism arose after the second alternative

to

the

totalitarianism

spawned

World War by

as

an

and

socialism

Marxism.

John Locke is undoubtedly the most important of the great writers on liberalism. His dates are 1632 to 1704. He is thus

man

clearly a

of the seventeenth century. Locke has been called

the soul of liberalism because

it

is

the supreme end of government. In

end of government Locke,

said that he makes freedom making freedom the supreme

in a sense, secularized Protestantism.

Luther had called himself Luther the the freedom of the Christian

which he challenged

man

free,

because he considered

the very heart of his doctrine in

matter of

ecclesiastical authority. I think this

challenging authority, ecclesiastical and

lay, lies close to

the heart

of the doctrine of liberalism as expounded in the past. This antiauthority emphasis

is,

however, not the sole ingredient of

thought. Liberalism at the same time has

many

liberal

other facets.

It

has

been affected both in time and in place by distinctive features of national culture. Indeed, one significant writer on liberalism, the Italian,

de Ruggiero, has actually made the differentiation of

national cultures the basis of his analysis of liberalism.

the doctrine in terms of English liberalism, French

German show

liberalism

and

Italian liberalism.

He

our discussion

we

treats

has endeavored to

that liberalism in each of these national cultures

tinctive flavor reflecting

He

liberalism,

had a

dis-

geographical and cultural home. In

its

will focus

on English and American

liberalism,

the liberalism of the English speaking world.

Locke,

curiously

enough,

schools of liberalism.

He

is

stands between the

two

historical

neither an old liberal nor a neo-

THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERALISM: LOCKE AND MILL § but something

liberal,

still

kind of liberalism that

we

and Paine. Their doctrine as night

rind in the elder Mill or in Jefferson

well expressed in the idea of the state

is

put the old liberal doctrine

blessing; but

from

government even

in

its its

it

is

governs I cite

least.

from

best state

here stated in a

In his Rights of

this latter

fect civilization

the

more does

is

strictly secular

government

its

own

a

is

best

form.

which

Paine reinforced the argument.

the less occasion has regulate

is

but a necessary

work one other statement: "The more

few general laws

Paine' s view a Civilized life

is,

it

Man

will cite

roots in ancient doctrines of

leads to the conclusion that that

It

I

"Society in every state

it.

This kind of sentiment has

Christianity although

book

a tremendously popular

time of the writing of the American Constitution.

for you one key sentence

evil."

archaic. Neo-liberalism fights the

Tom Paine has Common Sense,

watchman.

especially well in his at the

more

17

it

affairs

is all

for

per-

government because

and govern

itself."

In

that civilized life requires.

thus characterized by the gradual disappearance

is

of the need for government and of the need for laws.

We

in the

twentieth century are apt to throw up our hands and exclaim

"What

naivete!"

We

ward movement of

have witnessed in connection with the for-

civilization

an ever greater multiplication of

activity. At modern age the liberal sentiment was just more civilization advances, the less need there

laws and an ever greater extension of governmental the beginning of the

—the

the opposite

government and law. John Locke, in a sense the very "soul" of liberalism, did not have such an illusion. Locke saw

will be for

government liberty.

as

very important and very necessary for realizing

Laws were the

perfect focus and the primary expression

of such government. So let us turn to this doctrine of Locke which

you are reading in his Second Treatise on Civil Government.

would

like to highlight for

which

relate to the particular

I

think

we

should

first

I

you here those parts of the Treatise

problem of freedom.

take

up

the problem of freedom and

property. In recent years this has been a very important source of

controversy in connection with the argument of socialism. Locke,

however, uses the term property in two rather different senses.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

l8 §

He

uses

in

in a very

it

and more

wide sense and he also uses

When

restricted sense.

widest sense

its

POLITICAL THEORY

man

obviously includes

the sense of

all

all

it

in a

and

inclusive. Life, liberty,

ing of property. But there

number of

want

also the narrower

means

finds an elitist

men

and more ordinary is

understood as

of property care for free-

is

in Locke's

another of these contradictions

which the Civil Government of Locke

also an egalitarian side to Locke's thinking

we

all-

broad mean-

and exclusive dimension

discussion of freedom. But this in

is

Locke goes one step farther and even

to achieve freedom.

implies in his discussion that only

dom. Thus one

and

to do,

places, property

understanding of property. In this sense property a

that belongs to

estate are involved in the is

a part

is

a man's personal body, liberty, in

life,

the different things he might

As Locke puts

estate.

narrower

Locke uses the term "property"

coincident with freedom. Liberty

it is

of property. Property in the very wide sense of a

in a

it

is

so rich, for there

is

which comes out when

face the next problem in connection with freedom, the state of

nature.

Locke describes the

What

state of nature as the state of perfect

does the "state of nature"

say that

it is

mean and what does

it

each

free to order his actions

and person is

as

he thinks

perfectly free.

which

man

is

is

There

fit.

is,

For

and dispose of

this reason

man

however, a limit to

it

he

in such a situation

this perfect

freedom,

bounds of the law of nature. This law

is

the third aspect of Locke's doctrine of freedom.

—but what

obliges everyone

answer

does this reason do? Locke

men

harm another asked

why

this

are equal

tells

What

is its

of freedom

us that

it

teaches

well,

content? Locke's is

all

reason.

What

mankind

that

and independent, no one man ought

in his life,

should be

is it?

The law

a very broad one.

is

since all

sees

his possessions

Locke writes that the law of nature obliges everyone. Very it

to

very important to Locke's doctrine of freedom. Natural

free only within the

of nature

mean

the state of perfect freedom? Locke describes the state

of nature as the condition of perfect freedom because in

man

freedom.

health,

so,

Locke

liberty or possessions.

to

When

offers a quasi-religious answer.

THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERALISM: LOCKE AND MILL

§ 19

men are God's creatures he affirms. God is their maker; therefore men are God's possessions. By this very law of reason which forbids one to invade someone else's possessions, we must not harm other people. To do so would be to invade God's possession and we would be taking something from God that is his. All

This idea that there has a long history.

It is

a

law of nature which

is

a law of reason

by no means a novel idea of Locke's. The

law thinking extend on the one hand to

roots of natural

antiquity

is

and the ideas of the

Stoics, Cicero,

and the

classical

Roman Law.

some ways an even more important root, is in the doctrine of Christianity. There is one particular passage which is a famous locus classicus for this Christian origin of the doctrine of the law of nature. You find it in Romans, Chapter II, verse 14 Its other,

and

where

St.

there,

"When

in

Paul

is

concerned with the importance of law.

gentiles

who have

not the law"

He

says

(by gentiles he

means non-Jews) "when gentiles who have not the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law unto themselves, even though they do not have the law." There

is

an idea that

is

im-

planted in men's minds, in their reason, which resembles the law of Christ. This

is

When

the law of nature.

the gentiles act in

accordance with this law of nature, they are a law unto themselves. It is

important to realize that Locke

Christian tradition

when he

in abstract, general,

a

new element

is

thus very squarely in the

sets forth these ideas

of natural law

and philosophic terms. Locke adds, however,

to the natural

law doctrine which you do not find

in St. Paul or in the early Christian tradition. This addition

is

connected with the state of nature, in which this law of nature operates. It

"Who

is

found

in Locke's effort to

executes this law of nature?

answer which Locke gives

is

Who

answer the questions, enforces it?" In the

his novel contribution to natural

thinking. Execution of the law of nature

is

law

put into every man's

hands. Everyone has a right to punish the transgressors of that law.

The

basis for this assertion that the

law of nature's enforce-

ment is put into every man's hands is the assumption that the law would be in vain if there were no one to enforce it. For Locke,

AN INTRODUCTION TO

20 §

then, the law of nature as

itself,

POLITICAL THEORY

not something that automatically realizes

is

seems to be implied in that citation from

which was also implied in the doctrine of the

A

Paul, and

St.

Stoics.

serious objection arises at this point. If everyone

to enforce

is

the law of nature with reference to injuries to himself, and to

more

others, but

when

particularly

the individual

judge whether he was hurt by another man, does

men

judges in their

own

Over many

which men were judges in

a situation there

is

not this

make is,

of

and many genera-

years

Englishmen had developed the idea that

tions,

legal system in

himself to

To an Englishman

cases?

course, a very serious thing.

is

this

was a very bad

it

own cases. In such men will abuse their

their

the distinct danger that

power. Far from restricting themselves as they ought to by the

enforcement of the law of nature, they will use these occasions to transgress the law of nature is

another's.

From

it

would seem

law of the war of

to the idea of the

so

this

and to appropriate to themselves what that

all

Locke comes pretty close

against

all

which had been

important for Hobbes. But Locke really doesn't

assumption.

He

in for this fighting.

It is

this

rescued from this Hobbesian image because

is

he thinks most men are however,

make

men who

fairly pleasant chaps.

There

are,

to be sure,

Most men don't go some wicked men,

will take advantage of just such a situation.

the activity of this evil minority which makes the state of

no common judge decide disputes which they create.

nature intolerable. In the state of nature there to discipline such

up

It is to set

this

men and

to

judge that

men

is

enter civil government, the next

step in Locke's argument.

Before thing.

I

turn to that, however,

I

want

to point out

Locke faced the important question

this idea of a state of nature,

any such

state?

its

critics

raised against

Was

historical reality.

one other there ever

His answer, as was Hobbes', was the suggestion that

his critic look at rulers of independent nations.

These

independent nations, Locke suggested, were surely in a nature. In addition to this,

Locke hints that the

rulers of state of

state of nature is a

useful construct which gives us an opportunity to identify and isolate the basis of

government and

obligation. It

is

also helpful

THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERALISM: LOCKE AND MILL in enabling us to identify the primary_ objective of

which

is

ernment.

freedom. Freedom can only be

One

additional point Locke

made

colonized America and

You

thinking. is

its

Indian

can see here that there

Whereas he

is

government

secure by civil gov-

makes on

historical reality of the state of nature is

§ 21

this

problem of the

an allusion to newly

tribes.

an unresolved

difficulty in

Locke's

started out by saying that the state of nature

the state of perfect freedom,

it

appears

now

that

it

isn't so per-

fect. It appears that it is even necessary to set up a civil government and get away from this state of nature in order to achieve freedom. I think there is no real answer to this contradiction except 1 to say that good old John Locke has slipped. What he really wanted to say was that the state of nature could be the state of perfect freedom if only men would be what they ought to be.j I

,

But they are It

not.

follows from what

we now know

of Locke's views that there

can be no use in his theory for the establishment of an absolute

He makes

monarchy.

it

quite clear that absolute

monarchy along

Hobbes had proposed would leave men in the whom they had given absolute power. This monarch would surely be a judge in his own case. All the others would be delivered up into his hands without defense. A civil government must, therefore, provide for a separathe lines of what

state of nature vis-a-vis the one to

Locke never wearies of

tion or division of power.

concentrated power

is

articulates a distrust of all

Christian doctrine.

insisting that

the death of freedom. In this doctrine he

Much

power holders which has

later in

its

root in

the nineteenth century Lord

Acton, a liberal Catholic of great intellectual stature, wrote in a letter to a friend

the famous statement, "All power tends to cor-

rupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." This typically liberal

statement fallen

is

men

a radicalization of the basic Christian idea that in is

some

evil

and

that the abuse of

power

is

all

thus some-

thing with which one must reckon whenever one gives power to

any

human

being.

In this connection

I

would

like to call your attention to a pas-

sage which occurs in the writings of a later follower of Locke, the

AN INTRODUCTION TO

22 §

POLITICAL THEORY

James Mill, the father of John Stuart Mill. James Mill wrote an Essay on Government which is quite interesting and atUtilitarian

tractive if only because

human

it is

Trying to buttress the idea that

brief.

beings are prone to be corrupted by power and to abuse

Mill introduces a notion which

"The world

affords

some

I

think

is

that

may be

taken as a favorable specimen of

knowledge, of humanity, of

zation, of

make human nature power over

to possess

upon human nature power is abused. An

decisive experiments

in exact conformity with this conclusion that

English gentleman

it,

very touchingly British.

estimable.

all

The degree

his fellow creatures,

civili-

the qualities in short in

which he desires

and the degree of op-

pression to which he finds motives for carrying the exercise of that

power

will afford a standard

from which assuredly there can

be no appeal." In short what Mill

is

suggesting

Britishers fall prey to this propensity of

power, then surely

this is a universal

He

does he use as illustration?

men

is

that if even

to seek

and abuse

law of human nature. What

chooses the conduct of British

gentlemen in India and other colonies. Here the passage illuminating. "But yet

it is

is

quite

true that these propensities led English

gentlemen not only to deprive their slaves of property and to make property of their fellow creatures, but to treat them with a degree of cruelty, the very description of which froze the blood of those

of their countrymen

who were placed home and

cumstances, namely, staying at

in less unfavourable cir-

not being exposed to these

temptations of power."

You of

have here,

I

think, the supporting evidence for the distrust

power which, and

I cite

once again James Mill, "creates the

great difficulty." All the difficult questions of government relate to

the means of restraining from

hands

is

it

those in whose

lodged the power necessary for the protection of

The answer stitutional

making bad use of

all.

of John Locke was the separation of powers, a con-

government

in

which power

is

carefully divided. All I

want to say to you on this intrinsically complicated subject for which one would need an entire hour is that John Locke doesn't use the pattern which is familiar to us from Montesquieu and our

own

constitution,

namely a separation between the executive, the

THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERALISM: LOCKE AND MILL § legislative

and the

Locke; but rather he

power among

The

judicial.

judicial does not

even turn up in

upon dividing the

insistent

is

several authorities.

More

23

legislative

he suggests

particularly

quite within the tradition of English government, to divide

between the King, the Lords and the Commons. Only in general

power, If

is

we

and

legislative

we

is

it

power

the crucial

is

to be free.

more

particularly to

John

The

find that the position has radically changed.

problem of freedom tect

men hope

turn to the later liberals and

Stuart Mill,

men

power, in particular, which

thus divided, can

if

no longer the problem of how

to protect

power by government, but how to prothe abuse of power by others than those in the

against the abuse of

men

against

government.

A

change

result of this

is

the necessity of activating

government for the purpose of producing

this restraint.

Let

me

first

point out to you that before the statement of this basic prob-

lem

in

John Stuart Mill's

On

Liberty, another significant shift

whom

occurred in the liberal doctrine.

The

tham was the founder and John

Stuart Mill perhaps the

pressive, certainly the

Utilitarians, of

most universally

had

Ben-

most im-

significant expounder,

had

abandoned the idea of the separation of powers. Bentham thunders against the separation of powers as endangering government

by the division of authority. Yet Bentham remained aware of the

upon power. He remained aware of the problem of dividing power. The solution for Bentham and the

problem of utilitarians,

effective restraints

and

this is the

Government from which

I

key point of James Mill's Essay on

quoted to you,

tive government. As James Mill says in

government

is

"the grand discovery of

however, representa-

this essay representative

modern

times."

An

elective

which representatives are chosen for a limited

government, in period of time

is,

is

the desirable check

upon the abuse of power by

the executive establishment.

These ideas of James Mill were elaborated by

John Stuart Mill, tive Government.

in

his

famous

son,

an essay called Considerations on Representa-

It is

an important

significant to the student of

essay, in

government

some ways

as the essay

But in connection with our concern with freedom in

at least as

On

Liberty.

this lecture

AN INTRODUCTION TO

24 §

we have chosen On

POLITICAL THEORY

Liberty as of primary significance. In this essay

John Stuart Mill faces, as I said a moment ago, the problem of the abuse of power outside government by forces in a pluralistic society. He states his primary objective on page seven of On Liberty's Introductory section. "Like other tyrannies, the tyranny of the ma-

was

jority

and

at first

is

still

vulgarly held in dread, chiefly as

operating through the acts of public authorities." that

you know also turns up

older friend of Mill's by

in the writings of

problem

It is this

of the tyranny of the majority that concerns Mill.

It is

a problem

de Tocqueville, an

whose thinking and writing Mill was

deeply influenced.) This question of the tyranny of the majority just

mentioned actually

the problem of the tyranny of any non-

is

governmental force in the

The problem is stated when Mill writes: "The

society.

way

in another

in his essay,

object of the essay

is

On

Liberty,

one very

to assert

simple principle as entitled to govern absolutely the dealing of society with the individual in the

That principle

is

that the sole

way of compulsion and

control.

end for which mankind are war-

ranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty

number

of action of any of their

is

self -protection.

The

only pur-

pose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any of a civilized others.

community against

his will is to prevent

His own good, either physical or moral,

warrant."

What

Mill

is

one organizes his own

saying

is

that

affairs. It is

it is

is

member harm to

not a sufficient

nobody's business

how

nobody's business to make one

good man. The business of others and of government is to prevent one man from doing harm to another. This is, you might say, a

the quintessence of radical individualism in terms of self-develop-

ment.

The development

and concerns no one the entire is

of the self

else.

is

each

self's sole responsibility

This means, of course, the rejection of

Christian and Platonic

profoundly concerned with the betterment of

Christianity, theorist, is

whether in

Augustine or in any other Christian

profoundly concerned with the betterment of

society according to

ment

St.

we shall see, men in society.

tradition. Plato, as

some

ideal notion of

are seen as the corrective agency.

men

in

man. Society and govern-

To

this proposition

Mill

THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERALISM: LOCKE AND MILL § says "no,"

nobody's job but man's to decide

is

it

25

how he might

become good. The key sentence here which you will want to mark on your own copy is on page 13. "Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual individual

is

The

sovereign."

notion of the sovereignty of the individual

The

German

great

On

foundly concerned with practical philosophy. I

his writings

not wholly novel.

is

and

this very issue is

his doctrine of the

the very heart of his doctrine of

do not now have the time

on

ethics

Liberty. This

Immanuel Kant, had been pro-

philosopher,

autonomy of the individual theme of

sovereignty of the

the heart and soul of this essay,

is

which

to elaborate the

the categorical imperative,

is

but those of you

who

are interested in philosophy ought to

yourselves

that

this

sentence,

sovereign,"

makes sense only

this individual is

remind

"over himself the individual

if it is

is

implemented by the idea that

motivated by a universal law as embodied in the

categorical imperative.

Two

other questions arise

One

considers this doctrine of

expounded by Locke, Kant, Paine, Mill, and many

liberalism as others.

when one

is

and the other

the question of the decline of political liberalism, is

the question as to whether this decline marks the

failure of liberalism.

The decline of political liberalism is a very striking thing in many places, more particularly in England, its original home. As you know, the Liberal Party gradually disintegrated and today, while

still

getting three million votes,

it

Parliament and plays a relatively insignificant this decline

which

I

of liberalism?

concern essay

indicated to you in

my

last lecture. It also

is

with the exceptional man.

was motivated by the

it

He

What

explains

fact that live

lines

has to do with

in the aristocratic tra-

It is said

he thought

it

On

Liberty.

His

by some that the his

own

business

with his girlfriend out of mar-

did just this and people were scandalized. Mill thought

was no business of

human

is still

England throughout the entire essay of

whether or not he wanted to riage.

role.

seats in

The answer must be sought along

the process of democratization. Mill dition of

few

gets only a

situation

theirs

whether he did or

behind the writing of

On

not.

This

is

the

Liberty which you have

AN INTRODUCTION TO

26 §

to bear in mind.

POLITICAL THEORY

The important

capitalism unfolded in

all its

point, however,

is

that as industrial

splendor and terror, the fate of an

exceptional

man and

problem

to

most people than the problem of the position of the

ordinary

man

became a rather

his love life

in this society. In other words, the

important

less

problem of

indi-

vidual liberty receded as compared with the question of the ef-

community and

fective participation in the political

all

that that

implies.

In seeking to understand the decline of liberalism one should also

remember

that a

good deal of what was relevant

has been absorbed into what goes under the racy.

The English Labour

name

in liberalism

of social democ-

Party carries a substantial heritage of

made

English liberalism. This merger was

easier

by John Stuart

Mill himself, the John Stuart Mill of the Political Economy. If

you read that much heavier and longer book, you will see that Mill works around by a very careful argument to a species of liberal socialism in the end.

liberals like

Hobhouse

This path would be followed by other

later in the century.

But liberalism has also spread to and quered the conservative position. or America,

must needs imply a

To

in a very real sense con-

be a conservative in England

substantial

for the social order to be conserved

is

amount of

a liberal order.

liberalism;

Not only

in

England, but on the Continent as well, "Liberal" parties in France,

Germany are conservative parties, typically a number of more or less liberal factions. It

in Italy, in

split to

sure, into

is

a

be

theme

was struck already by Edmund Burke in his "Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs" in which the conservative liberal speaks out against the views which to him seem to have led down

that

the road to the French revolution.

Serfdom was a comparable reaction

Friedrich Hayek's

Road

to

to the totalitarian revolution

of our times.

One

final question, then. Is liberalism really a failure? Is

hat" as some would assert today?

"no."

which

I

think that there

is

is

inclination

is

"old

to say

certainly a historical aspect to liberalism

clearly evident in

Locke and Mill. There

My own

it

is

many

of the formulations you read in

also,

however, a timeless quality in

.

THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERALISM: LOCKE AND MILL § which

liberalism

more

is its

particularly the

intrinsic

When

humanism.

communist

totalitarians,

27

the totalitarians,

came along

to chal-

lenge liberalism, they rightfully started by attacking what was con-

by

ditioned

time

and

circumstance

and linked

particular

to

economic relationships. They ended up, however, by challenging the timeless element in liberalism and thereby challenged

more than liberalism. my next two lectures.

to this

It is

problem that

much

want to turn

I

in

READINGS, SUGGESTED AND REQUIRED For General Reference:

benn and R. s. peters, The Principles of (The Free Press), w. Y. Elliott and N. A. macdonald, Western s.

1.

Political

Thought

Political Heritage

(Prentice-Hall). c. j.

friedrich,

Politics G. H.

sabine,

Lectures

1

Man and

His Government:

An

Empirical Theory of

(McGraw-Hill).

A History

of Political Theory (Holt).

and 2 :

REQUIRED READING! JOHN locke, Second

Treatise

on Civil Government (Library of

Liberal Arts, Bobbs-Merrill). j.

s.

mill,

"On

Liberty"

in

Cohen (Modern Library). john plamenatz, Man and

The Philosophy

Society, Vol.

I,

of

].

S.

Mill,

ed.

Ch. 6 (McGraw-Hill).

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: christian bay, The Structure of Freedom (Atheneum). Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Freedom (Oxford University Press).

maurice

cranston,

Freedom:

A New

Green).

maurice cranston, John Locke (Verry)

Analysis

(Longmans,

.

28 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

ERICH fromm, Escape from Freedom (Avon).

Joseph hamburger,

Intellectuals in Politics:

John Stuart Mill and

the Philosophic Radicals (Yale)

louis hartz, Liberal Tradition in America (Harcourt, Brace

&

World). david hume, "Of the Original Contract," in

Political Essays

(Li-

brary of Liberal Arts, Bobbs-Merrill). Liberty, ed. Friedrich,

john locke, A

Nomos IV

(Atherton Press).

Letter Concerning Toleration (Library of Liberal

Arts, Bobbs-Merrill). j. s.

mill, "Utilitarianism," in The Philosophy of

/. S.

Mill (Modern

Library).

The Philosophy of Kant, ed. Friedrich (Modern Library). JOHN plamenatz, English Utilitarians (Humanities Press). The Political Theory of T. H. Green, ed. Rodman, melvin richter, Politics of Conscience: T. H. Green and his Age (Harvard).

3 Revolution

The

and

Social Justice

original position of Western liberalism has been a

revolutionary challenge to established tradition. In expound-

ing the idea of freedom,

were free to

cultivate

had challenged

it

and perfect

authority.

Men

their selves, to maintain a private

sphere of conviction and possession, to participate in public

life,

the shaping of laws and policies, and to innovate and create in

both these spheres, and thereby to go beyond them into a future

which transcends

tradition,

questions existing authority. In the

course of time, liberalism became tame. It urged the value of free institutions, ally,

but maintained that these ought to be achieved gradu-

ought to evolve through the

"tactic of history"

famous phrase. The French Revolution, liberty,

jeopardized

came

to replace

born.

Thus

its

original thrust. In

freedom

social justice

in Burke's

started in the its

name

of

course, social justice

as the basic challenge,

became the

—

and socialism was

focal point of the succession

of revolutions since that time. Social justice has, of course, always

been a major concern of man. But justice in

Western

ardent apostles. goal.

This

is

It

history that

it

it is

a curious feature of social

has rarely been analyzed by

its

has more or less been assumed as an obvious

due, of course, to

its

religious basis.

29

30 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

Sometimes plicit.

POLITICAL THEORY

most urgent advocates have been the

its

In spite of his passionate concern with social

Marx was

was a bourgeois

look up Karl Marx's Kapital, particularly the actually find only

one

the

Karl

deprecatory

prejudice. If you

you will

first part,

explicit reference to justice. In the index

of the 3 volumes justice appears only once. first

justice,

rather inclined to talk about justice in

terms. Justice, in his opinion,

least ex-

volume where Marx

It is

the citation for

talks about the failure of justice in

the bourgeois world in connection with a particular event in

England, which incidentally

quite relevant today because

is

a case of what

we now would

thrown out of

their

slum quarters and nothing was done to pro-

Marx

vide for their living elsewhere. in

contrasts this with the

which a proprietor or businessman who

provided with a handsome

"Look

at

profit.

this I believe that justice

today

I

am

is

is

is

worth but

calls justice!"

not cast in terms of

Generally

justice.

to discuss

Western

is

social justice

Marx

in elucidating the con-

and socialism

one on

is

—

the great traditional discussion of justice later; rather is

in

the emphasis

common

is

on

social justice.

You might

i.e.,

equality of

possessions and goods. (Later

not concerned with that I will take

up

This aspect of justice

we

men

with respect to material

shall take

up the general problem

of equality.) In this sense the idea of social justice has

Old and

ac-

understanding taken to mean simply some kind of

material well-being,

the

I

and revolution.

social justice

Social justice in terms of this discussion

What

in relation to the

tradition of revolutionary development.

tually call today's lecture

Despite

the very heart of Marxist analysis. But

not going to talk about

cept of social justice, but rather about his antecedents.

want

is

also

With an exclamation mark Marx

what the bourgeois world

speaking then his argument

way

loses his property

compensated not only for what the property says,

was

it

urban renewal. Workers were

call

New

its

roots in

Testament. In ancient Israel there was a provi-

sion for a kind of redistribution of wealth. Every so often all debts

were abolished. This must have been a rather extraordinary arrangement for social life in Israel. It embodied, however, a very basic idea of the

makers of ancient

Israel

and

it

became

a key idea

REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE § in the

New Testament,

31

not in this particular institutional form, but

as a primary consideration in connection with

society.

The

pursuit

of social justice thus became an important element in the Judaeo-

Middle Ages. In the great peasant revolts of the sixteenth century which spread through England, Bohemia, and Germany, vast revolutionary movements Christian tradition and persisted into the

broke out, the purpose of which was to achieve social Social

justice

justice.

for these peasants consisted primarily in greater

An

economic well-being.

interesting

tradition

institutional

lay

behind these uprisings. In the primitive village community of the

Middle Ages, which goes even farther back

early

into the tribal

common property, common property in

past of the Germanic peoples, there had been

more

particularly of pasture

and

This

forest.

pasture and forest was gradually usurped by the feudal lords and the subsequent dependency of the peasant on the feudal lords

became increasingly burdensome. In recapture of the

common

all

these peasant revolts the

land, so basic to the village community's

economic existence, was thus a very important ingredient. In

this

sense then the peasant revolts were really conservative, or indeed

They sought to re-establish an older tradition of which had been put into jeopardy. They were also revolutionary, however, in the sense that they became associated reactionary.

social justice

with the

efforts of the reformers,

Bohemia and Luther

As

in

WyclifTe in England,

Hus

in

Germany.

a result of these unsuccessful

endeavors to effect social

change the idea of a revolutionary achievement of continues to play a role in

all

social justice

subsequent revolutionary

activities.

In the English revolution, for example, though primarily conducted

by the Puritans in the name of religious liberty and constitutionalism, there sprang

who

up

a

more

radical

group known

as the

Diggers

sought to achieve social justice by dint of seizing and

vating the land as a

common

possession of

all.

culti-

Actually, I've

always considered the Diggers rather droll. They were a very small element in the Revolution, and played an insignificant role,

never being in a position to challenge the dominant revolutionary forces

under Cromwell. The Diggers were a small band of

men

AN INTRODUCTION TO

32 §

who went to

POLITICAL THEORY

Richmond Hill, outside London, and there began dig the soil. They claimed that the soil was common property

and

to

man was

that the only salvation for

to live

had themselves dug. Gerrard Winstanley,

on land

their leader,

that they

remained a

man, but the doctrine had implications for the

rather obscure future.

In the later phases of the French Revolution the radical idea of

was

social justice again asserted itself. It

by a

man named

Babeuf.

He was

particularly

expounded

very radical in his revolutionary

outlook and point of view. Once again, however, he was unable

more dominant bourgeois elements

to achieve ascendancy over the

who were

the prime carriers of the revolutionary ferment.

In the nineteenth century this pursuit of social justice crystallized into a

whole

known

trines,

series of ideologies

as socialism. Socialism

expounded by many thinkers

and ideologically

St.

a violent hostility towards private property

most dramatic form by Proudhon, is

Manifesto as

the group of writers

Utopian

Socialists,

who

Marx

that although these

ideas

on

Utopian

a future society

all

shared

which was put in the

wrote that "property attacks in the

is

Communist

simple minded seekers after social

The

justice blind to the scientific laws of history. is

The

Simon, Owen, Fourier and

Proudhon, three Frenchmen and one Englishman. They

This

creed,

in a variety of different ways.

foremost important ones were

theft."

cast doc-

became a variegated

interesting thing

Socialists elaborated their different

and how

this society

might be achieved

they never particularly elaborated on the content of their notion of social justice.

It

always contained, as

radical egalitarianism. Material

equally distributed. specificity.

As

I

Beyond

that,

said,

some

idea of

however, the analysis lacked

already indicated, even in

justice did not really receive

I

goods ought to be equally or more

Marx and

Engels, social

any further explication. Yet

it

was

quite widely appreciated by these thinkers and writers that the

elimination of private property from the social fabric was a radical revolutionary enterprise calling for a complete transformation of the society. This leads

of revolution.

me

to turn to the

problem and the concept

REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE §

know whether you have

don't

I

ever had occasion to reflect

upon the

fact that the attitude to revolution

society

quite distinctive and quite different

is

political societies

and

civilizations.

33

It is

found

in our

from

Western

that of other

different because

it

is

a

semi-positive attitude, based on an appreciation of the function

of social change and revolution. classical antiquity, Plato, Aristotle

concerned with

how

to stop

may still be know much is

how

you read the thinkers of

to avoid change.

They

all

are concerned with

all

and prevent revolution. In our modern West there a good deal of anti-revolutionary sentiment. recent

American

legislation such as the

some extent concerned with

to

If

and Polybius, you find them

this

As you

Smith Act

problem of how to prevent

a violent overthrow of the established order of things. Neverthe-

the attitude of the

less,

The

West

things. Jefferson has a

famous

generally favorable to change.

is

point of view and position

is

that revolutions are usually

line about

how

good

"the tree of liberty

must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and

tyrants,

—

its

natural manure." Such a call to revolutionary

violence

may sound

but

an integral part of the American ideology.

it is

strange to the ears of contemporary Americans;

another great molder of our American tradition, statements several times and is

I shall

Abe Lincoln, made similar

analyze one below. Revolution

thus accepted as part of the ordinary fabric of society.

Of

course

the American nation itself was born in revolutionary upheaval.

be sure,

it

To

has become popular in recent years, following de

Tocqueville, to claim that America's birth was not a result of revolution. It has even been proclaimed as

coveries of de Tocqueville, that

because

it

hasn't

known

America

a revolution.

skeptical about this alleged insight of

the American Revolution was to

much

a revolution.

It

was

all

which we speak of

one of the great different

Personally,

intents

all

dis-

from Europe

de Tocqueville.

am

I

I

rather

think that

and purposes very

certainly thought to

In view of what has been happening years

is

be so in London.

over the world in recent

as the colonial revolution, I think

it is

a

mistake not to recognize that this particular effort in 1776 of a

group of colonial people to make themselves independent was a

AN INTRODUCTION TO

34 §

revolution. It

was

I

was, nonethe-

is still

act.

Even

justified

you want

if

The

aside, this is certainly true of France.

modern France

that

American commonwealth a

revolution stands as the primary creative

America

it

think that one

in saying that at the beginning of the

history of

but

later in France;

a revolution. For this reason

to leave

from

certainly a different kind of revolution

which occurred several years less,

POLITICAL THEORY

entire

shaped by the great revolution that

is

occurred in France shortly after the American Revolution.

The

same thing

also

is

true of the contemporary Soviet Union.

It is

Germany and contemporary Italy. Nearly everywhere revolutions have been the creative commencement of true of contemporary

a political order

The

and a

political society.

relevance and significance for most societies of an actual

revolutionary experience has helped create that curious attitude of

Western man which I

have already hinted

change

as a

good

him

inclines

thing not wholly bad. This at,

thing.

that

The

to think of revolutions as some-

also connected with the fact,

is

Western man

is

—

all is

in flux. This

as the true insight into the nature of things.

West has accepted is

inclined to think of

great Heraclitus said at the beginning

of Greek philosophy, panta ret

that flux

which

this insight

he suggested

Modern man

and gone even farther

good. Therefore a good political order

in is

of the

assuming

a political

order that provides for change, not a political order that prevents change. cause

We

it is

are inclined to prefer our constitutional system, be-

a system that allows for change to occur regularly and

without the necessity of revolutionary excesses. Over the course of time, however,

we

can

still

say that revolution has occurred in

America, not only the Industrial Revolution, but other kinds of important changes. For this reason

some

justice that

permanence. that

On

American history

I is

think

it

has been said with

an organized revolution in

this score I think that there

is

very

little

from the point of view of Europe one of the things

considered either very good or very bad about America

is

doubt that that

has continually revolutionized Western society in the course of existence.

Within the context of Western

culture,

been the revolutionary force par excellence.

It

is it

its

America has

has continually

REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

§ 35

provided stimulus for change and sometimes radical change. In this connection,

how European tions. I

I

would

sort.

the

call

When

latter kind.

quite interesting to reflect

it

your attention that there

call to

tween what we tend to

might

think

upon

history has in a sense been shaped by great revolu-

call

more ordinary and regular might

call

a difference be-

revolutions of a political

Aristotle talks about revolutions

We

is

the great revolutions, and what you

them limited

revolutions in which the primary focus

he

is

thinking of the

revolutions, that

is

to say,

on the change of gov-

is

The great revoluThey bring about a far-reachof man's life. Our model great

ernment, on the change of the political order. tions involve

more than simply

ing transformation in revolution

is

all

this.

aspects

the French Revolution, but

English Revolution and the

it is

equally true of the

German Revolution which we

call

the

Reformation. In each of these great revolutions the change in the political order

seems almost incidental to other and more basic society,

and

fundamentally in virtually every respect,

cul-

changes which suddenly break forth in the particular threaten to alter

it

turally, economically, socially

We

all

think

now

and

in terms of comparative civilizations, under

the influence of such thinkers as

pared with other that

it

nation,

civilizations,

should have had

revolutions.

politically.

its

it is

Toynbee and Spengler. As comcharacteristic of

Western

society

history shaped by a succession of great

Each one of these revolutions broke out in a particular

and each of these revolutions had a

that particular nation. Indeed,

special significance for

one very imaginative philosopher

of history, Rosenstock-Hussy, has insisted that the nations were

shaped by their particular revolutions. The Germans were formed by the Reformation, the English by the revolution of the seventeenth century, and the French by their revolution at the end of the eighteenth century. Even far,

it

is

if

one doesn't carry the

analysis that

very clear that such a succession of revolutions

found in non-western

histories.

Look

is

not

at the history of India, the

history of China, or the history of other great civilizations like

the civilization of classical antiquity.

They

are not

marked by these

dramatic turns, these cataclysmic alterations in cultural,

social,

36 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

economic and

POLITICAL THEORY

which these revolutions marked for

political affairs

A word

the Western world.

of caution

perhaps appropriate here.

is

Because of the significance of revolution in our

some people think of

historical context,

somehow

as

revolutions. This

is

a mistake.

and purpose. This kind of

own I

intrinsic

think

it

particular

revolutionary activity

expressing thrusts that have the significance of great I

think

look the limited revolution which

its

all

own

is

necessary not to over-

it is

primarily political in scope

political revolution does occur

and has

dynamic.

necessary to realize that at the heart of each of these

great revolutions and at the present time even of not-so-great revolutions,

some of the

You might

the idea of social justice.

is

say that this concern for social justice

is

the core of the revolution's

ideology and that ideological aspects are the characteristic features of the

modern

You

revolution.

find nothing of this ideological

aspect in Aristotle. For Aristotle, revolutions revolved around the

perpetual struggle between the rich and the poor. say that the struggle between the rich

about social

justice.

In a sense

But the interesting thing writers.

lution

He is

and the poor

would be

course you can is

an argument

difficult to

deny

this.

that the attitude of Aristotle toward

is

the struggling participants

it

Of

is

a totally different

one from modern

does not think that because the argument in the revo-

between the rich and the poor you must therefore

say that the poor are in the right because the poor are seeking social justice. is

This

is

not Aristotle's view at

As

all.

concerned the argument of social justice

tendency of Aristotle

is

to say "a plague

The argument on grounds society

is

one in which

this

is

a bad one.

argument plays no

predominance of the middle

class

far as Aristotle irrelevant.

The

on both your houses."

of social justice

better understand Aristotle's emphasis

society into rich

is

role.

A

good

Thus we can

on the middle

class.

The

prevents that bifurcation of

and poor and hence avoids

that instability

which

in turn leads to revolution.

In the modern age, however, and throughout the whole develop-

ment of the revolutionary propensity of Western

society, the no-

REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE § tion has been that the revolution produces

some thing

of an approximation to a better state of society.

in the

It is

37

way

conceded

that there are all kinds of unpleasant aspects to revolution. Vio-

lence always accompanies revolution and this are

many

is

a bad thing. There

other things that one does not approve of in revolutions;

but in the end one must admit that revolutions are worthwhile.

So the argument runs; revolutions mark a forward step in the evolution of society and their bad features must be condoned

because of their contribution to the achievement of progress to-

ward

more

a

There

is

perfect society.

a rather interesting point connected with these so-called

bad features of revolution which you a

bit.

There seems to be a

I

would

stages in a revolutionary development. is

The

first

phase or stage

one in which the existing order of things develops an increasing

amount of

an increasing amount that

tensions, break-downs,

which in

of the rulers

is

terms

political

thority declines. In other words, fails to satisfy

those subject to

government becomes weaker

its

rule. Parallel to this

as

weakening

of the government, various movements spring up, usually intellectuals

of

is

mean that the legitimacy becoming more and more dubious and their au-

uncertainties,

it

like to elaborate for

definite succession of phases or

among

and discontented elements in the population. These

groups argue that an alteration must take place, and that a

new

kind of order must be created. As these movements develop, they

become

filled

with

idealistic zeal

and a readiness for

sacrifice.

a certain point this readiness for sacrifice becomes so great

At and

the idealistic fervor so pronounced that the revolutionary outbreak occurs.

tures

Lo and behold,

usually to the surprise of everybody, struc-

collapse which had

powers fierce.

fall

until that time

seemed very durable and

which had hitherto seemed very

effective

Overnight they reveal themselves as the hollow facade that

they had become during the process of disintegration. tionary

and indeed

movement then

installs itself in

The

revolu-

the seats of power and

soon confronted with the complete tasks of operating the

is

society.

This turns out to be a very much more arduous task than the

AN INTRODUCTION TO

38 §

revolutionaries

had imagined

POLITICAL THEORY

manipulate. the

more

The more

which

specific their

purposes and intentions with reference to

new society being created, now turns out that to create involves

an

infinite

therefore a great variety of savory, to

out in his

like

the greater are these difficulties.

Anatomy

new

a wholly

political

and

It

social

and

variety

of political

human

beings, both savory and un-

perform the necessary

revolutionary process

find them-

very difficult to

is

concrete the idealism of the revolutionaries,

the

order

They

in their enthusiasm.

selves faced with all kinds of detail

tasks.

operations,

Crane Brinton has pointed

of Revolution, a book in which this entire

very skilfully analyzed, that a revolution,

is

any other scheme of

kinds of people.

politics, require all

dumb

requires clever people and a lot of

people;

It

requires heroes,

it

martyrs and crooks. All kinds of persons can be found in the revolution and this of course creates once again the typical prob-

lems of government and

As

this

becomes

politics.

clear,

disillusionment sets in

among

rulers use

those

On

the revolutionary movement.

rule

who had

more and more violence when they

velopment of terror in the

later

discover that their

phases of a revolutionary enterat the

which the revolution originally intended

same time the

dorian Reaction.

to accomplish remain

is

known

The "thermidor," meaning

in the revolutionary calendar,

is

the

as the

truly a reaction;

it is

Thermi-

month of

July-

the point at which the

revolutionary enterprise turns into a kind of reaction. it is

tasks

This usually leads to a reaction which in accordance

with the model of the French Revolution

August

been members of

the propensity towards the de-

This terror gets out of hand and

unfulfilled.

the one hand,

the other hand, the revolutionary

may be endangered. Hence

prise.

On

two things happen.

I

more an abandonment of the

don't think revolution-

ary purposes. But the Thermidorian Reaction in turn dissatisfies, displeases,

and

finally loses

what

the final phase, the revolution in turn

is

is

little

legitimacy

effort at

condition that existed before the revolution. it

had. So in

followed by a dictatorship which

overthrown by a restorative

of course, be reproduced;

it

The

reproducing the old order cannot,

cannot be restored. Thus the society

REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE § settles

down

to the

new

state

39

which the revolutionary dynamic

has produced.

This

a very rough sketch of a pattern

is

which has been observed

time and again in the unfolding of these great revolutions and

which appears social change.

of the interesting, and in

features of the revolution in the Soviet

who made I

some ways

Union was

striking

that the people

were aware of the sequence of which

that revolution

have spoken, and were therefore determined to prevent

The

currence.

and

to be an indication of inner laws of political

One

Soviet doctrine of the Revolution in

part of that endeavor.

An

its

re-

Permanence

is

argument has been going on ever since

the Revolution between outside observers and inside defenders of the Russian Revolution. Outside observers are inclined to claim

same sequence has occurred, and the same

that the

results

have

been achieved. The insiders answer that the evolution in the

Union has been all different. Stalin is not Napoleon and there is no Napoleon in sight and other arguments of this kind are urged. But the parallel need not be that specific, and some lines of Soviet development in recent years do fit the pattern. Now one might ask how it had happened that Western society Soviet

developed such a very different attitude toward revolution and therefore became

not enamored of revolution, then at least

if

ready to accept revolution as the inevitable consequence of societal

A

evolution.

the Mexican

may help

statement by Lincoln

War

(and

it

was a

on from

here. In speaking

situation not too different

we are confronting now) he said in Congress on January "Any people anywhere being inclined and having the

the ones

12, 1848:

power, have the right to ment, and form a valuable, a

rise

new one

up and shake off the existing governthem better. This is a most

that suits

most sacred right

.

.

.

More than

this,

a majority of

any portion of such people may revolutionize, putting minority

..." And

as if to

make doubly

sure that his

down

meaning

be taken in the radical sense of an overthrow of established tutions,

he added:

ideas or old laws

"It

is

a quality of revolutions not to

..." What

this

means

is

a

insti-

go by old

that behind all positive

laws and constitutions, there exists a higher law expressed in a

40 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

people's rights as

POLITICAL THEORY

human beings. This right human rights and the

is

with the doctrine of

definitely linked

related notion of a

right of revolution. If its

you trace the theory of a right of revolution back you find

first

explicit

enunciation

is

generally believed to have been

famous Second Treatise on Civil Government where he presumably defends the Revolution of 1688. Curiously offered in Locke's

enough the Revolution of 1688, the so-called "glorious revolution," was neither "glorious" nor a "revolution." It was essentially a coup

d'&at executed with great

of any

human

skill

but with a significant lack

characteristic that could

be described as glorious.

Locke's Treatise spoke in terms, however, more general than

simply of 1688. Indeed recent historical research has discovered that this essay

was not written for the defense of the Revolution it was composed quite a few years before in

of 1688, but that

defense of a revolution yet to come. England, of course, had had a great Revolution in the middle of the century. Surely in the great

Puritan revolution there can be found an ideologue

and described the

intrinsic right to a

who

discovered

revolutionary enterprise.

There was such a thinker, none other than the great John Milton, poet and propagandist of Oliver Cromwell.

John Milton, 48, for the

famous defense of the Revolution of 1647-

in his

first

time actually enunciated quite explicitly the right

of revolution, the right of a people to arrange their government as they pleased. It

is

interesting that this occurs, not by itself, but

within the context of an argument of the right of resistance. In a sense Milton's propaganda pamphlet

is

the last in a whole series

of writings on the right of resistance and the the right of revolution.

What had been

first

in enunciating

the situation before that

It had always been argued in the Reformation and in the Middle Ages that people had a right of resistance against tyrants. By tyrants were understood rulers who violated the law, and did not obey the principles which underlay their institution. This

time?

notion of the subjection of rulers to law can be traced back to the

Old Testament where reminded the

the priests and the prophets had repeatedly

rulers that they

must obey the law

if

they were to

REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE §

41

continue in power. This tradition of the right of resistance against

an unlawful and tyrannical ruler

man must

saying that sense

is

connected with the scriptural

God more

obey

than other men. This in a

the Judaeo-Christian root of the favorable attitude to

is

revolution.

The argument

ations. If, for

found in a great many

is

example, a ruler breaks the law,

it

different variis

argued that

he does something contrary to the will of God, and since people

must obey the will of God, they must disobey such a resist

him. This traditional argument exhibits a great

ent shadings as to

how much

different opinions

on whether one can

him. If restraint then

who

resistance is allowed.

ruler

many

and

differ-

There are many

kill a tyrant

or just restrain

can restrain him? All of these ideas are

part of a great tradition that culminates in Milton who, after

reproducing

all

of the arguments about the right of resistance,

suddenly proclaims in a most memorable passage which has not

been given

sufficient attention that

even

if

the ruler should not

be a tyrant, a people can do away with him simply because

form of

the God-given right of every people to gi\e itself the

government

Thus

it

it is

likes.

in his

Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, John Milton men were naturally born free," that they were

proclaimed that "all

"born to

command and

not to obey," and that "since the king or

magistrate holds his authority of the people," the people "may, as oft as they shall

judge

it

for the best, either choose

him

or reject

him, retain him or depose him, though no tyrant, merely by the liberty

them

and right of free-born men to be governed

best." Otherwise, the

intolerable,

as

"government, though not

hangs over them

seems to illegal,

as a lordly scourge, not as a free

government"; and "therefore to be abrogated." For, and the final point "justice

is

or

this is

the only true sovereign and supreme

majesty upon earth." Here you have an unabashed proclamation of the right of revolution. the ruler

is

It is

no longer

tyrannical or not, whether he

is

a question of whether

unlawful or not.

It is

simply a question of what the people want. If the people no longer like what they have in the order, they can

do away with

it

way of government, and put another

in

or political

its

place.

At

AN INTRODUCTION TO

42 §

no idea of

this point

social justice intervenes, except in so far as

embody

the people's preferences It is is

very interesting that

found the

prise,

POLITICAL THEORY

it.

you go to the document

if

in

American revolutionary

crucial doctrine of the

which enter-

namely, the Declaration of Independence, you find there

characteristic

fettered, universal principle of

hand there

is

this

combination of particular grievances and the unpopular sovereignty.

a proclamation of the

determine for themselves

how

On

the one

God-given right of people to

they wish to be governed.

On

the

other hand, in the latter part of the Declaration, which nobody ever reads, there

a long recital of

is

the misdeeds of George

all

III,

London who must be overthrown. This is a combinatwo traditions of resistance and revolution. There is argument that the ruler is a tyrant, and therefore he may

the tyrant in

tion of these

here the

be overthrown. This argument can Revolution live

is

under

inconclusive as far as the Ameri-

concerned because the colonists never proposed

George

to depose

is

III.

They were

this tyrant if they

quite willing to let the British

should so choose. But there

is

the

other aspect: the general right of revolution. All the Americans

proposed to do was say that "we the American people have the right to give ourselves our

you might say that

it is

own form

this

which

of government." In a sense,

is at

the heart of the tradition

of Western revolution. This tradition sees revolution as a vital link of an

outworn past with a promising

future. It

the eschatological hopes of the biblical tradition

who

shall inherit the earth,

justice to

come.

tradition to their

How

Karl

and the

:

is

the heir of

the chosen people

belief in a paradise of perfect

Marx and

his followers adapted this

world revolutionary purpose will be the subject

of the next lecture. Theirs was and

is

a challenge to the entire

Western heritage, and not only that of Liberalism.

4 Marx, Marxism and

the

Totalitarian Challenge

We

turn today to karl marx, the greatest of the Marx himself was a

philosophers of socialism. Karl

humanist and a passionate believer in

Indeed there

is

social justice.

something of the Old Testament prophet about

the approach of Karl Marx. Although himself convinced of the strictly scientific

nature of his insights, they actually were inspired

by deep emotion and passionate concern. Although you may not have thought in the

so,

the ideas of Karl

Marx have

development of the notion of

played a great role

social justice.

The way

in

which he systematized and transcended the tradition of socialism

had a profound and catastrophic effect upon the development of Western society and mankind. The Marxist and

social justice has

political outlook, as

to

liberalism,

thought.

It

it

developed, became not merely a challenge

but to the entire Western heritage of political

was not so understood by Marx himself, who saw

his

approach rather as a fulfillment of that heritage. In what follows,

I

shall not so 43

much

deal with the challenge as

44 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

such. For

it is

POLITICAL THEORY

what

quite clearly implied in

main elements

you, namely the

I

wish to discuss with

Marx' and Engels'

in

thought. Beginning with Marx's notion of the state and

ing away, and the related Janus-faced image of man,

up

take

ism

in turn his theory of alienation,

as implied in the theory that the

march of turn

civilization

is

wither-

shall briefly

Marx's dynamic material-

primary given in the forward

the control of the

means of production. In

shall deal with the doctrine of class struggle as the core of

I

history, the resulting dialectical materialism,

tions

I

political

its

and the related no-

of the superstructure and of ideology. Returning to the

Marxian notion of the

and

state

"withering away," the ideas

its

on the revolution and more

particularly the dictatorship of the

proletariat, I shall finally deal

with

Fascist reaction

totalitarian implications, the

its

and the imperialist trend

in both

Communism

and Fascism.

The

and

fascinating

liberalism,

central

feature of Marx's challenge to

and indeed to the Western

heritage,

is

his extraordinary

combination of radical moral dogmatism expressed in his fervent belief in social justice with a

nature of the social analysis.

profound conviction of the

Upon

scientific

such analysis both the program

of political action and the prediction of the future are based; to

sum it up: "freedom by Marx dialectically freedom

political

in his social curious,

and

as

between what the is

contradiction tradiction as justice

is

as the is

same manifestation of man's ultimate

displayed in the activity of the individual

political life.

and from a

individual

flowers in necessity." Revolutions were seen

Hence, one finds in

logical point of

historical necessities

upon

justice

There

is

means of production,

a contech-

the beliefs associated with all these things are con-

tinually evolving is

have decreed and what the

to do.

in a sense the key to this contradiction.

and

the very

The objection that this is a basic is transcended in Marxism by the acceptance of coninescapable, as part of the human condition. Social

called

tinual evolution in society. Values,

niques,

Marx

view perplexing contradiction

and

call

for continuous

to be achieved. These adjustments

the consummation of the

adjustment finally

Communist Revolution.

if

social

culminate in

MARX, MARXISM AND THE TOTALITARIAN CHALLENGE § 45

Marx

states in the

Communist Manifesto, which

still is

in

many

ways the best and the most condensed dramatic statement of political position, that the other socialists

He saw

Utopians.

who

his doctrine as supplanting the Utopians by

What made Marx

eliminating their deficiencies.

think that his

and realistic was his belief power and the reality of the

analysis

was not Utopian, but

that he

had discovered the

state in

which power was organized. Unlike

sors,

his

preceded him were

practical

reality of

his

Utopian predeces-

Communism

he was convinced that the only way

could be

achieved would be through the overthrow of the established political

order, the destruction of the state. For the state, for

Marx,

is

"the executive committee of the ruling class."

This destruction of the

what nowadays

is

state

is,

in a way, rather different

from

often associated in the minds of people in the

United States and elsewhere with the notion of socialism. The

common

notion of socialism

which looks upon the everything to the

state.

is

that

You

state.

Someone who

"Well, you are a

socialist."

state is

is

apt to say:

notion prevails that socialism

kind of doctrine which looks to the

Marx. To Marx the

should be taken care of

ill

doesn't agree with you

The

is

a

state as the panacea, the solu-

tion to all problems. This, however,

the contrary, the state

every kind of doctrine

which wants to turn over

encounter this attitude practically any

time you suggest that some particular

by the

is

it

state as saviour,

is

from the

far

was not the solution to

the hard core of the

all

solution of things;

on

enemy which must

be destroyed.

What the

is

enemy

going to happen after the class,

revolutionaries?

state,

has been conquered and

which

its

The answer which Marx and

is

power

the agent of seized by the

the Marxists give

that the state will die, or, as the rather erroneous translation

has become accepted in English has

The German word

is

it,

is

which

the state will wither away.

really "absterben"

which means "die," not

wither away. This withering away of the state which has been

conquered by the revolutionary force occurs in connection with the creation of the later.

new

society. I shall

come back

to this a little

46 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

There state

state

is,

POLITICAL THEORY

however, an intermediary stage between the conquest of

power by the revolutionaries and the dying away of the after the consummation of the revolution. This is the stage

of the dictatorship of the proletariat. At this stage

remaining elements in the previous order of larly capitalism,

plished, there

is

will be destroyed.

When

no longer any need of the

stateless society of the paradisaical future

the various

all

society,

more

particu-

that has been accom-

At

state.

this point the

can commence.

This rather dramatic notion of a transformation of a society

through revolutionary action reveals Marxist thinking revolving

man

around two divergent notions of man. The nature of the revolution

man

of

is

consummated

is

radically different

from the nature

before the revolution occurred. In the age of pre-revolu-

tion capitalism with

which Marx was primarily concerned, man's

nature was viewed in a rather pessimistic light, very the lines of

Hobbes and the Hobbesians.

aggressive, immoral,

Man

no

is

much along

greedy, egotistic,

and so forth and so on. These are

man

all

drawn

is

not free, but

subject to the determination of social forces over

which he has

together in the belief that pre-revolutionary is

after

control. This deterministic

and negative image of man

part of the Christian tradition, which after

of the doctrine of " original sin," that despicable being

who

is

all sees

man

is itself

in terms

as a rather hopeless

and

can only be rescued by the infinite grace of

the Deity. In Marx's thought you have, in a way, the retention of this Christian idea. Instead of the grace of the

from is

nature you have the

his evil

going to accomplish

spirit

Deity rescuing

man

of the revolution which

this radical transformation.

After this change has been consummated man's nature, suggests

Marx,

did in his is

now

is

no longer

as

Hobbes described

it

cooperative,

goods with

others.

loving,

He

is

neighborly and ready to share his

willing to accept the needs of others as

the essential guide for his actions. Lest you think a

fairy

but as Rousseau

most optimistic and romantic passages. The human being

tale

I

am

telling

you

about Marx's Rousseauistic conception of man,

it

should be noted that Engels himself has quite explicitly stated that

Marxism

is

a modification

and elaboration of Rousseau's

MARX, MARXISM AND THE TOTALITARIAN CHALLENGE § 47 Essay on Inequality, the essay in which this point of view

and dramatically

ticularly

on by Rousseau.

insisted

Marxist and Rousseau would suggest, was the creation of

and more

zation

needed

is

was

created. This

which the revolution will It is

par-

civili-

of private property and what

particularly

is

is

which existed before

a return to the kind of conditions

civilization

is

Inequality, the

precisely the kind of condition to

lead.

most interesting that in the newest

explicit statement of

new program

the Marxist position, namely in the

of the

Com-

munist Party of the Soviet Union, these positions are repeated in their essential form.

that the

on whose banner abilities, to

of

man and

—

tion

The

New

Program

supreme goal of the Party

if

is

will be inscribed:

states in its Introduction

to build a

communist

"From each according

society

to his

each according to his needs. Everything for the sake

man." This

for the benefit of

is

exactly the formula-

you read the Communist Manifesto you will see

it

—

in

this whole position culminates "to each according to his from each according to his ability." In other words, distribution of goods is no longer related to achievement. It is related to need. Everyone is going to be happy to contribute his ability

which

needs,

whether superior or not to society for the benefit of his neighbor.

Marx and Engels the

work of

built this

kind of modernized Rousseauism on

a nineteenth-century

Morgan, who claimed on the

American anthropologist, Louis

basis of his research that there

had

been a golden age of communal harmony in which there had been

no property, no

exploitation,

no

classes

and no

slaves.

These claims

Morgan

are today considered extremely questionable and the them has played an important part in stimulating the development of modern anthropology. This notwithstanding, one

of

criticism of

of the recent commentaries on the Marx-Engels' version of

would have

it

that "the early, primitive society

is

Morgan

seen as a spon-

taneously integrated society with a real general will." In other

words, the contention

something which did civilizing

forces

societal stages

of

is

that

exist at

modern

what Rousseau talked about was one time before the advent of the capitalism and

which led to capitalism.

indeed before the

AN INTRODUCTION TO

48 §

POLITICAL THEORY

There turns up

in this connection a doctrine which has in become very much talked about and which no doubt

recent years

you yourselves have encountered. This

Marx and Engels

tion.

from themselves and

is

the doctrine of aliena-

men have become

believed that

alienated

Already in his Critique of the in 1844 Marx struck the keynote of

their work.

Hegelian Philosophy of Law this idea when he wrote: "A critique of religion leads to the

man

doctrine that the highest being for to

the categorical imperative to overthrow

man

which

man

himself, hence relationships in

all

He

humbled, enslaved, abandoned, despised."

is

made

the point

more

specifically to

is

is

more

specific,

later

relating the notion of alienation

man's work and his feeling about

at present a trend to generalize the notion

it.

There

once more in psy-

chological terms which are reminiscent of Hegel. But this kind

of alienation feeling

not what

is

Marx was

talking about. Contemporary

something much more nearly found

is

Marx. For

a psychological and spiritual

it is

sense of a

man

in

Hegel than

phenomenon

in

in the

being separated from genuine community and

being separated from the corresponding inner

life.

This notion

Marx while he was still very much under the influence of Hegel. But Marx later transformed alienation into more of an economic category. In Das Kapital, alienation means essentially that human beings have been alienated from the proddoes occur in the early

uct of their work. Indeed labor has other.

Work

is

become a commodity

people buy without ever thinking of the involved.

The

like

any

thus transformed into a physical thing which

human

beings that are

buyers of merchandise no longer think of the

men

Men

have become alienated, Marx suggests, in the become materially estranged from what they originally were. This is of course a subtler notion and in many ways quite different from the psychological notion which Hegel

who

created

it.

sense of having

is

connected with culture growth

and man becoming estranged from

his true self. In this connection

developed. Alienation in Hegel

Hegel introduced the famous opposition of master and servant (not slave, as is sometimes said). I must remind you of this theory; for the discussion of master

and servant

in

Hegel was

MARX, MARXISM AND THE TOTALITARIAN CHALLENGE § 49

own

important in influencing Marx's

But in Hegel the world,

thinking and development.

indeed

history,

reality

all

was seen

in

terms of spiritual forces and spiritual problems. Marx, being the

determined materialist that he was and wanted to self

on having turned things right side up again that Hegel had

turned upside down, as he puts

was the

material that

specific

which Marx himself

calls

political realm,

is

crude materialism.

the control of the

Now

"control"

is

something which involves

human

In that sense control strictly material.

We

really

is

means of production. This means

human

beings,

which

wills

some

is

bits

in existence eternally)

split

removed

quite important

involved in this ma-

to

Marx, naturalism.

dealing with

It

occurs

"Ludwig Feuerbach is what Engels

philosophy." This

"The answers which the philosophers gave

God

and human

respect

it is

to this question

create the world, or

them

into

instance assumed world-creation in

is

the world

two great camps. Those

asserted the primacy of spirit to nature,

and therefore in the

some form or another,

comprised the camp of idealism. The others

who

regarded nature

as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism." is

is

Ma-

seen here as based on "natural" and hence as sound.

The view has There

is

very important passage in Engels

means

German

classical

(namely the question did

terialism

a

rather than the material

already in

is

know from one

one of the more recondite

and the end of

last

What Marx

In this connection

that materialism in a sense

who

Marx was

not quite a material thing. Control

to consider the concept of nature

wrote:

it is

constituted the core of materialism in the societal

themselves,

terialism.

this point

speaks of materialism in the social and

means of production,

control of the

from the

spiritual but the

At

that materialism for

recall

when he

efforts.

was not the

Das

and subtler notion than older elementary materialism

concerned with

realm.

it

crucial aspect of reality.

however, to

necessary,

more

in the introduction to

it

Kapital. In Marx's notions, then,

in

prided him-

be,

persisted in

Marxism.

one interesting passage in the new program of the

Communist Party of the troversy over idealism

Soviet

Union

in connection with the con-

and materialism. At the very

start

of the

AN INTRODUCTION TO

50 §

POLITICAL THEORY

Introduction where the program describes the beginnings of com-

munism,

it

"More than

reads:

a hundred years ago Karl

Marx and

Friedrich Engels, the great teachers of the proletariat, wrote in the

Communist Manifesto, 'a spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of Communism.' " The Introduction goes on and states, "first dozens and hundreds of people, and then thousands and millions inspired by the ideals of

This presumably

communism, stormed the old world." of given conditions suddenly

scientific analysis

reveals itself as nonetheless containing an ideal. Indeed the impli-

cation

is

classical

that this ideal

Marxism,

it

was the

real

moving

force. In terms of

should not have read "inspired by the ideals

communism," but "convinced by the scientific analysis of Marx." The introduction to the new party program does, however, of

use "inspired by the ideals," which shows that they have not quite stayed with Engels and his juxtaposition of idealism and natural-

Even so there can be very little doubt that materialism for Marx and Engels had essentially a very broad meaning because ism.

the meaning of naturalism

is

obviously a more comprehensive one

than that of materialism.

Marx and Engels

Building on what has so far been analyzed,

proceeded to construct their famous pattern of historical develop-

ment

in terms of class struggle, relating

contradictions. just a little

I

am

afraid that at this point

a very dubious gloss

Marx that

What

on Hegel,

I

really

I

must bother you

it is.

For one must

—and —

happened here

might say in passing

simplified a crucial point in the analysis of the

is

that

human mind

you find in Hegel's Logic. Hegel developed the notion that

thinking

from

dialectically to inner

with considering Hegel, trying as

get a glimpse of the "dialectic." it is

it

is

a dynamic process proceeding in terms of contradiction

thesis to antithesis to synthesis. "Being,"

"becoming" constitute the great

triad

"non-being" and

with which Hegel begins

his

Logic. "Being" immediately posits "non-being" because one can

not think of "being" without thinking also "non-being." Yet they contradict each other.

If

confronted with this contradiction of

"being" and "non-being," what suggests Hegel,

is

is

one to do? The resolution,

"becoming," which

is

at the

same time both

MARX, MARXISM AND THE TOTALITARIAN CHALLENGE §

51

"being" and "non-being" as one

state continually passes into the

next. This dialectical process

developed for other basic

gories.

yet

This passing

is

a matter of transcending, superseding and

is

preserving the antecedent

also

process the

Hegel used for

state.

German word "aufheben" which

meanings of transcending,

from

this

has the three distinct

and preserving

superseding

which Hegel meant to imply when he employed the transition

cate-

of

all

for describing

it

thesis to antithesis to synthesis. Hegel,

with

his predominantly spiritual outlook, posited that this analysis of

human mind's processes was the key to an understanding of nature and of human history. This philosophy has had much greater influence, incidentally, as an interpretation of human histhe

tory than

it

has of nature. But in any case,

it

treated real things in

analogy to intellectual processes. Hegel's argument was fundamentally

this:

"The mind

part of the cosmos. If

is

these intellectual processes in our

mind we have

that they reveal the laws of the cosmos." This

which Marx to matter

that

he

is

says that

it

puts things upside

something that

is

assume

the argument of it

imputes

mind. Marx

characteristic of the

is

can observe

because

putting things right side up by making

in material things that this dialectical process is

is

down

we

a right to

it

clear that

feels it is

buried which then

projected onto the mind.

At

this point

Marx

introduces the notion of sequence in history,

of successive stages dominated by successive means of production

and

by successive

their control exercised

classes.

This

the famous

is

doctrine of the pattern of history as the history of class struggles in

which each successive

class supersedes the

cause with the emergence of class is

new means

preceding

class be-

of production a different

needed for handling these means of production. This

the heart of so-called dialectical materialism. things together here.

Marxism you must historical

If

you make a

I

am

really precise

is

pulling two analysis of

distinguish between dialectical materialism and

materialism.

I

am

putting these two things together,

however, as indeed they are placed in the Communist Manifesto.

Marx and Engels propose process

is

intrinsically

in the

Manifesto that this

dialectical

and inherently necessary and that

it

occurs

AN INTRODUCTION TO

52 §

as a result of laws of history

POLITICAL THEORY

which eventually culminate

in the

take-over by the last of these classes, the proletariat. This class is

for the

first

proletariat

proudly, the majority

is

the majority and eventually the overwhelming ma-

does not need force any more to accomplish

jority, it it

Marx and Engels

time, say

All other ruling classes have been minorities. Because the

class.

its

objectives;

can do everything on the basis of cooperative effort as

now

just

At

we

point

this

Marxist thought, literature, ethics

mere

I

was

explaining to you.

can turn to the next important category of

the

philosophy,

Religion,

superstructure.

art,

and law are interpreted by Marx

as mere ideology, They have no independent meaning or sig-

superstructure.

nificance except in terms of their justification of the position of a

dominant

particular

Just as the state

class.

is

interpreted as the

executive committee of the dominant class, so philosophy and religion are part of the ideology of the

and

dominant

intellectual values dissolve into ideology,

of the interests of the dominant

Marxism

is

class. It

much more than simply

class.

mere

All spiritual

rationalizations

thus becomes clear that

a challenge to liberalism. It

challenges the entire tradition of rationalism since the days of the

Greeks.

It

challenges not only Western rationalism, but, also, for

example, Indian intellectualism or Chinese intellectualism. All of these great cultures have over the last three or four thousand years

developed elaborate structures of ideating analysis of truth by

which they sought is

Marx

says that all this

unrelated to reality, except through being a maid-servant to the

power then

structure of the

is

dominant

class.

What you must

analyze the class structure to get the true

ideologies. This

of

to understand reality.

is

In

ideology.

Marxist, Karl

what the

is

last

Mannheim,

a

really do meaning of such

generally spoken of as Marx's critique generation,

man

however,

one convinced

of great intellectual power, began

to be concerned about the implications of what was bound to

come

moment the Communists when Marxism itself became a

to light the

like Russia

power of

a particular

in this case the

took over a country justification for the

group controlling a particular

Communist Party of

political order,

the Soviet Union. This

is

MARX, MARXISM AND THE TOTALITARIAN CHALLENGE § 53 actually the

theme of Mannheim's famous work on Ideology and

Utopia in which he Marxist analysis

tries to

is itself

come

to terms

with the

fact that this

such an ideology.

This analysis of ideology leads into the Marxist doctrine of the "dictatorship of the proletariat." That in turn brings us back to

what

said in

I

my

last lecture

about the several phases in the

revolutionary effort. Abbreviating and contracting say that there

is

first

it,

one might

the phase of the revolutionary take-over

followed by the phase of the dictatorship of the proletariat and

consummated

in the final phase of the dying-away of the state.

Here again we face a dialectical triad. But there is very little doubt Marx, and Engels, and for that matter many Marxists after

that

them, did not consider either the

first

or the second phase as of

any considerable duration. The revolutionary take-over would be a dramatic, violent event.

When power

had been

seized

and the

revolutionaries were in charge, the dictatorship of the proletariat, dictatorship by the Communists on behalf of the would make short shrift of the existing social and political organization and would create in its place the stateless society of the third phase. The growing prolongation of the asessentially a

proletariat,

sumed

short second phase of the dictatorship of the proletariat

has been the dominant development of the twentieth century. is

this dictatorship of the proletariat

which has

spoken of as the "revolution in permanence."

who

conquered

state

power

in the Soviet

justifiably

What

It

been

the people

Union discovered when

they tackled the job of the dictatorship of the proletariat was that it

was

a

much

bigger and longer job than they had envisaged.

It

was a job that involved a much greater deployment of power than

had been

anticipated. If

you read Marx, even in the

later Critique

is much more elaborate than in Communist Manifesto about this undertaking, or Lenin's remarks in State and Revolution, it is fairly obvious that they both thought of state power as something that you merely took hold of the way I take hold of this desk. You take it and it is yours, and

of the Gotha Program wherein he the

then you simply deploy

it.

There

is

in their views very little ap-

preciation for the fluidity of power, that

is

to say for the fact that

54 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

power

POLITICAL THEORY

something which only

They failed means is that you have only destroyed the power of one set of power wielders and that then you have to build your own power. Power is not simply yours through revolution because power exists in what men do in exercising their power. You must therefore do more than merely depose the powerholder and seize his power. is

to appreciate that if

You must, You must

exists in the exercise.

you take over power what

and Machiavelli

as Plato, Aristotle,

and

into;

when one

be borne in mind

this is

said,

"build a state."

what the Communists

create a political order. This is

unknowingly stumbled

really

it

what must,

in

speaks of totalitarianism.

when

not correct to assert that the Communists,

they

my

opinion,

It is

simply

made

their

revolution in 1917, intended to erect a totalitarian dictatorship.

On

the contrary, they thought they had

come

to create the condi-

In a brief intermediary

tions for a perfect anarchic democracy.

period of construction they expected to eliminate completely what

had hitherto been the power of the job of building a

an extremely it

new

But

as they tackled the

found that task to be

political order they

difficult one,

in the Soviet

state.

particularly as they

Union with an economic

wanted through a centralized planned

came

to associate

revolution by which they

effort to

transform a society

of peasants into an industrial civilization.

Having mentioned the transformation of its

brings

industrialization

Marxian

analysis.

talking of Marx,

a society in terms of

into view another element

Something very important to bear is

to note that

he thought

in

in

the

mind when

that in terms of class

would come in the last stages of would come at that point when a vast mass of atomized and exploited workers confronted a few extremely rich and powerful men who exploited and dominated them. This analysis, the revolutionary effort

industrial capitalism. It

mass of workers which contained the class-conscious

communists would decide to do away with step into their place.

Now,

as

elite

of the

their exploiters

and to

you know, nothing of the kind has

happened. The countries that have gone forward in the process of industrial

capitalism have

developed social welfare and trade

union policies which have brought about solutions for particular

MARX, MARXISM AND THE TOTALITARIAN CHALLENGE § 55 grievances.

The

capitalist societies

have thus by no means pro-

Marx

duced the kind of situation which

envisaged. Instead of that,

the Marxist kind of revolution has in fact occurred in agrarian

Rumania and

Russia and China, even Poland, Hungary,

societies,

Cuba. But since the image of the communist order called for an industrial society, all of these agrarian societies

were

once con-

at

fronted with the task of bringing about what in the original prediction already existed. This undertaking has

become the primary

task for the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is of course a task

which requires considerable time. In connection with

worked

features of the totalitarian dictatorship are

this effort

out. Interest-

ingly enough, and in spite of

what has happened, the Communist

Party program of 1961

retains the old analysis. It suggests

still

that after this transitional process

is

completed, there will arrive

the day of paradisaical conditions which the original

Manifesto predicted. Indeed, some of the dramatic

Khrushchev made little bit

in his

closer to this kind of idyllic cooperative

is

make. The

that Fascism

is

tionary

a reaction to I

community.

word about by no means the equivalent of Communism, to

either intellectually, or in terms of

doctrine which

have

its

social thrust.

Communism.

It

just portrayed for

Communists made

their

first is

a

You might

rather curious oversight

reacted to the political

own. As a reaction to

Communism is

a

some of the blind spots would seem when the Communists tried to organize

and

you can find in Marx

rather obvious to say that

say

you which the revolu-

Fascism was not included in the Marxist prophecy. This that

that

efforts

day were part of an attempt to get a

There are two more points Fascism. Fascism

Communist

it

suggests

as a political theorist. It

the atomized masses for the overthrow of their exploiters, the exploiters

would not simply

sit

by and

let

themselves be over-

thrown. They would themselves try to get support

atomized masses in order to ward

off the attack.

no anticipation of

Marx

this in either

They thought of the revolutionary weakening

capitalist structure

weight with only a

little

among

There

is,

these

however,

or Engels, or even Lenin.

struggle purely in terms of a

which eventually toppled of

its

own

push from the revolutionaries. In the

AN INTRODUCTION TO

56 §

dynamic sense

which

is

that

POLITICAL THEORY

have portrayed

I

Fascism

it,

a response

is

surely quite in keeping with the laws of politics.

When-

movement starts within any context, there is bound counter movement on the part of those whose interests are

ever a political to be a

affected.

What happens

in Fascism

is

that the proletariat

is

replaced

by the nation as the collective reference point in terms of which the deployment of revolutionary violence quite the opposite of

Communism,

positive over-evaluation. This

which harks back

directly to

the

Hegel and

its

about the state as the

talks

and

interests

beliefs of the

as the vehicle for the effective

community and the individuals within

and

the state receives

it

is

particularly true in Italian Fascism

is

real receptacle of the values,

munity and hence

as in

Fascism

justified.

is

his National Socialists, the

German

it.

com-

manipulation of

The views

of Hitler

Fascists, are largely the

echo of the Italian Fascists who, in these matters, developed no-

and eventually the

tions like "discipline," "hierarchy,"

of war.

It is

interesting

and important to

glorification

realize that Hitler,

by sub-

stituting the race for the nation as the focal point for the collective

reference, easily

But

gave himself something that was

manipulated than had

like nation, race, too,

is

intrinsically

fundamentally

stead of an inclusive notion. It

still

an exclusive,

possible to conclude the

is

munist Manifesto by the exclamation: "Proletarians of

world unite; you have nothing to lose cannot very easily say "Italians of

b>'i

all «.ne

is

that there

is

in-

Com-

all

the

your chains"; but one

world

unite,

nothing to lose but your American citizenship." There in this so the result

more

been the older notion of the nation.

is

you have

no appeal

not the world-wide force be-

hind Fascism that had developed behind Communism.

But in either case of the

case, the

problem of imperialism

Communists, the imperialism

is

arises.

In the

disguised behind the

facade of the dictatorship of the proletariat, but

it

evident in the stresses and conflicts that have rent the

has become

Communist

bloc. Stalin's was an extreme view, but his basic contention that

good for Communism and the world revolution expresses the implicit imperialist thrust which

what

is

good for the Soviet Union

is

MARX, MARXISM AND THE TOTALITARIAN CHALLENGE § 57 has remained.

It is

of course

more patent

in the case of the Fascists

and Nazis. Mussolini's oratory about the grandeur that was Rome's

and the hnperium

Romanum

that

must be resurrected are the

logical consequence of the Fascist creed. Similarly Hitler's idea of

the Greater Europe under Nazi leadership and domination

is

nothing but the outward thrust of the imperialist implications of his racist notions.

In

all

three versions of totalitarian thinking there

a radical elitism. rule

is

The

notion of an

is

contained

predestined to lead and

elite

intrinsic in those doctrines.

In a good part of what

something which you find that since

I

have said today there was implied

in the

Communist Manifesto; namely,

you obviously could not have

all

proletarians under-

stand so subtle and complicated a theory of society as in the three

is

contained

volumes of Das Kapital, there had to be some kind

of a sorting out. This brings us directly to the Marxist idea of the

Communists

as the class-conscious

Communists

are the people

insight of Karl

Marx and

who

of the proletariat.

elite

really

understand the

The

scientific

therefore are in a position to act in ac-

cordance with the historical analysis, or

if

you prefer, prophecy of

Marx. This notion of an indeed,

it

elite is

by no means something wholly new;

has very ancient roots.

The

doctrine of the elite

is

a

very important part of the political philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. It plays

The

an important role in many religions.

distinctive feature of Marxist doctrine,

this idea of elitism so is

given a very specific content in terms of a

ing of the historic and societal process. This older elite theories never did. ethical notions

and

is

that

something that the

They always thought

Marxism,

as

we have

not into the idea of what

the process of history. tory,

is

The

elite

is

understand-

scientific is

and in terms of insights into what

beautiful. In

sight

however,

widely scattered and held throughout history,

in terms of

is

good, true

seen today, the

elitist in-

good, true or beautiful but into

can perceive the dialectic of his-

and consequently the necessary future of mankind. Those

who

.

58 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

.

POLITICAL THEORY

possess this "scientific insight" are prepared to provide the leader-

ship in the revolutionary struggle for the realization of Marxist social justice.

READINGS, SUGGESTED AND REQUIRED Lectures 3 and 4:

REQUIRED READING

:

Marx (Galaxy). KARL marx and friedrich engels,

isaiah Berlin, Karl

Basic Writings on Politics and

Philosophy (Anchor), items I-II, IV-VI, IX, XVII.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: hannah arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism (Meridian). hannah arendt, "Tradition and the Modern Age," in Past

and Future (Viking)

crane brinton, Anatomy C. J.

Between

friedrich and

z. K.

of a Revolution (Smith, Peter).

brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship and

Autocracy (Harvard). V.

I.

lenin, "What

is

To Be Done?"; The

State

and Revolution

(International Press).

Herbert marcuse, Soviet Marxism (Vintage). karl marx, Early Writings, tr. Bottomore (McGraw-Hill). Readings on Fascism and National Socialism (Swallow) i

Revolution, ed. C.

J.

Friedrich,

Nomos VII

(Atherton Press).

Social fustice, ed. Richard B. Brandt (Prentice-Hall),

talmon, Origins of Totalitarian Democracy (Praeger). ROBERT TUCKER, Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx (Cambridge).

j. l.

5 Justice

and

the Function of the

Political Elite

Justice is

is

one

of the central topics of

all political

theory. It

the very heart of Plato's thought. Disturbed by the chaos

of his native city Athens he

came

to conclude that only an

of philosophers, guardians of truth and justice, could hope

elite

good government. Thus he became the founder of theories of politics. But before we examine his ideas

to re-establish

the

elitist

we

proper,

shall

have to undertake a general theoretical analysis of

the problems of justice and the roots.

Wherever men have

done so is

in terms of justice.

How

one of the basic questions of

rule can only be secured by

elite.

reflected

Both ideas have very ancient

upon government, they have

can rulers be

politics.

forming an

The

made

elite turns

of the great religions. In Christian doctrine

to rule justly

notion that such just

it

is

up in a number bound up with

the hierarchy and authority of the church, and with the doctrine

of predestination. In Confucianism, the

good

ruler

is

the wise

man

learned in the writings of Confucius. In the great religion of India,

Hinduism, elitism

is

involved in the caste system with 59

its

AN INTRODUCTION TO

60 §

POLITICAL THEORY

pinnacle, the Brahmin. In other words,

elitist

doctrines are very

widespread and somehow linked to man's search for good government. In Marx's system, this ancient tradition has re-appeared in a

and

different form. In the

Marx and Engels

ings,

Communist Manifesto and

claim an

elitist

new

other writ-

position for the Communists,

not as a party, but as the members of the proletariat with a special

understanding of the course of history. Thus they say: "They (the

Communists) have over the great mass of the

proletariat the ad-

vantage of clearly understanding the line of march, the conditions

and the ultimate general

Hence and

justice

the

grasp which constitute the

scientific

Yet even

results of the proletarian

movement."

not moral or philosophical knowledge, but historical

is

it

here, the relation

we have

is

to justice

elite

of the proletariat.

through the belief in

social

already discussed. So the question before us

meaning of the

elite

and the relation

it

is

bears to the realization

of justice in a political community. Everybody nowadays talks of

This was not always the

elites.

old notion

it

case.

Though

it is

actually a very

was not always so fashionable a term.

Political

thought has recurrently been inclined to assert that governing for specially qualified

men

calls

of exceptional capacity, virtue and

This has been a much more generally accepted and

intelligence.

wide-spread idea than the opposing one which became current in

America

the beginning of the nineteenth century, namely that

at

everybody was qualified to exercise the functions of government.

This idea tion,

is

traditionally associated with the Jacksonian Revolu-

but also sprang up in the American Revolution,

when

it

was

expounded by Samuel Adams here in Massachusetts. These men who founded the American Republic or rather helped found it, thought that the task of government did not call for ardently

exceptional capacity, virtue and intelligence. There were, however, just as

many,

if

not more,

who were

of the opinion that

Hamilton and quite a few others among the men

it

did.

in Philadelphia

certainly shared the elite notion.

When

this elitist position is stated in the history

thought as

it

is

today by a great

many

of political

people, serious questions

AND THE FUNCTION OF THE POLITICAL

JUSTICE

One

are raised. elite

central question

merely in terms of a

whether elitism refers to an

is

mean? Can

it

"good

are

not operate as a group?

In other words, does

classification.

merely mean that in government and in

number of people who

And

ELITE § 6l

although they do what does "good at politics" the same way in which other kinds at politics,"

if so,

be understood in

of technical excellence are seen and evaluated?

Can

Men

thought they could, and in our time Vilfredo Pareto

made himself

the exponent of this idea.

possible to classify any kind of artisans

way

you then be best

argued that

to arrange

the

The

elite.

elite

doctoring and the

would be the ones

who

in

of the profession of the cooks

and so forth and so on. For

best at cooking,

are doing the job best; these

however, would merely be an objective

between them. These best together as friends, nor

may be

would be the

number elite.

of

This,

classification of individuals

no necessary connection ones would not necessarily be grouped

according to their quality, because there

fact they

them

of the medical profession would

elite

every professional activity you can identify a small

people

it is

that the best are in a small class by themselves; these

call

at

It is

and performers according

and then

to the quality of their performance,

such a

be

rulers

equated with doctors, cooks and other sorts of technicians? like Plato

has

it

politics there are a certain

is

would they even

necessarily cooperate. In

the very ones in the fiercest competition with

each other just because they are the best.

Now

there really an analogy to this

is

when we speak

in governing? Abstractly speaking there undoubtedly abstractly

of best

We

can

admit that scattered through the land there are a small

number of people who it is

is.

are best at government. In reality, however,

another question entirely

to ascertaining

who

they are.

when

it

When

comes to identifying them,

you talk about the doctor, the

cook, the shoemaker, or other kinds of concrete crafts, identifying

the best practitioner say "this

is

a

is

rather simple. People

good shoe," or

"this

is

dinners and they can say "well, this

meal

tastes

wear shoes and will

not a good shoe." People eat

is

a wonderful meal," or "this

bad." In such cases where one evaluates the perform-

ance of a concrete craft one can thus identify the best performers

62 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

by merely consulting the users. With government, however, the situation

cooking,

is

it

it

When

itself

is

it

is

that particular value

man

is

to be done.

to be

way

With government, how-

who

ever, the difficulty arises that people is

is

part of the elite of his profession

realize their craft in a superior way.

agree as to what

health and in various

realized in a superior

is

In

easily identified.

always some definite value which

is

it

can be said that this

who

value to be realized in connection

not one which

is

the meal; in doctoring,

other professions realized.

The

not so easy.

is

with government

are

consumers

its

dis-

Unlike the users and consumers of

shoes and meals and various other things, they are not inclined to

be in agreement. Indeed, quite the contrary, the tendency be more or

less in

homogeneous

is

to

disagreement. Even in a country as relatively

as the

United States

You need

disagree on the tasks of government.

A

development in Selma.

rather large

stitute the vital electorate in

quite obvious that people

it is

Alabama

only think of the

group of people who con-

still

think the governor

who

ordered the police to maltreat the marchers was a great governor faithfully executing his duty.

great that

many he

is

acteristic

The people who

others in this land think he

is

quite wrong. This kind of disagreement

as to

who the

Leaving the problem of a mere

we must now or governing

When we

elite

speak of a party,

When

cohesive group.

one asks:

if

it

re-

is.

classification of

an

elite aside

presumably present

in

not really implicit in the idea of a political

elite that it possess

capacity of acting jointly as a

I

and

very char-

moot, and hence

is

turn to the political factors

elitist situation. Is it

elite

is

and consequently

the best governor, the answer

mains quite uncertain

an

marching and a

of the task of government. In government, the goals

are themselves continually in dispute

who

are

a terrible governor

is

some

cohesion,

group to

we

some sense and

realize values

it

shares?

usually think in terms of such a

people refer to a political or governing

think they do imply some organized group which hangs

together, thinks alike

understanding

elite

group conspiracy

and

is

conjures

to hold

and

able to act jointly. In the

up the image of some utilize political

power.

common

calculated

AND THE FUNCTION OF THE POLITICAL

JUSTICE

An American

Wright

author, the late C.

ELITE § 63

politics in

terms of this notion of a cohesive

The Poiver

Elite written

had

elite.

In his book

years ago, he asserted that there

in

the United States a group which he called the

In his opinion this elite was running the country,

contrary

America's alleged democratic theory of pluralistic

to

participation in the determination of public policy. Let a

a

American

elite."

arisen

"power

some ten

up

Mills, has stirred

great deal of discussion in the United States by depicting

key sentence from

"The

book.

this

me

quote

directorate,

political

the

come together as the he believes them con-

corporate rich and the higher military have

power

elite."

It is

important to note that

and purposefully

sciously

also thinks that "the

to

them

relegated

to the

this cohesive

group; he

expanded and centralized hierarchies which

upon the old balances and have now

they head have encroached

serted that

have formed

middle

we now have

levels of

in the

power." In

short,

United States a power

as-

it is

which

elite

runs the country. This view has by no means been universally ac-

Quite on the contrary,

claimed. criticized. scientist,

in

It

it

has been almost universally

has been questioned most cogently by a political

Robert Dahl,

New Haven

who found through

no such

elite

—

but rather that

and

—

fields

other American

same

cities,

formed for

States. I

we

am

Many

constellations

political

doubt persists

any kind of power

elite in

work of

the

problem of a

than the concrete question as to the existence

the present time of such an elite in the United States.

tioned the

to

level of state

not going to pursue this argument any further

are here concerned with the general

political elite rather

and other

would be found

case, considerable

as to the actual operative reality of

at

particular decisions

and indeed on the

and national government. In any

because

found that there

important questions,

of policy, often forming spontaneously in response to

social scientists feel that the

United

all

quite in keeping with the theory of pluralistic

different groups are

challenges in particular problem areas.

exist in

He

could be located.

does not exist one group which decides

democracy

an exhaustive study that

these

two men

a very pressing issue in the

to

show you

that this

I is

menreally

United States which cannot be handled

AN INTRODUCTION TO

64 §

own mind

without being clear in one's

would

POLITICAL THEORY as to

what such an

elite

be.

Mills'

argument

raises,

however, another important theoretical

Let us, for the sake of the argument, assume that he were

issue.

correct in his insistence that a certain small

number of corporate

magnates, key bureaucrats and high military run the United

States.

But do these people consider themselves a cohesive group ruling America, and do they share some purposes or goals which they as a

group seek to

and many doubt

in support of such a premise

furnished. Until

proposition that

is

it is,

—

could be

a fairly circular argument.

no doubt

them

it

Mills' arguments

that elites have existed in the past. It has

always been generally recognized, however, that to locate

that

amount essentially to the one can group those on top of various piles as

being "in charge"

There

any evidence

realize? Mills failed to provide

it is

very

difficult

in a functioning democracy. In the past elites

been typically based on three things: on blood descent, on

The

or on military prowess.

elite in aristocratic

have

riches,

England of the

eighteenth century was an elite based primarily on blood descent

and

riches.

The same

thing was true in Venice. In some countries

such as eighteenth-century Prussia, the descent and military prowess.

It is

elite

possible to compare and analyze

dominance in an attempt comparatively to derive an

cases of elite

over-all theory of a political governing

an inquiry would be in elite is

my

performance in

The

result of such

opinion the following conclusion: an

politics,

community

who

means

this context

esprit

This

giving particular persons elitist

government. The to put the

may be done titles

legacy

socialists

is

possess a sense of

de corps

The term

that the elite itself decides

circle.

England. The

who

hands and

usually expressed in cooptation.

the charmed

monopolize the rule of a

effectively

in their

group cohesion and a corresponding it,

elite.

a group of people who are distinguished by an exceptional

particular

call

was based on blood

as the

whom

still

to take into

in an aristocratic

of nobility, a practice still

French

"cooptation" in

still

way by used in

powerful even with a Labour

feel

it

essential

and important

stamp of approval on deserving participants in the

AND THE FUNCTION OF THE POLITICAL

JUSTICE

power by giving them a title of become increasingly estranged from its fight for

viding reinforcements for the political

ELITE § 65

however,

nobility. It has,

original purpose of pro-

elite.

The

recent knigh tings

of singers, dancers and acrobats, have produced sharp protests

on the part of people who sense the devaluation of what was once an important instrument in the hands of a political elite or ruling class.

(It

that a ruling class

from which the

may be not

It

and

still

is

aristocracies as election has

been to

a very characteristic aspect of

English

you could say that a

excels in the ability to secure sition of

eminence

particular policy,

Cooptation has always been

you want to summarize

political life. If

discussion

a class which rules but the class

rulers are taken.)

as important to elites

democracies.

important, in this connection, to realize

is

it

this brief

political

power and

and

theoretical

and governing

From

to rule.

elite

that po-

determines which values shall prevail in a

community, which values

and which values

shall

be expressed in public

shall be realized in

governmental opera-

tions.

we

In the United States,

have,

with limited, but nonetheless very elite It

of the law.

The

was recognized

elite

believe, only

I

one such

crucial, functions.

This

of the law

is

as such in the nineteenth century

by that astute

often not included in descriptions of the

elite. Is it

may

munity

reflect the

rests

law-men

power

on a Constitution which

justice?

is

a basic law.

The

interpre-

of American society and

can only be undertaken by people

The layman can

it,

his reading of the elite

it

means.

He

can have his

The wrong in

but they are as like as not quite wrong.

layman must be told by the This

who

read the Constitution, but that

does not mean that he can say what notions about

this

a crucial element in the functioning

is

understand the law.

elite.

In any case

tation of that Constitution it

elite

America because the com-

in-built in

is

The

problem of the orientation of

power or towards

oriented towards

the elite of the

the

is

of the law seems inherent in our system.

observer of American institutions, Alexis de Tocqueville.

This omission

elite,

legal fraternity

law and what

of the law defends

its

is

why he

the right

is

way of putting

it.

primacy against the attempts of

AN INTRODUCTION TO

66 §

certain other groups in the

POLITICAL THEORY

American community

themselves specific governing

groups may try to

develop an

system

is

would-be

still

The

formation.

elitist

elite

When

and smashes them.

howl heard

usually a big

to arrogate to

These competing

themselves in certain corners of the land and

install

along, however,

functions.

elite

in the land.

it

of the law comes

does this there

But since the constitutional

howl subsides and

in operation the

the corner goes out of existence.

elite in

is

that particular

We

have ex-

perienced this process only recently. Part of the drama of this

decade in which you are spending your time in college

reflects this

competition in the Supreme Court decisions on segregation and

reapportionment. Here are two areas in which the law

elite is

proceeding against groups which have arrogated to themselves extra-constitutional powers; they have, in other words, appointed

themselves as local

elites.

destroyed by the law

elite.

This

lem

Now

which

raises a question

they are being smoked out and

is,

in

my

in connection with elite formation.

justice.

opinion, the crucial probI

refer to the question of

We have so far spoken only of law.

the important question which permeates

one say that whatever

is

ther question then arises:

these discussions at

is

just?

is

and say no, a law may be but

all

identical with justice. Can Must one be more cautious not necessarily just? The fur-

the present time, namely, whether law legal

There looms, however,

is

who

determines the problems which

present themselves

when

There

is

one conventional answer to

which

says that

justice

it

justice

by making the law more

at least

is

there

is

a conflict between

whenever there

is

a conflict between law and

justice.

just

by bringing

In this country, of course,

Constitution and the legislature cannot by

stitution

justice?

for the legislature to settle the problem of law and

with ideas of stitution.

law and

this last question

One might

itself

it

into accord

we have

the

change the Con-

then say that the power to amend the Con-

accommodates law to what

is just. It is

not an easy thing,

however, to change the Constitution. Often the change of the Constitution has been slow in coming while in the meantime the

law was being re-interpreted and thus

to

some extent

adjusted.

AND THE FUNCTION OF THE POLITICAL

JUSTICE

The emphasis

in the

common law

constitutional adoption of that tradition

before the law

whether

applies. It

There

by re-interpreting the law.

juristic

thought for centuries; that

whether laws which are not

The same

position

Summa on

famous

Some

just are laws.

the question of

is

very great thinkers

this question in the negative. Cicero, for

asserts very explicitly that a

law which

taken by

is

St.

not just

is

example,

not truly a

is

Thomas Aquinas.

In his

theology he wrote that a law which was not

could not be said to possess truly the quality of a law. This

think

going too

is

that there

which

But

just.

more

which

personally think that

it is

problem of

is

we

by saying that the

just

and a law

get at this dif-

latter

law

an

is

law or an imperfect law, a law that requires

and change.

saying that

I

satisfactorily

inferior kind of alteration

These thinkers were right in pointing out

far.

a difference between a law

is

not

is

ference

this

whom we

the task of the judge,

involved here a great question which has agitated

is

and

have answered

I

is

the "justice," to try to the best of his ability to aid in the

political

just

that in this interval

is

be the ordinary law or the law of the Constitution, the

it

realization of justice

law.

American

in the

adjusted by those in charge of changing the law,

is

power of the judge call

and

tradition

ELITE § 67

a law

You might which lacks

authority.

But

I

express this in another authority. I will

way by

come back

think you will recognize that

to

it is

possible to say that an unjust law has less authority. For example,

when Adolf Hitler made the laws of racial persecution which some Germans found very unsatisfactory and not in keeping with their tradition, those

laws had

less authority

than other laws which also

prevailed and which were also applied.

mess in terms of a concrete

and Aquinas, one There

is

no doubt

justice there

There

is

is

and

law which

gets into a hopeless

legal order is

not just

if,

is

as Cicero

not a law.

that laws are continually enforced about

whose

considerable controversy.

always of course the additional problem as to

decides whether a law just? I

political

insists that a

One

is just.

Who

who

determines whether a law

is

might mention here without trying to get into the depths

of this argument that the problem which

I

have

just presented to

AN INTRODUCTION TO

68 §

you in

POLITICAL THEORY

and

related to another very extended

is

law and

whether whether

and

politics, is

it

an

it is

that

is

whether law

a rule of reason, whether act of reason.

theoretical question,

most extraordinary

but

it is;

say that this it is

practical ramifications. If

better

or

is

a rather

a question with the a rule of reason,

it is

Thomas Aquinas, you have

such was for example the view of

much more and much

command

a

is

an act of will or

is

it

You might

and indeed

very active issue

still

grounds for distinguishing between

laws which are just and laws which are not, because the laws

which are not If

just are the laws

you say they are not

which are not

in accord with reason.

you have some

in accord with reason

for a discussion of their degree of justness. It

On

of disputing about the reasonableness of the law.

hand

if

you say that the law

which you have

to ascertain

is

is

an

who

basis

then a question

is

the other

act of will, the only question is

the one

whose

will decides.

In the great days of the emergence of the modern state a writer like

Bodin alleged that

it

was necessary

to have

one sovereign be-

cause law was in essence a decision of the will, and only one will

The

could decide what the law would be. of believers that law

made

this

theory. call

a

is

an

act of will

one of the central points of

We will

come back

to

Hobbes

greatest in this school

was Thomas Hobbes who his very radical political

later;

here

I

merely want to

your attention to the fact that the problem of whether law

command

or a rule of reason

is

behind

is

this question of the

justice or the injustice of the law.

We

must now follow out the other side of the

issue,

namely

You remember that when we we found that it was taken to be more or less a general principle of equal treatment for every member of the community;

what

talked about social

is justice.

justice

this includes of course equality before the law.

There are other

and in some ways profounder issues connected with the problem of such treatment.

They spring from the

justice aspect of such

treatment rather than the social aspect. If one asks what really

is

the characteristic feature of justice, one finds that the problem can

be discussed in two different ways. in the

way

You

can discuss this question

Plato primarily did, namely in terms of the justice of

AND THE FUNCTION OF THE POLITICAL

JUSTICE a

man and

discuss

Or you can

the analogous justice of the political order.

in terms of the justice of an act, such as a law, or any

it

other kind of

act,

governmental or otherwise.

deal today with the

I

and

it

An

situation.

hence also a rule, a judgment, a decision or a law

when

would prefer action

may be

act,

and when that comparison shows that the

accords with the values and beliefs of the community. tive evaluation of the persons

means

A

evaluate people in order to

make sure that an when everyone is

not usually think an act just

act

One must

ently

We want the criminal, for example, to be from the honest man; we want a child to be from a grown man; and we want a person from

We

is just.

do

treated like every-

else.

position to be treated differently

act

compara-

that these persons are not

treated as basically alike, but rather as basically different.

ently

and

said to be

involves the comparative evaluation of the persons

affected by the

one

to

with

political side of justice, that is to say

justice in relation to the political act

just

ELITE § 69

treated differtreated differ-

an

in

official

and so

a private person,

forth and so on. All laws are shot through with differentiation

and consequently with what

I call

comparative evaluation of the

persons involved in the situation. This evaluation must also accord

with the values and beliefs of the community. The values and beliefs of the

community determine the

Aristotle

developed

first

this

equality of judgments.

in terms of his contrast

arithmetic and geometric justice. Geometric justice entiate people

between

would

differ-

by saying that no one should be treated on the basis

of simple arithmetic, one to one equality, but on the basis of an equality

which considered the proportionate value of the

particular

person involved.

A we

very serious and difficult question arises in this connection. If

say that the justice of an action

extent to which

it

is

actually determined by the

succeeds in differentiating between persons in

accordance with the values and beliefs of the community, are

we

not confronted with the problem of impartiality? Justice has

always been thought of in terms of impartiality but on close inspection

We

it

allow

is

clear that a just action

women and

is

not an impartial action.

children to leave a sinking boat

first

rather

— AN INTRODUCTION TO

70 §

than the fellow

who

POLITICAL THEORY the lifeboat because

is first at

between women, children and men. partial

towards

women and

We

differentiate

are thus not being im-

As one

children.

we

looks at societies'

actions he sees that in order to be just, one needs to be partial to

him who mains of

is

entitled to

this

and with,

I

more than someone

problem of impartiality

think, a sense behind

must not be

it

that

that

Our

then

re-

so frequently stated

is

is

What

else.

What

right?

remains

must be

in

accordance with the values and the beliefs of the community.

It

is

that the action

must be

consistent;

it

arbitrary.

partiality

must be continually the same kind of par-

tiality

towards the same kind of person in the same kind of

ation.

On

situ-

the other hand, impartiality also implies another impor-

tant distinction

and that

is

the recognition that

The

asking the impossible of people.

arbitrary

we must

avoid

and the impossible

we must avoid. There is a famous old Latin legal principle, ultra posse nemo obitgat ur, beyond that which he can do, nobody is obliged to

act.

recommend

I

this

dictum to you particularly because in our

time there has been a very despicable tendency on the part of

some people to moralize about people in other political contexts and demand that they do things which in the nature of things they cannot do. For example,

we

tend continually to ask of people

subject to totalitarian autocracy that they act as

if

they were in our

position and thus to act like free citizens in a pluralistic democracy.

But people

who

are subject to totalitarian dictatorships are in

position to act that way.

and or

it

When we

—we

are hypocrites

and hypocrisy

tions of the standards of justice in

The problem

is

one of the

viola-

terms of impartiality.

of justice also immediately involves the problem

of injustice. Injustice is related to

and

way

does not matter whether they are Russians, Poles, Chinese

Germans

'

expect them to act that

no

'disbeliefs."

When

looked

what today we

call

at psychologically,

it

"disvalues" is

clear that

people react more violently to claims of injustice than they do to those

of

justice is

justice.

Curiously enough,

weaker than that to

act the beholder

is

injustice.

the emotional

When

seized with anxiety.

He

reaction

to

observing an unjust

feels a tremor, so to

AND THE FUNCTION OF THE POLITICAL

JUSTICE

speak, in his world of values. act as

an attack upon the

lives.

By questioning

to

view every unjust

which he

political order of the society in

or putting into jeopardy the values and

community,

beliefs of the

Hence he tends

ELITE § 71

injustice affects

many

realization of justice, however, does not affect

people.

The non-

anyone

who

does

not happen to be involved in that particular situation. Basically, of course, this

is

not a dichotomy, but

it

merely suggests that

continually are confronted in the problem of justice by the

You might

or "less." this

problem of

put

it

this

way: the

"more"

conflict situation in

justice or injustice arises

is

which

one demanding a com-

parative

judgment of whether the particular action proposed

more or

less just.

Generally speaking

we

we

is

can say that the kinds of

things people want to do are neither wholly unjust nor wholly just,

but always somewhere in between.

This leads

me

to the concluding reflection that I

before you today and that

is

want

to lay

the relation of justice to reason and

we see the crucial interaction of ideas on justice and elitism. When we speak of a judge as just we mean, among other things, that he can give us a good reason if we ques-

reasoning.

It is

here that

tion his decision. In the United States this has

a conviction

become so profound

on the part of the community that we actually

our judges to offer their opinions in printed form.

We

invite

even en-

courage the dissenting judge to give his counter-opinion on

he does not agree with his colleagues. This legal

community, and beyond

it

anyone

who

and laymen, can examine these reasons and

is is

why

done so that the

interested,

lawmen

try to reach a decision

about the justice of the act in terms of the reasons given for

it.

This implies a commitment in a very interesting and curious way to truth

which

justice. I will

is

just as relevant politically as the

give you a very simple illustration to

commitment to make this point.

Suppose you heard that a particular decision of a judge and jury

had been based on inadequate evidence, in arriving at the decision

of the truth, and that

if

that the things considered

were not the whole truth but only part

you took the other part into consideration

you would possibly arrive

at a different decision.

immediately would agree that the

No

doubt you

just thing would be to review

AN INTRODUCTION TO

72 §

POLITICAL THEORY

the decision and to consider the whole case once again in light ot the

new

where

if

evidence. This

new

indeed recognized in our legal order

is

evidence turns up a

times, of course, there

can be ordered.

re-trial

Many

a vigorous and particularly sharp argu-

is

ment about whether a particular body of evidence does constitute "new" evidence or not. Elaborate rules have been developed about This means that

that.

we

can never separate the problem of

how

from the question about how close to truth the reasons are upon which the particular just act is based. That, of course, means it is always an open question because to those of us who are committed to the ways of modern science truth is an just a particular act is

open question. What might be true

At

this point

we

mental issue

we

confront with Plato and

through the ages. Plato based his tion in absolute truth. tain elite

The

group and when

no question

follows. If there a demonstrable

is

as a

governing

all

elitists

who

down

his convic-

had been found under

it

had

made

to be

is

have found

decide what

it

is

the

There

this group's direction.

is

correct, the conclusion if

there

finding the absolute truth, then there

elite to

society there has

the

think funda-

argument on

is

is

no

ought to be put in charge

justice as well as

what par-

There has been a very serious question about

Platonic elitism for a very long time.

controversial

I

such a thing as absolute truth and

ticular actions are just. this

elitist

that if the premise

way of

question that those

and

absolute truth could be found by a cerit

basis of all political actions

absolutely

never a settled question.

is

are getting to the great

In our democratic

been a general inclination to think that

and not absolute and

certain. It

justice

is

can only be argued

over and settled ad hoc for the particular issue at the particular

time and must be reconsidered situation.

With no

group; the pretended ability to

an ideological facade for a lar

anti-elitist

at the

attitudes

know

power

is

no need for an

such a truth

is

elite

revealed as

drive. In our time, these particu-

which arose

with the development of democratic

by the

next issue and in the next

absolute truth there

in the

societies

conflict of cultures. It is reinforced

West

in connection

have been reinforced

on the one hand by our

everyday experience of there being radical differences of opinion

AND THE FUNCTION OF THE POLITICAL

JUSTICE

among truth

ELITE § 73

Indians, Chinese, Americans and Russians as to

and what

is

just

what

is

and the experience of clashes between these

views whenever international relations are involved. This cultural relativity or equality is is

one of the reasons why the colonial situation

untenable in the twentieth century. In the twentieth century

some kind of absolute justice to which only some small group of white men had access has com-

the old generally-held belief in

pletely disintegrated.

would like to conclude today by citing a very impressive literary example which illustrates in some way what I have been trying to say in the second half of this lecture. It is from a novel, Man in a Mirror, published three years ago by a Welshman, I

Llewelyn. This story

who

is

set in East

Africa and deals with a native

brought before a court because he has killed a

had himself and

is

own

killed a cow. In terms of our

beliefs there is

simply because the

no question

man had

somebody who

that

killed a

who

murder. The English lawyer

man who

value judgments kills a

man

cow must be punished

for

decided to defend this native

was correspondingly handicapped by

He

culturally different views.

tried his best to argue for his client within the English system of

law, but of course he lost his case and the native was condemned.

The passage which

interests

me

finds the

Englishman asking an

African friend whether he did not think he had done a fine job in presenting the case.

The African

friend Niterenka replied that he

thought he had done as well as he

knew how. "But you might

have presented the case with more knowledge of what 'masai' feels.

Our language

is

Our

very different.

Our

A

our feelings also must be translated. Your law

is

is

not our

law, and to us cattle are just as important as people. That

absolute fact."

people

at

Truth then

different times.

is different,

and so

Particular elites

is

is

an

justice for different

may be

able to con-

tribute their share to the crystallizing of opinion as to are,

a

not enough.

different.

words

is

very

traditions,

translation into English

it

life is also

what they

but only the people at large can, so democratic theory holds,

settle

the differences by enunciating what the

and values.

community

believes

6 Plato's Idea of Justice

and

the

Political Elite

When

one

says: Plato, he also says: Socrates. For no

one has ever succeeded

to

whether

it is

One

the great Platonic Dialogues.

Plato

is

in really settling the issue as

Socrates or Plato

speaks to us from

very interesting thing about

have written about him for these

that although people

several thousand years as if

who

he spoke for himself through the

Socrates of his Dialogues, he himself wrote

down

for us in his

Second Letter the following very striking and puzzling sentence as

an answer to what Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, had written

about him: "I have never written anything about exist

any writing of Plato about

now

calls that,

makes

it

that

is

it,

nor will there be.

by Socrates." Plato in

very clear that he considered his

own

this

nor does there

And what

one

Second Letter

views to be a kind

of unwritten secret doctrine, something that he cize,

it,

would not

publi-

something that he would discuss only in the Academy which

he founded. About the teaching there we know something from Aristotle

and others

who were

students in the Academy. 74

and the political

plato's idea of justice

There

little

is

elite § 75

man and

doubt that Plato was a very great

a

greater figure in the history of political thought than even Karl

Marx. At the same time

think

I

we need

temper our admiration

to

of this great philosopher and bear in mind an ancient saying about him which in light of his own thinking he himself could hardly question. Magnus amicus Plato malor arnica Veritas, a great friend is

Plato, but a greater friend

more

readily

remember

is

than

this

the truth. at

And where

Harvard!

I

mention

we

should

this partly

because there are some very striking conflicts between Plato's ideas

and American

He

No

one has put

and

it is

this

more dramatically than

described Plato's ideas as "nonsense."

"In truth Plato

wrote,

Sophists,

ideals.

who somewhere

Jefferson,

is

one of the greatest of genuine

regrettable that there occurred an adoption

incorporation of his whimsies into the body of an tianity.

His foggy mind

objects.

The

is

artificial

and

Chris-

always presenting the semblances of

Christian priesthood finding the doctrines of Christ

and too plain

levelled to every man's understanding

to

need ex-

planation saw in the mysticism of Plato materials from which they

could build up an

system which might from

artificial

ness admit of everlasting controversy and give

order and introduce

it

very striking statement and

add to

employment

I

think in

many ways worth pondering.

You

one of the

Supreme Court. "His must be recognized

be the most theoretical nonsensical plan that invented."

to their

power and preeminence." This influence on Christian thought is a

Jefferson's an evaluation of Plato by Brandeis,

great Justices of the

indistinct-

to profit,

condemnation of Plato for his I

its

see these

human

to

ingenuity ever

two great Americans did not mince words

in expressing themselves negatively about Plato's political thought.

We

know

He was the scion some unsuccessful and became a teacher of

relatively little about Plato's life.

of a great aristocratic family of Athens. After

dabbling in practical politics he retired

Academy which he founded and which has always been looked upon as the origin and beginning of our university wisdom

in that

system, so striking a feature of

You

Western

civilization.

are being asked in this course to read

greatest work,

commonly

called

what

The Republic

is

perhaps his

or the State.

The

AN INTRODUCTION TO

j6 §

theme of

central

POLITICAL THEORY

work

this

the one which occupies us here

is

some of the old manuscripts About the State.

today, namely, justice. Indeed, in

the

Two is

of the work

title

he

justice,

which

How

(2)

Justice rather than

the just

put aside

I

can

city.

This

particular

its is,

when

time

last

city,

should a

embodiment

you will remember, the problem I

talked about justice and poli-

agitated thoughtful people in Greece

much

movement was

itself

should be

Would

man

just.

and

just?" This question

Sicily, for

and

its

man and

in the "Greater Greece,"

understand

why

teaching of the sophists. "teacher."

and Greek

They were the and

cities;

he could succeed such success

not be

The word teachers

their

sophist a

man

sufficient, the sophist asked, for

such a concern was

at

sophist originally

who

not

It is

diffi-

the heart of the

meant

just

thrived in the great Sicilian

major task was to show a

in public life,

is

The why

of the preceding century.

merely to appear just rather than to be just?

cult to

"Why

possible answers had

a response to the problem of it

is

in the

Plato also asks at the very outset of the work:

man be

which was

If

What

he asks what

In addition to these basic questions about the just

the just

a

When

be achieved?

it

concerned with

is

man and

tics.

About

questions are central to his discussion of justice: (1)

justice?

just

is

how he

the primary objective

man how

could succeed in it

is

politics.

impossible to avoid

the problem of whether you succeed by being just or whether you

succeed by being unjust, in other words, whether you succeed by

appearing just while actually not being

One

can, in a sense, easily

in strictly political terms, the that to be just

is

answer

way

I

just.

did in Lecture

who

V

to act in accordance with the values

the community. In such a case, then, the just acts justly,

"what

this question,

takes just actions; that

is

man

is

is

when

just?" I

beliefs of

the

man who

to say, in accordance

with what the community to which he belongs believes. In simple approach there

arises,

is

this

however, precisely the problem that

occupied Plato and that occupied his contemporaries. there

said

and

a confusion about values

and

beliefs;

what

if

What there

is

if

a

general alienation, as we nowadays would say, of the ancient faith upon which the values and beliefs had once rested? When the

AND THE POLITICAL

PLATO'S IDEA OF JUSTICE

ELITE § 77

community's values and beliefs are uncertain you cannot say that

man

the just

he

is

who

acts in

accordance with these values and

because this reference point

beliefs,

is

precisely the

The Greeks had a word to describe come into use in our Western

dispute.

has recently It is

derived from nomos.

ancient conviction;

which there

is

Nomos means

one that

is

in

which

this situation

languages, anomie.

ancient custom based on

and anomie, therefore, implies

that state in

no longer any such nomos, any such ancient custom

or ancient conviction as to

what

right.

is

Perhaps one of the

rea-

why this whole discussion of justice and community standards now of such great and, I would almost say, of such absorbing concern to us in the twentieth century, is that we feel that we live sons

is

in just such a state of anomie, a state in

which values and

beliefs

have become uncertain and a matter of dispute. The problem of

what

the right

is

fifth century,

Plato's

way

to live has once again, as in

become a matter of

answer to those

who

Athens

in the

controversy.

seek the nature of justice

is

answer which does not appeal to a great many Americans. But does appeal to some of the people

who now

an it

present themselves

under the general label of conservatives or neo-conservatives. Generally,

however, unlike Plato, such conservatives are inclined to go

back to what they consider the ancient

verities.

They

are inclined

to say that in order to be able to answer the question as to is

what

we must try to revive the ancient faith. Plato, much more radical than these conservatives and neo-

right conduct,

however, was

conservatives, indeed

own

day.

He

more

realized that

merely on the basis of crease piety

and

to believe in Plato, lief

God. This

rest

on

God is

faith that

You

political desirability.

its

belief in

the profound and

must

radical than the conservatives of his

you cannot revive a merely because

not the

way

it is

is

gone

cannot in-

a helpful thing

to create a belief in

God.

radical philosopher, therefore said "Be-

ratiocination.

Knowledge must

take the place of

opinion."

The

starting point of Plato's quest for justice

rather simple. just city,

The

which

is

just

man

the just

is,

in a sense,

can be discovered by looking for the

man

writ large. If

we

can work out

78 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

what

is

the just

what

to say

With

The Republic venture

logue begins, remember that

people to

this

it

out and found a

set

forth into a discussion of

way

which the

in

was not uncommon

new

city.

will be able

purpose Socrates and his

Lest you be perplexed by the

city.

we

then by analogous reasoning

the just man.

is

interlocutors in

the just

city,

POLITICAL THEORY

Often,

if

in

the

dia-

Greece for

Greek

polis,

a small and confined town, became overcrowded, a certain group

manned a boat and set forth on the blue new city. In other words, what Socrates and his friends talk about at the start of The Republic was related to a common experience in the real world of many Greeks. Americans should feel somewhat congenial to this approach because, of people got together,

Mediterranean to found a

after

their country as contrasted to old

all,

founded by

just such

who

people

Europe

is

one actually

got on a boat and set out to

found a new commonwealth. In any

with such a

new

Plato proceeds to a rather elaborate argument illustrating

how

city that Plato

case,

it

is

begins his search for justice.

a just city should be organized. But the central principle rather simple one. In order that a city be just,

But

just.

how

given by Plato has echoed

down through

be seekers after wisdom. This

The

its

rulers

can one be sure that rulers will be just?

Republic, p. 473,

who

are

a

must be

The answer

the ages. Rulers must

the famous passage found in

is

D: "Unless

rulers in cities, or those

is

the lovers of

now

wisdom become

called kings or rulers be-

come genuine and adequate lovers of wisdom, and political power and wisdom are brought together, and unless the numerous natures

who

at present

pursue either

politics or

philosophy the one to the

exclusion of the other, are forcibly debarred from this behavior, there will be ity.

.

.

."

In

no

respite

many

from

evil,

not for

cities

translations, this statement

nor for human-

is

made

to read:

"philosophers" rather than "lovers of wisdom." But this distorts Plato's

meaning, especially

if

one thinks of a "philosopher"

professor of philosophy, political or other. after

wisdom

is

closer to a

The

as a

lover or seeker

Confucian or Buddhist sage than to

the logician and systematizer.

Of

course, such rational elitism does not exhaust Plato's pro-

plato's idea of justice

gram

for a just

For one, there guardian

women

class.

men and women,

equality of

It is

the matter

are treated quite alike,

guardian

class,

communism

of wives,

men and

and they are intended

and have no private

live together

two other

namely warriors and the

is

least in the

at

misleading; for

often spoken of as a

way of putting

but this

elite § 79

has a number of interesting corollaries.

It

city. is

and the political

life

classes are recognized

artisans.

to eat

and

of their own. Besides this

by Plato-Socrates,

The argument about

these classes

so closely resembles the ideas associated with the Indian caste

system that

it

has at times been surmised that Socrates and Plato

must have come into contact with

travelers

from India

the trading cities of Ionia (Asia Minor), but to explain the matter in this way.

and

do the

to

from

logically

task for

which he

suited,

is

in the city as in the soul. In a static class structure

an

at

earlier

is

is

mind" as far be.

one of

notion flows quite naturally

and that

justice

means

bal-

the key to the problem of justice

some ways,

this

image of a

city

with

probably an idealized version of what had

time been the actual organization of a typical Greek

But instead of the

religious faith of the forefathers,

now founded upon the philosophical who rule the city rationally.

No

in

not necessary

Plato's belief that everyone should be content

ance and harmony. Indeed, this

polls.

The

it is

wonder

that Jefferson thought

full of ''sophisms

and

The Marxist

elitism has

little

some

of Plato and his "foggy

Such thoughts are about

politics of

features of

wise guardians, the class-conscious

is

insight of the wise guardians

futilities."

removed from the dynamic

it

elite

America it.

as

one can

But instead of the

of the proletariat

who

understand the laws of history and dialectical materialism are the

By contrast, it is Plato's message that unless lovers of wisdom become rulers, there cannot be a just city. In order to become fit for this task of ruling, Plato goes on, the rulers must undergo the ordeal of discovering the true good. The predestined leaders.

great traditional

Greek formula, you know, was kalos k'agathos,

"the beautiful and the good." In

The Republic The

cerned with the ethical part, the "agathos." for Plato

was equally

significant,

was

Plato was con"kalos," which

treated in another dialogue

AN INTRODUCTION TO

80 §

The Symposium

POLITICAL THEORY

The Banquet. I have always regretted that we cannot also assign The Symposium in this course, because in my view it is only by taking these two dialogues together that you have the complete Plato on politics. If you take only The

called

Republic with

or

emphasis on the "good" and the "just," Plato

its

has too moralistic a flavor which must be complemented by the aesthetic

is

The Symposium, with its emphasis on the The Symposium for one other

of

flavor

beautiful. It

useful to look at

important reason. This dialogue contains Plato's discussion of love, a subject not usually

much

very ruler

is

germane

wisdom

quotations

may

The Symposium

A

few

crucial

The

who

Republic.

to explain their setting, tells of a banquet in

a house of a wealthy Athenian.

The

participants in the banquet

can praise love most

brilliant speeches, Socrates is

effectively.

asked to have his

say.

After several In his speech

of praise Socrates describes an experience he had in his youth

he encountered a sage woman, the Diotima from the crucial insights on love and learning built. It is

conclusion that

wisdom

is

that

I

whom

upon which

when

he learned all his life

from Diotima's instructions and Socrates' fine to cite "By far the most important kind of

want

which governs the ordering of

which goes by the name of nouncements

is

Plato relates this

to other manifestations of love.

The Symposium,

has been

it

give the flavor of this dialogue which acts as a kind

of balance for what you will be reading in

decide to see

But

view the good

to our purposes here because in Plato's

the lover of wisdom. In

love of

to political theory.

justice

clearly indicate the

society

and that

and moderation." Such pro-

fundamental unity of the Platonic

message to be found in The Republic and The Symposium. Socrates,

then, describes Diotima's instructions

such wisdom. "In his youth such a person

on how one received

who

is

a seeker after

wisdom would go about in search of the loveliness on which he may beget. Hence his procreant nature is attracted by a comely body rather than an

which

is at

find so ever, as

ill-favored one. If

he also happens on a soul

once beautiful, generous and gentle, he

welcome an

alliance.

The

beauties of the

is

charmed

body

are,

nothing to the beauties of the soul." Socrates then

to

howtells

and the political

plato's idea of justice

from

that

he developed an

this

"And

in the sciences.

elite § 81

interest in political institutions

and

then," she says, "there bursts

upon the

which he has

toiled for

wondrous vision of the soul

that beauty

so long. This vision will not be of the face or hands, nor of any-

thing that

of flesh.

is

will be neither

It

of something that exists in something

by

words nor knowledge, nor else,

but subsisting of and

an eternal one-ness while every lovely thing partakes

itself in

my

way one must approach or be led towards the sanctuary of love. Starting from individual beauties, the quest for the universal beauty must find him ever of

This,

it.

dear Socrates,

is

the only

mounting the heavenly ladder, stepping from rung to rung. That is

from one

two and from two

to

from

to every lovely body,

bodily beauty to the beauty of institutions, from institutions to learning,

from learning

in general to the special

knowledge

he comes

pertains to nothing but beauty itself, until at last

know what than

beauty

of

"Love

the world." This

all

is

will help our mortal nature

And

the teaching of Diotima.

necessary in

is

order to appreciate the "philo" part of philosopher, the rule.

The

first

man who

part of this word, the "lover" of

who

means, for Plato and Socrates, somebody

is

the

wisdom

that

goodness. This ascension a

tremendous

of his dialogue on tell

you

this tale in

our point of view,

become

The its is

wisdom

comprehends the ideas of beauty and of is

a long and arduous ordeal, requiring

intellectual effort. In order to

this effort, Plato tells the

wisdom

with physical

starts

love and ascends gradually to the final love of ultimate

which

Socrates

is

This concept of love found in The Symposium

must

to

more

why I say that every one of us should worship the Love and why I cultivate all the elements of love myself."

adds: "That

God

is."

that

convey something of

famous myth of the Cave

Republic. fullness.

in the

middle

cannot take the time here to

I

What

important to note, from

is

the message of the myth: that

just unless they perceive the idea of justice.

men

cannot

Men

cannot

perceive the idea of justice unless they detach themselves completely

of

from

all ideas,

their earthly concerns

the idea of the Good.

trayed in Plato's

myth

and behold the fountainhead

The

as a radiant

idea of the

and

Good

is

por-

brilliant sunlike entity

AN INTRODUCTION TO

82 §

POLITICAL THEORY

which blinds those who emerge from the Cave. It can be seen only by what it lights up, namely, these other ideas of Justice and

men who have emerged from

Beauty and so on. Those few

and

cave,

may

this is very crucial for Plato,

in contemplation of this eternal verity, the idea of the

the other ideas of the Beautiful, the Just,

wisdom, partakers of absolute

truth,

they do not return to the Cave

it

etc.

the

remain

not, however,

Good and

These lovers of

must return to the Cave. If would be clear that they had not really grasped the idea of the Just or the idea of the Good. The return to the cave is symbolic of man's political commitment to realize the good in the polis, to become an actor in accordance with the idea of the good, to shape the earthly

At

this point I

must say

few words about Platonic philosophy

a

and the notion of the Idea.

city.

I

is no more than a hint, would have to spend many

realize this

for in order to grasp this fully one

hours rather than a few minutes. But I'm doing further inquiries.

word mean what we

uses the

He

The

difficulty arises in part

"idea," or frequently the ordinarily

thing that

is

word

mean when we speak

does not think of something that

for action but something that

is

here to sort of

it

and hopefully to

intrigue you, arouse your interest,

is

you

incite

because

when

to

Plato

"idos," he does not

of the

word

"idea."

primarily a prescription

much more it much

nearly aesthetic, some-

grasped by beholding

the

way one

perceives

a beautiful statue. Perhaps a brief excursion into cultural history

will help illustrate Plato's thought.

I

my

point and

make

it

easier to

understand

do not know whether or not you have ever been Greek

struck by the difference between the great achievements of art

and the great achievements of Western

will probably note that

Rembrandt or Leonardo

we

sense,

is

like the old

or of other painters or sculptors are due

woman

name

and the

particular.

The

that

Rembrandt painted and which

of his mother. Art historians do not think

his mother, but that does not matter.

that here

you have you

not necessarily perfect nor beautiful except in a spiritual

goes under the

was

If

think that the great achievements, of

to their ability to portray the individual

subject

art.

The

significant thing

Rembrandt has created an individual

portrait.

If

it

is

you

and the political

plato's idea of justice look, however, at the great

works of Greek

elite § 83

Venus of

art like the

Milo, or the Zeus of Praxiteles you will see that they are totally

devoid of individuality. They are in the most striking sense ab-

from

stracted

What

which

particularity to arrive at that

Greek

all

universal.

is

struggled for was to find the expression

artists

universally acceptable as the quintessence of beauty. This

principle

true in architecture. Detractors of

is

Greek temples are boring, that

that

have seen them

Greece you will indeed see that

them

seen

being

because they are

all

if

same

art often say

you have seen one, you

if

In one sense this

all.

Greek

is

very true. If you go to

you have seen one, you have

all alike.

They

are all similar in

efforts to achieve the ultimate, the quintessentially beautiful.

Consequently they do not seek to be individual creations, express-

They

ing the style of an individual or an age.

made

are consciously

to be like the others but only better. This sense of

alterable perfection existing externally to

aspired also operated in the Platonic theory of ideas. particular

and individual examples of good and and perfection of

existed the absolute reality

When

the question

able or not,

it is

justice

necessary to point out that

it

artist

Above

justice

all

there

and goodness.

raised whether the Platonic city

is

an un-

which the Greek

is realiz-

would be inconceivwas

able that a Greek describe an ideal statue or temple or city that

To do

not realizable.

must be

realizable if

would be

so

it is

to

absolutely without purpose. It

be worthwhile. In addition one should

point out the statements from Plato himself.

and have

was not

The

to

be overlooked

realizable, that

it

if

you want to

was a Utopia

rulers, there is a

in the

Western

sense. In

passage which states "nor will this constitution

just described in

Note

our argument come to that

the key phrase, "which

zation which

is

A

on page 499 he makes the

little later

more

are quite specific

Republic, right after the statement about the philosophers as

which we have

is

They

assert that Plato's city

explicit.

impossible,

we have

possible."

"To suppose I

is

reali-

possible."

reality of his just city

even

that either or both of these alternatives

The constitution arise when the muse

maintain to be quite unreasonable.

described has arisen, exists and will

of philosophy becomes mistress of a

city.

That she should do so

84 § is

AN INTRODUCTION TO Nor

not impossible.

POLITICAL THEORY

are the things

we have

described impos-

would seem to me that Plato could not be more explicit. You would have to say that he did not know what he was talking about if you want to assert that Plato considered his city unrealizsible." It

view

able. In his

it

was of the essence

In a sense what he sets forth

is

what

realizable essentiality of

that

it

should be realizable.

the idea of a city in the sense of a

That

a city should be like.

is

why

it

can be a measuring rod. At other places in the book you will see

body

that every city partakes of this idea. Just as every beautiful

and every beautiful

ideal partakes of the idea of Beauty, so every

some

city partakes to

extent, be

of the perfect city which

it

it

ever so imperfectly, in this idea

seeks to realize.

Let us turn to the political implications of these ideas.

who had

of course that the people

You know

gone through the

successfully

arduous ordeal of perceiving the idea of the good and the idea of the just were the elite and

were

seek

means

is

become the Guardians. They

training, not

"Men

that there are in a city these

wisdom and

of the highest

is

to

to be the political leadership of the polis. In a sense

fit

Plato really

who

fit

try to ascertain

intellect.

what

They

is just.

what

of gold/' are

Obviously not many could undergo

many would make

this effort.

What

men this

Plato has done

to substitute a rational elite of learning for a traditional elite of

family and wealth. elite,

its

The

traditional

guardians. If you read

Greek

Homer,

Pindar, the rule of the aristocracy

is

if

polis

had

But they were the

aristocracy because of inheritance, because of

what is

must be

political

you read Theognis or

celebrated.

had done. The argument

that Plato sets forth

good foundations for the

its

their ancestors

that these are not

political ruling class.

The foundation

rational achievement, an achievement of the mind.

In spite of Plato's brave and courageous assertions about the readability of the perfect city in which the muse of justice reigns, there

is

found

in

The Republic an undercurrent of

the end of the Book, in the Ninth Book, that presses itself in a cite

despair.

mood

famous pair of sentences which

I

Toward

of despair ex-

would

like to

preliminary to making a brief comment. Plato writes: "In

PLATO'S IDEA OF JUSTICE heaven there

laid

up" (and

I

will give

"an idea of the polis which he

lation)

and seeing

plate his

is

AND THE POLITICAL

home

you a conventional

who

desires

trans-

may contem"may set

the classical translation says:

Another

in order."

"found a

now

it,"

ELITE § 85

translator (Lindsay), however, says

himself." But whether such a city exists here on

city in

will exist in fact is no matter. For the wise man manner of that polis which he has set up in himself and has nothing to do with any other." In other words there is here a retreat from participation in the concrete life of the city

earth or whether

it

will live after the

into an ivory tower of a

himself as Lindsay

kind of

means

states.

What

gloss.

man who

is

Plato says

is

that // a

man

Many

it

city

within

heauton katoikidzein which

to settle himself, to colonize himself

can found

with a

satisfied

Actually both translators are making a

cannot found the just

and what he means

city outside

is

himself then he

in himself.

translations phrase the next sentence to read that his con-

duct will be shaped by the "laws" of that city within the wise

man. But Plato does not say in that place. This point

Republic

is

that;

he simply says that he will dwell

important, because emphasis in

never on laws; only late in

is

the role of laws in the "second best" rational rule of an intellectual elite

come

did he

life

city.

The

to stress

In the perfect city the

makes laws unnecessary

(as

does the rule of the Confucian sage in classical China)

But there occurs in

ment which

is

this connection a

break in the whole argu-

the very Achilles heel of Plato's elitism. Socrates,

when asked how

the

"men

of gold," the lovers of

leaders of the city are to be found, admits that this question,

"royal"

and then, instead of answering

lie

it,

a formidable

suggests that only a

will enable the guardians to cope with that problem.

How

could such lying ever be justified in an

macy

rests

which

is

wisdom and

upon

their love of truth

elite

whose

legiti-

and wisdom? The process by

political leaders are discovered is at the very heart of politi-

cal life.

All political thought revolves around

it.

The

non-technical

nature of political activity and the rival notions of justice precipitate the struggle for

power and predominance.

Plato,

by admitting

AN INTRODUCTION TO

86 §

POLITICAL THEORY

he has no true answer to

that

problem, concedes the bank-

this

ruptcy of his intellectual elitism. Yet, even

had been achieved. Conventional

so, a

great step forward

elitism of prowess, wealth

and

noble descent are devalued in favor of reason and moral conscience. In a sense the stage is set for

sword

belief in the spiritual

its

secular government. This spiritual history of

is

as the

companion and

rival of

one of the great breakthroughs in the

mankind. After an age-old commitment

and community, a great thinker standard of what

medieval Christianity and

says: if

to tribe

you can not secure the

community you have to work it the conscience, which Socrates called his

right in the

is

out within yourself.

It is

Daimonion. This "holy voice" will told Socrates to take the poison

tell

how

to act rightly as

and die because

his fellow citizens

were of the opinion that he had violated the nomos. Only act could Socrates

me make some

Let

it

Here

in this

prove that he believed in the nomos and that he

was not himself one of the Sophists against Plato.

it

whom

he had

battled.

concluding comments which go beyond

in this discovery of the conscience, the city within as

has come to be called,

is

the philosophic root for what was later

developed in the Christian tradition. However, instead of the philosopher seeking truth and justice by exercise of the rational

mind, the humble believer accepts revelation. The great drama of this confrontation City of

God you

Platonism.

St.

is

found

in St. Augustine. In St. Augustine's

will find an elaborate criticism of Plato

and

Augustine himself had been at one point a Platonist

and he described

in the Confessions

how he became

dissatisfied

and could not abide them. The great accusation that he hurls at Plato and the Platonists is that "ye are proud," proud to seek the solution to the mysteries by rational inquiry, proud to discover

what

is

just

that these

by rational inquiry. The only way, says

may be

discovered

is

St.

Augustine,

through Christian revelation,

through accepting the transcendency of the idea of what

and

right.

Through

this shift, the elitism that

search for the rational guardian of the into the Christian idea of election

is

is

good

implied in Plato's

community

is

transformed

and predestination.

Justice in

PLATO'S IDEA OF JUSTICE

AND THE POLITICAL

ELITE § 87

Christian thought becomes the result of faith which works to pro-

duce good works. The reward

is

in heaven.

This idea of the reward which

is in heaven was itself also Towards the end of his great discourse on The Republic he realized that there was something harsh and uncon-

found in

Plato.

vincing about the development of his argument.

He

rounded out

myth

the story therefore with another one of his great myths, the

The myth

of Er.

heaven and

more

evil

of Er relates

how good

souls are rewarded in

ones are punished. In fact this myth of Er

detailed development of the idea of heaven

and

is

a

hell than

can be found in the Bible where such references are quite short. If

how

you ask yourself

came about

it

that the Christians developed

such an elaborate notion as one finds eventually in Dante, the

answer

is

in the

myth of

Er. In this

myth there

is

a

much more

detailed portrayal of the eventual reward in heaven. This Christian attitude means, of course, the notion of election, of predestination

and the acceptance of the humble believer

as superior to the wisest

of the wise. This egalitarianism was already found in the

Testament and we ever, a

come back

shall

to

it.

There intervened,

Old how-

long period during which, in connection with the doctrine

of the Charisma, the Christian Church developed the idea of the hierarchy.

The

on charismatic

me

Let

lectures.

a

turn

hierarchy was not based on rational superiority but superiority, superiority in the call to divine office.

now

to a conclusion, in a sense, for both of these

Every argument in favor of a governing

knowledge of what

who

is

good and

receives these truths. This

when he wrote "Twice

is

is

just for the

elite

presupposes

community, and of

what Shakespeare had

he armed that has

in

mind

his quarrel just."

But

Josh Billings gave the pragmatic American answer, "and four times he leads

who gets

his

fist

in fust."

The

discussion that

that if

one knows what

and the

latter

is

just

one that after

one

all it

is

in a better position to rule,

much

much good I think modern man Plato suffered many

does not do you

unless you are willing to assert your rights. is

we have had

beyond both of these propositions, the simple assumption

in the position of the later Plato.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

88 §

The

disappointments.

when he

POLITICAL THEORY

was

greatest of these

tried to realize his

dreamed-of

his disappointment

city in

Syracuse with the

help of the tyrant Dionysius. Plato has written of this in the

Seventh Letter in terms which offer a gripping portrayal of the

kind of experience which in our time has been put under the

heading of "The

God That

Failed," the attempt to realize an

ideal conception being frustrated

goes on in

its

by the recognition that

politics

usual way.

would like to conclude this lecture today with a passage from Burke who perhaps stands at the end of the period during which I

the Christian idea of a transcendent justice was a powerful one, a passage

which Burke wrote when America was founded.

passage which makes one sad in the

when he wrote despair. It

way

in

It is a

which Plato was sad

the Seventh Letter, full of disappointment and

makes one sad because today we can no longer

what Burke here expresses with

feel

that full confidence of the Chris-

tian rationalist of the eighteenth century.

"There

Burke wrote, "and one thing only which

defies all

is

one thing,"

mutation but

which existed before the world and will survive the fabric of the world

itself. I

mean

justice, that justice

which emanating from the

Divinity has a place in the breast of every one of us and which will stand after this globe

is

burnt to ashes, our advocate or accuser

before the great judge." In a sense you have here the assertion of the Platonic notion of justice. But you also have here in Burke

its

basic transformation as a result of Christianity. This idea of justice

which maintains, he nates

says, the fabric of the

is no longer something few who were seekers after that

from the Divinity

breast of the

Platonic search after wisdom. Justice

every one of us. That trine

that

world and which ema-

was absorbed

is

now

into Christianity.

no longer contained the

Judge

who

really will

accordingly, and

who

great end in the

dwells in the breast of

what happened when the Platonic docelitist

Out of

it

comes something

notion except in the sense of

a purely transcendent notion of the eventual a

that dwelt in the

judgment day before

know who knew what was

did not.

right

and acted

:

.

.

and the political

plato's idea of justice

elite § 89

READINGS, SUGGESTED AND REQUIRED Lectures 5

and 6

REQUIRED READING plato, The Republic,

I

Cornford (Oxford).

tr.

suggestions for further reading: robert dahl,

Who

Governs? (Yale).

Justice, ed. C. J. Friedrich

and John Chapman, Nomos VI (Atherton

Press).

ronald b. leVinson, In Defense of Plato (Harvard) benjamin lippincott, Victorian Critics of Democracy (Octagon). Walter LIPPMANN, Essays in the Public Philosophy (Little, Brown). james H. MEISEL, Myth of the Ruling Class: Gaetano Mo sea and the Elite (University of Michigan)

gaetano mosca, Ruling

Class (McGraw-Hill).

plato, Statesman; Laws; Gorgias. Plato,

Totalitarian

or

Democrat?

ed.

Thomas Landon Thorson

(Prentice-Hall).

karl popper, Open

Society

and

Its

Enemies, Vol.

I:

Spell of Plato

(Harper Torchbooks).

Alfred

E.

taylor, Plato i The

Man and

his

Work

(Meridian).

7 Community and Order

The problem

of community and

order

is at

of politics both in practice and in theory.

the very core

Community and

order, of course, like other key political subjects, have a

dimension which reaches beyond sonal sphere. Indeed,

ments linking the

politics into the social

intend in this lecture to

I

political aspect of

community

and per-

make some comto the social

and

the personal.

When we

talk about

community and order we

with something which Aristotle put

at the

are confronted

very beginning of his

great study on politics. Every kind of community, wrote Aristotle,

aims cal,

at

some good,

which

is

that

is

to say has

purposes or objectives. There

what

this

is

a koinonta, that

the kind of political order he

koinonta

is

One

is

is

is

very

to say a

means common, common.

much more

doubt that

community. That

just as the root of the

of the extraordinary features of our time is

little

was concerned about. The root of

koinos, which

word community of community

politi-

a great deal of controversy about

key sentence means, but there

he considered the polls is

some purpose and the

the highest community, has the highest of these

is

that the notion

generally used in politics than in the 90

COMMUNITY AND ORDER past.

There

community, the European com-

talk of the Atlantic

is

The word community

munity, the world community.

§ 91

is

bandied

about to such an extent that one wonders whether this constant use of the

word does not perhaps

some concern and worry

educational institutions, there

human

the need for

you inquire what

some lack of community, As you know, even in our

indicate

at its absence. is

now

a great deal of talk about

contact and the danger of alienation.

is at

the root of this concern, the answer

When that

is

community and that people who sense this estrangement do not like it. They miss the unity that was supposed to have been once part of their communal life. This may not there

a loss of

is

be true for a traditional institution like Harvard, but relatively

new

munity. Even

universities there

Harvard there was

at

felt to

is

be

at large

this lack of

and

com-

not long ago, this lack of

felt,

community, but since then the University has built houses and a certain

Be

amount of communal

that as

it

living has returned.

may, Aristotle was certainly right in thinking every

community aims

some good and

at

community, being the highest of

that the polis, the political

communities, aims at the

all

highest good. This statement directs attention to the essence of

community, namely, that interests

and

beliefs in

referring to a

it is

aims

at

and

beliefs.

When

our more modern word

comprehends not only

values, but also

Aristotle, therefore, says that the polis

What was

involved?

mind and what was involved was,

out belonging to a polis. That a political

is

"animal." This

more

Aristotle's phrase;

a

inhabiting being."

Man

to live a truly

I

think that what he had

in a sense, the

human

per-

view one could not be a human being with-

sonality. In Aristotle's

as

is

the highest good, the most important purpose, what did

he have in mind? in

group of persons who have values,

"good." But the term "good" or "purpose" in

Aristotelian understanding interests

a

common. Value

human

is

why he is

speaks of the

the conventional rendering of

exact translation

would be

somebody who needs a

existence.

human being

Hence

Aristotle

say that the polis aims at man's highest good.

a "polis-

polis in order is

prepared to

In other more

limited communities such as professional and family, one also

92 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

from being

realizes important purposes, but they are surely far

as necessary as the It

should be

good provided by the

however, that although the Aristotelian

clear,

statement has been often repeated,

vinced by is

Indeed,

it.

if

The

we

are not completely con-

one reads Aristotle with a

Why

ready to reject this proposition.

proposition?

polis.

reason

is

are

most of us

that

we

critical

mind he

ready to reject this

in the

West would be

inclined to say that another community, the church, pursues a

higher aim than the political community. Most would say that here certainly

a

is

community

directing

more

attention to a

its

important and significant goal than does the political community.

Some might even

suggest that there are other kinds of conventional

and created groups besides the

more

ask, then, is

how

community. One might

could this be the position of Aristotle?

that the polis of

community.

I

which Aristotle speaks

mentioned

was not merely

The

religious that are concerned with

creative purposes than the political

and the

much

beings were as strictly

mundane

comprehended

human

the polis as were the

concerns. This has even led

polis

a church.

religious aspirations of in

fulfilled

not simply a political

Greek notion of the

earlier that the

that of a state, but also

religious purposes

is

The answer

some people

more

to sug-

gest that polis be translated not as state but as church-state, be-

cause

it

comprehends them both.

Once one

recognizes

that

for

more

general the polis did have this

becomes

more

readily

Aristotle

inclusive understanding,

understandable

why

thought that the polis pursues the highest of this highest goal

might be

relates to a

tered before: whether there ends. Before

we

is

and the Greeks in it

should

have

all objectives.

What

they

problem we have encoun-

some kind of

priority of goals or

take this up, especially in relation to Aristotle, a

number of general

questions concerning political

community need

to be explored.

One

of the most interesting

tion of multiple

is

that of pluralism.

membership, of membership

It is

the ques-

in different

munities. There can obviously be multiple membership

in

comcom-

munities which are not specified as political communities. Most

COMMUNITY AND ORDER men belong There

is

and

to a church

§ 93

to a profession as well as to a state.

membership which begins with

quite clearly multiple

a

family and rises to the intricate associational life of a modern

The

industrial state. raise

is

more

question, however,

in political communities. It

is

than the

would like to membership

I

obvious that one cannot belong to

one belongs to one. One

several families, nor to several towns;

may belong

which

particularly the possibility of multiple

two

to

rule.

professions, but this

insofar as they are existentially considered.

same time both a Frenchman and or the other.

the exception rather

is

Neither can one belong to more than one nation,

Nonetheless,

we

cannot be at the are either one

observe in the political sphere

multiple membership. This fact

because they are

One

German; you

a

is

quite familiar to Americans

members of a federal union. The American is a which makes him a member of one political

citizen of a state,

community such at the

Alabama, and

as Massachusetts, Pennsylvania or

member of another political community, The same may be said of the German. He is a

same time he

the United States.

is

a

Bavarian as well as a German. Indeed Europeans today are be-

ginning to think of themselves as both Germans and Europeans, or both French and Europeans. This

belong to three

political

illustrates that

To

communities.

one can actually

the extent that

Germans

today are entering the European community, they are Bavarians,

Germans and Europeans. politically relevant

If

you consider the

and consider

it

local

significant that

community

you are a

as

mem-

ber of a specific town or a city as well as of a state or a nation, it is

possible to enlarge this circle of

five political

How

is

membership

to four or even

communities.

this possible in the political

sphere

when

the individual

can only belong to one family or one profession

people would

say,

one church?

note that the oriental tradition

is

We

or,

as

most

might digress a moment to

not as rigid as the western on the

question of multiple membership. In the East the individual can

belong to two or three religions religion

is

at the

same time. In the Orient

not so firmly organized as in the West. In such a

dition people can

and do belong to two or more

religions.

tra-

Most

94 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

people in the West, however, would

belong to two or more churches.

insist that

One

impossible to

it is

cannot be at the same time a

The

Catholic and a Lutheran or a Catholic and a Presbyterian.

make up

individual must choose and

his

mind whether he

or the other. In the political sphere, however, this

How

this possible,

is

the question before us.

is

this is very crucial for the

The

understanding of the

is

reason for

political

munity. In these other non-political communities there

one

accepted.

is

is

com-

usually

involved one determinate purpose, goal, or loyalty. Political com-

many

munities have

objectives.

Added

to this

is

the fact that in

some communities, such as the family and the nation, belonging to a particular community may not be a matter of choice. One is a German because he is born a German. One is a member of a particular family because he

One

is

born a Saltenstall or a Friedrich.

cannot escape these communal

ties

because one cannot choose

his parents or the folk to

which he belongs. In the

however, the situation

quite noticeably different. If one does not

like

what

is

is

political sphere,

going on in Boston, he can move to Chicago and

become a member of the Chicago political community. If one does not care for Alabama he can move away from there. Once the move is made to a new political community the individual might not like choice. is

any

it

To

better,

but for the time being he has exercised his

a very considerable extent the political community today

a voluntary community.

one community or another. are such that a temporary

One makes up It

his

mind

commitment

is sufficient.

communities, like a profession or a marriage (You

marriage Still,

times,

is

hardly voluntary; one

legally marriage

when

is

to enter into

can be voluntary because

is

its

goals

Other voluntary

may

object that

compelled by love to enter

voluntary today.

It

was not so

in

it.

former

the family decided.) require a long, even a lifelong

A

community does not. But there is another important reason for multiple membership in political com-

commitment.

political

munities.

As we mentioned

before, something else

is

involved in political

community which distinguishes it from other communities. A political community has many values, interests and beliefs; many

COMMUNITY AND ORDER goals are comprehended within

The

found

in other communities.

many

churches,

lesser

communities the larger

many

it,

unlike the dominant purpose

typical

state

modern

many

professions,

§ 95

state

comprehends

families. In all of these

does have some stake, although

never so exclusive a stake as the subordinate communities which it is possible for many different kinds many different kinds or assortments of goal attachments and communal relationships to enter into a political community. The political community, so to speak, abstracts from the it

embraces. For that reason

of people having

more

specific

and detailed goal attachments and

ety of such assortments

For

this reason

it is

offers a great vari-

and relationships into which one can

possible as

we know from

ism, to "stack" a political community, to say a

enter.

the study of federal-

community

will leave

such and such activities to a local group, such and such activities to a regional group, such

and such

activities to a national

govern-

ment. At each one of these levels "stacking" of purposes, of goal or ends

is

related to

community formations which

defined by real political interests or goals. This

argument about the pluralism of

political

is

are,

however,

the heart of our

Many

communities.

people would say that the great argument in favor of constitu-

democracy

tional

is

that

it

readily accepts this pluralism of politi-

community formation and in fact it organizes the procedure which makes it possible for people to belong to various kinds of cal

communities. Reversely, one of our objections to totalitarianism is

that

tries to

it

abolish such pluralism by producing a totalism

of commitment to an inclusive ideology. There

is,

of course, a

certain residue of pluralism left in totalitarian regimes. After

all,

the pluralism of the family cannot be totally eliminated.

the

trend

is

away from

it.

Instead, the totalitarians espouse coordina-

tion, that is to say the central control

tions as

by the

many

totalitarian party

as possible of plural

stitutional

all

groups and organiza-

and government and elimination of

communal commitments. In

and organizing of

munities. In a way, this Aristotle.

of

democracy, on the other hand, the trend

recognition, acceptance

Still,

is

a con-

towards the

this plurality of

com-

was the argument between Plato and

Plato was preoccupied with the problem of unity in

AN INTRODUCTION TO

96 §

POLITICAL THEORY

connection with community. Aristotle thought this to be mistaken.

There was in jective,

unity. In pursuit of this ob-

Aristotle sought a plurality of possible groupings which

were united, cal

what was

Plato's conception an excess of unity;

needed was community rather than

made uniform and wholly

to be sure, but not

identi-

with each other.

At

we

this point

can turn specifically to the problem of order.

In discussing this issue

some very

would again

like to begin

by introducing

basic considerations for you. In political

arguments the

principle of order

I

often involved. There are

is

some who

insist

simply that order must be maintained and they feel that with the incantation of this statement all argument

people this truth that order

at

is

To

an end.

such

and there can be no possible doubt

self-evident

is

must be maintained. Consequently whatever and

is

necessary

to maintain order

is

necessarily to be accepted

Such an argument

is

based on the fallacious assumption that there

is

to be praised.

a self-evident priority of values, and that one particular value,

namely order,

is

pre-eminent. All other values must be subordi-

nated to this paramount value. position as

I

have

I

would

The

just outlined.

oppose such a

heartily

first

and most important

thing to realize in connection with order in the sphere of politics is

that like all other values

tions of value, any

is

it.

tions of value

relative to conflicting considera-

and

a value

it is

in particular constellations

In other words, while

desirable to realize order,

while important,

is

one of which may

take precedence over nize that order

it

we may

that, other things

upon

reflection

all

recog-

being equal,

we must

it is

also insist that,

not all-important. There are other considera-

which may be more

significant

under particular

circumstances.

Let

me

ask you

now

argument about order. ago, that

and

community

beliefs,

we must

to follow

we

If is

me

believe, as

constituted by

into a I

more

sophisticated

reminded you

common

moment

values, interests

realize next that these values, interests

beliefs are not stationary.

These

values, interests

and

and

beliefs con-

stantly evolve, as I pointed out earlier, in the discussion

They

a

on

justice.

are subject to all kinds of changes, technological as well as

COMMUNITY AND ORDER

§ 97

other alterations in our existence. Because of this continual evolu-

and

tion of values, interests

beliefs,

an

effort

must be made

to

give newer emergent values, interests and beliefs an opportunity to assert themselves. If this opportunity

disorder is

is

example

neatly arranged according to one set of values, as for

race relations in the United States

Supreme Court decision is

given an element of

is

obviously introduced into the community. If a situation

in 1954,

were before that momentous

and a sudden change

introduced by saying that segregation

is

in values

not compatible with the

Constitution, then an element of very considerable disorder

introduced.

is

There were quite a few good and legally-minded

people who were very greatly disturbed and upset when the Supreme Court made that decision in 1954 and predicted that this would mean a lot of bloodshed. Right they were! It did mean a bloodshed.

lot of

essence, this order ests

and

The people who made is

that decision said in

no longer compatible with the values, interpredominant majority in America and the

beliefs of the

disorder involved in such a change

preferable to the injustice

is

of order.

In this particular instance, as a matter of in the values

world

fact,

the tranformation

was to some extent determined by

situation.

You know

had evolved very slowly over the

Negro 1924, you would say

situation of the

in it

outsiders,

years. Still, if

1954 with the

you compared the

situation of the

enough

there. It

had

not,

It

in

had

improvement

however, improved rapidly

to correspond to the very rapid transformation of the

world outside the United great colonial

more

Negro

had very materially improved.

materially improved for a variety of reasons, but the

was unquestionably

by the

that our race relationship pattern here

States,

where between 1924 and 1954

revolution took place.

particularly in Africa, people

who had been

colonial rule of the British, the French

other colonial powers had

a

All over the world, and subject to the

and the Belgians and the

become independent. One

result of their

achievement of self-determination and self-government was the steady stream of African ambassadors, prime ministers, presidents

#nd other

dignitaries constantly arriving in

Washington. There

AN INTRODUCTION TO

98 §

POLITICAL THEORY

they were given state dinners, put into Blair House, in short

meant

treated like royalty. This

United

that the colored citizen in the

faced with a solid wall of discrimination, be-

States, still

came increasingly embittered

subordinate role. Here for-

at his

were treated

eigners, colored foreigners,

way

in a

quite different

from the way the American Negroes were treated. While the African Negro was given state dinners in Washington, the American Negro could not go a cup of coffee. it

happens

am

many

into the corner drugstore

and order

giving you this particular illustration because

much

to be very

however, be

and

I

a concern at the

moment. There

can,

other illustrations of a transformation of values

beliefs occasioned

by forces wholly beyond the particular com-

munity in which they occur. Nonetheless they force themselves

upon the community's Having once faced there

may

attention. this

to realize that

not only be a value in order but even a value in dis-

which

order, a value in disorder

may be

phenomenon you begin results

related to value realization.

you to retain

when you encounter

fact that disorder

you another

will give

I

tration in order to dramatize this for

will enable

from the

you in a way that

this crucial issue

and

to bear

on future

these problems

which what seems

notion that order that there

You

very subjective, that

is

The

may be misunderstanding

may, for example, go to

what would appear is

quite untrue.

is

to

in

mind Very

life,

there

is

one seems very much

This has incidentally led to the mistaken

like disorder to another.

the beholder. This

to be order to

hope

occasions.

frequently, as you have experienced in your personal a situation in

it

illus-

I

you

my

it is

merely in the mind of

from the

fallacy arises

as to

what

fact

constitutes order.

home and be struck by disorder. The whole place

study at

as appalling

strewn with papers and various kinds of manuscripts piled high.

The same

my

impression

other way,

happen

it

to be

created in the

mind of my

wife. But

presents beautiful order.

To

put

from it

an-

At the present time I of revision and proof-

presents the value of disorder.

engaged in a particular task

reading in which floor.

is

room

perspective this

I

need

They must be

all

of these different things lying on the

readily accessible. It

would be

disastrous

if

COMMUNITY AND ORDER they were packed away in drawers because

$ 99

would take about four

it

much time to do the job I have to do at the particular moment. The same is true of a workshop. A workshop will look different when a man is at work in it than on Sunday when the workshop is cleaned up. While the work is going on various tools times as

have to

around to be ready

lie

and abstract way, a value For

built.

way

in a

this

have

it

in a very general

being

is

no

the situation

is

one of no change, no

alteration or other kind of change.

background discussion about order and the value of

disorder concluded,

We

put

then being realized, a chair

is

when

different than

this

To

purpose the various tools needed have to be arranged

creative development,

With

hand.

at

we

can return to the problem of community.

now equipped

ourselves with a better basis for under-

standing and analyzing three great arguments about the nature of

community

that

have occupied

since the days of Plato

and

men

thinking about politics ever

Aristotle. I

would

three arguments to you and then give you

like to present these

what

I

answers to the issues which this presentation

community

believe to be the

There

raises.

is

community of law or a community of love. This is the decisive argument between Cicero and St. Augustine. There is secondly the argument whether community is an organic community or whether the community is firstly,

the argument whether

a purposive

the

a

community. The third argument

community

tary.

is

is

existential or

is

whether

in terms of

whether the community

is

volun-

These three arguments are inter-related and to some extent

depend upon each

other.

Theorists in the history of political

thought tend to line up either on the side of law, purpose and or on the side of love, organic

community and

existence.

will,

These

then are the two great divisions in the interpretation of community.

What

is

the nature of the

first

argument over the community of

law and the community of love? This distinction may be

illustrated

by the contrast between, on the one hand, two human beings fall in

who

love and raise a family and, on the other, two

human

who

beings

enter into partnership for the purpose of exploiting an inven-

tion in a business enterprise.

munity formation

are,

These two contrasting kinds of com-

you might

say,

the primary ones.

I

do not

AN INTRODUCTION TO

100 §

POLITICAL THEORY

think they are actually as different as they appear to be at blush; indeed both of

of the two.

am

I

them

are not only

inclined to argue, then, that every

community of both love and law. yet

may

it

me now

Let

is

a

present the second pair of contrasts, the com-

and community

as organic

German one which you

close to a

Ferdinand Tonnies coined the

and Gesellschaft which

as purposive.

now

This distinction

often encounter in sociological

Burke and the Romantics.

popular distinction of Gemein-

carries

with

it

the contrast intended

A

by the English adjectives organic and purposive. can on the one hand be constituted by the very

who make

is

as the other;

growth.

writings, having been raised also by

schaft

community

may commence

also develop correspondingly in the opposite direction

at different rates of

munity

It

first

one but different mixtures

it

up.

A

characteristic organic

Such an entity

is

community

of the people

community

particular tribal group, or eventually even tions, a nation.

life

is

a folk, a

under modern condi-

organic in the sense that

exists

it

regardless of any particular purposes that are being achieved or

not being achieved.

On

the other hand, such an organic com-

munity will usually develop purposes which will also be involved in

its

organic existence as a community. Likewise

I

think you can

when people

say that

are members of a business enterprise or of some other kind of purposive organization, they develop elements of an organic community relationship.

a university or of will also

This

is

simply because of the fact that

together,

when human

beings get

the fact that they are capable of sympathy produces

organic relationships such as friendship and the like which reinforce the purposive element in that sort of community.

That munity

last

remark leads to the third pair of

as traditional, that

is

existential,

contrasts, the

and the community

voluntary. Locke, the father of classical liberalism,

view that the

political

traditional doctrine is

something that

community

had held is

is

comas

expounded the

voluntary. Against such views,

since Aristotle that a real

there, a given,

something that

community exists.

It is

something that comes into being by the mere existence of the people or persons

who

belong to

it.

The

contrary position

is

that

COMMUNITY AND ORDER

§ ioi

community develops from wilful determination, from a choice which people make to enter into the community. Take for example the relationship of marriage, undoubtedly among the most familiar to all human beings. The relationship which develops between two a

human exists,

who

beings

who

fall in

having a given

love with each other

reality all its

is

something that

own. As a matter of

fact people

They

love usually have that feeling very powerfully.

fall in

are convinced that their love has existence in itself

any willful determination on their part;

it

is

and transcends

decided for them.

are

is why we have such lovely poetic phrases as that marriages made in heaven. Such sentiments assert that there is an existen-

tial

given which

are,

however, also elements of will and choice in

That

ship. If

you

the actual foundation of the community. There

is

this love relation-

on the dimension of will you can indeed say

insist

that the existential

is

really irrelevant. Love,

you can claim,

is

just

minds of the people involved. Until

a subjective attitude in the

they formulate out of this subjective reaction or impression some-

thing that can be called the "will," no community comes into be-

My own

ing.

two other

views here are similar to the position

cases;

I

took in the

genuine community always involves both the

A

community does not come into existit come into existence merely by being willed. Here, too, the two distinct elements have to come together and inter-act in order that a community may emerge. and the willed.

existential

ence merely by existing, nor does

I

would

like finally to

develop for you two or three propositions

with regard to political community that are important as imple-

mentation for what characteristic

and

boundaries. This

I

have so far analyzed for you.

significant that a political is

not the case with

all

It

communities.

We

community of marriage as one important. Such a community is not related

think, for example, of the

boundary For the istic.

is

political

Territorial

is

very

community usually has

community, however, boundary

is

in

do not which

to space.

very character-

boundary defines community. This principle must

not be overstated, however. a characteristic feature of

While

many

it is

usually so and while

political

communities,

it

is

it is

not

always present and there are political communities that are not

102 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

defined by boundaries. Take, for example, the Jewish people. of the most extraordinary political creations of mankind, political

community without any

boundary.

Israel,

question, but

is

a

possessed of a boundary, albeit pain-

fully possessed of a very difficult boundary.

not to exaggerate this aspect, but to point that

I

would

still

tured or organized. Part of this

is

Thus

recognize

all

it

is

is

that political

communities are

struc-

a matter of size, but part of

also inherent in the nature of political communities. stress I

desirable

it.

make

like to

communities tend to be structured. Not

remember the

is

not defined by

on the other hand, an offshoot of the community

called the Jewish people,

The second

it is

One

it

have placed on

political

You

it is

will

community being

characterized by multiplicity of purpose, by multiplicity of goals

and

objectives.

Well, such multiplicity of goal and objective

problem of

sistently raises the

particular situation

To

determine

this

priority.

What, for example,

in-

in any

more important value to be realized? priority a community needs a procedure for is

the

reaching a decision. This need for decision in turn forces structure

and organization. There must be argument on how the decision is

made by which

a particular value conflict

is

decided.

Now,

it is

perfectly obvious that this tendency of political communities to be

structured or organized grows as they in turn

grow

in size

and

in intrinsic complexity.

In this respect dictatorships

Union

it

has been interesting to watch the totalitarian

and more

started out with

particularly the Soviet Union.

The

Soviet

an ideology which came out of Marxism

and which looked upon organization

in very simplistic terms,

terms which minimized the problem of structure. As you remem-

Communist Manifesto the idea is conveyed that once is achieved there would be no need for any formal organizational structure. Everybody would be pleased with everybody else and there would be no administration of persons but only of things. Actually, as you know, the Soviet Union has deber in the

the revolution

veloped a highly elaborate administrative structure.

It

possesses a

vast bureaucracy with a greatly differentiated structure. Organizational adjustments are continually attempted in the

hope of more

COMMUNITY AND ORDER

§ 103

nearly achieving the kind of purposes sought by the revolutionary

In the course of time some of these aims have proved

society.

incompatible, so that a choice between is

them has

to

be made. This

very characteristic for a political community and

relation to the size of the

has some

it

community and the complexity of

its

level of civilization.

The

third proposition that

of this lecture today

would

I

like to

mention

at the

end

the fact that political communities always

is

develop myths, symbols and Utopias. Some thorough-going rationalists

do not is

history of

it

completely rational community.

sible to build a

that this

They think

like to face this fact.

happen. In any

likely to

mankind we

case, if

ought to be posI

we

do not believe look over the

find that wherever there have been political

communities there have been myths, symbols and Utopias. This is

fact

very deeply linked to the nature of political communities. Be-

cause communities have this complex nature highlighted by the six

elements of love, law, organism, purpose, existence and will, there are any

number of

which are too complicated

to be set

The symbol, however, is the complex relationships. The symbol most

great tool

situations

forth for practical purposes. for simplifying

hand

is,

of course, the flag; but the constitution

bol. Associated

One

of the most familiar myths in America

the founder myth. In this country everybody grows

certain mythical details about the Pilgrim Fathers

came

readily at

likewise a sym-

with the symbol there grow up myths which are

also abbreviations. is

is

to these shores.

Everyone also knows that

up knowing

and how they

later in Philadel-

phia the fathers of the Constitution drafted this great charter. Historical scholarship has sought to cope with these myths, to try to sift out

what

vital necessity

is

really true

of these myths

from the mythical. The enormous is

demonstrated, however, by the

fact that in spite of all such scholarship

people go right on main-

taining these myths. Sometimes they even recognize Still

significance in maintaining the idea of the

dimension. Perhaps only a word more I

them

as myths.

they go on telling the same story because that story has a vital

have mentioned Utopias before.

A

is

community's

existential

needed about Utopias for

political

community, much

like

104 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

the individual

order to

exist.

POLITICAL THEORY

human being, needs a certain amount of hope in Hope in a political community embodies itself in a

Utopian conception as to what the community should be

some other

the United States and in

countries

we

democracy. This notion of constitutional democracy only a guide. Most people understand that exactly as is

it is

conceived.

It is

it

a lodestar that

like.

In

aspire to be a is,

however,

cannot be realized

we

can follow. This

the essence, then, of Utopia, a projection of aspirations into the

future which are necessary in order to maintain the purposive

of the community as it was originally conceived. Here is one final thought relating the concept of community and the concept of order to what I have told you about the value of dis-order. A community while based on common values, interests and beliefs, presupposes dissent if it is to be a vital comvitality

munity.

A

community

that has

of radical disagreement from

no

its

dissent, that contains

commitments, including the com-

mitments to myths, symbols and utopia,

munity of any considerable have to envision

no element

vitality.

is

not likely to be a com-

In other words,

we

always

danger of both community and

as the limiting

The graveyard is completely nothing happens there. Of course even

order, the order of the graveyard.

ordered because absolutely

in the graveyard a disturbance occasionally occurs.

and the grave digger appears and digs out a new ful order of the graveyard soil

is

it.

beliefs. If

common

you over-stress order

The is

dies

beauti-

now raw

So you see that even the

a vital part of something that

the danger of over-stressing the

and

hole.

disturbed because there

with wilted flowers on top of

graveyard is

is

Somebody

is

going on.

My

point

in the values, interests

in the structuring

and organiz-

ing of the community, the community becomes self-defeating.

becomes, as

I say,

the dead. In a living to

evolving values,

vigorous dissent.

It

the order of the graveyard, the community of

community interests

in

and

which the purposes are related beliefs

there will always be

8 Aristotle, Philosopher

Community

Political

all thinkers Among standing of

who have

political

L.

analysis.

contributed to an under-

community, Aristotle

is

foremost.

He made this topic the very center of his political To be sure, Plato too had been deeply concerned with

community and justice

of the

But in

order.

and nomos. In

was primarily on

Plato, the focus

Aristotle's Politics the

once state his preoccupation with

opening sentences

community. "Every polis

community (koinonia) of some kind. ..." And why this

concern with communal aspects of politics?

the political

community

on

in Aristotle's writings

more

its

true telos.

fully

I

It

is

related

to his

a

politics is closely

human

shall deal with this Aristotelian

further on.

is

there

The emphasis on

linked to his stress on happiness as the purpose of ence,

is

at

most

exist-

hedonism

characteristic

philosophical doctrine and discovery of the philosophical notion of telos or the

"end"

wisdom. This

as the

most central concern of the search

telos transcends Plato's notion of ideas

particularly Plato's idea of the good. 105

I

might

at this

after

and more

point say a

106 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

word about

POLITICAL THEORY

the relationship of Aristotle and Plato. This has been

a topic of considerable interest to philosophers and the historians

many One would have

There are

two

of philosophy for

a generation.

views.

Aristotle as merely a second best Plato

who tried to reproduce the teachings of much success. The other would, on the and Aristotle

how

as

to choose

worlds apart. For

between Plato and

Aristotle.

On

view which depicts Aristotle

This question

Aristotle.

up with the problem of what

course, tied

his master but without

contrary, contrast Plato

view the great question

this

between Plato and

this

essentially

actually

is

of

the difference

is

problem there

is

a

common

an empiricist and Plato

as

is,

as

an

good way of describing the differences between the two men. Aristotle was much closer to Plato than this distinction would suggest. For Aristotle was not an empiricist in the modern sense of the word even though he was idealist. I

do not think

concerned with what ing for.

He

that this

human

is

a

beings did and what they were

striv-

was, however, also a deductive philosopher expound-

ing a basic conceptual framework in terms of which these experiences are approached. Aristotle, too,

norms and deductive

truth.

the poet-philosopher,

much more

appears in their

is

an

But Aristotle

idealist,

is,

believing in

in contrast to Plato

the scientist-philosopher. This

way of writing which is strikingly much the way most of

Aristotle writes about politics

today. is

That

his

different.

us write

book resembles the kind of book you usually read

He and how

a testimony to the great intellectual influence of Aristotle.

has shaped the

mind

of Western thinkers and scholars

they go about dealing with matters intellectual,

writing of books. Plato, by contrast, dialogues

—

a

is

including the

quite untypical.

He

form of discourse not often employed for

writes

scientific

exposition. Rarely does Plato include an initial statement putting his position as Aristotle puts his position at the

beginning of both

the Politics and the Ethics.

One it

final

has been

point on the subject of Plato and Aristotle. Because

difficult to find in Plato's

says are Plato's views just did not

works exactly what Aristotle

some have claimed

understand Plato.

I

that poor old Aristotle

have always

felt that this is a

ARISTOTLE, PHILOSOPHER OF

most peculiar position to

THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY

who had been

take. Aristotle,

§ 107

associated

with Plato for over twenty years as a pupil and collaborator in his

Academy, would obviously write of

Plato's

who

knowledgeable manner than would one works.

Nor would

in Plato's

views in a more

merely read Plato's

what

Aristotle bind himself solely to

works in speaking of the views of

Plato.

is

found

Indeed,

I

think that considering the enormous intellectual capacity of Aristotle,

we have

that Plato

every reason to assume that

was of a

when

judgment

certain opinion, his

Aristotle says entitled to a

is

great deal of respect as an interpretation of Plato's views because it

represents a

more intimate view of them than can be gathered

by reading Plato's as

we

works. This

saw, Plato wrote that he

reinforced by the fact that,

would never put on paper what he

what Plato wrote against what

thought.

is

But Aristotle heard him.

really thought. cite

own

It is silly,

therefore, to

Aristotle, his pupil, said Plato

Aristotle did after all hear

from Plato

directly

what

Plato thought, as contrasted with the writings that are available to us.

So much, then, for the interesting problem of the

ship between the

Let

me

on the

telos or the

end of things

for the understanding of things

opening sentences of the very

thinkers.

return to the central Aristotelian notion of the telos.

Aristotle's stress basis

two great Greek

much

the key to

all

Politics.

is

community of some

These opening sentences are

that Aristotle has to tell us

kind, and every

with a view to some good; for that

men

which they think good/' This

slightly adapted.

as the ultimate

clearly visible in the

Let us examine these passages with some care. a

relation-

Another British

is

l

community

on

politics.

!Every_polis is

is

established

always act in order to obtain the great Jowett's translation,

scholar, the late Professor Ernest

Barker of Cambridge University, has made a rather different one, since he liked to

make

a lot of commentary, interpretive embellish-

ments and elaborations; he was also fond of using contemporary terms which are anachronistic in the context of Aristotle's writings, such as sovereignty.

More

particularly,

he translated the

first

sentence of the Politics quite misleadingly, by rendering koinonia (see above p.

105)

as association

and inserted "as observation

AN INTRODUCTION TO

108 §

shows us"

—something

POLITICAL THEORY

which Aristotle does not say

at all.

The

genuine Aristotle speaks quite apodictically, and proceeds to argue

He

deductively about community.

approach to

men

act

politics

which makes him

assert at the outset that all

with a view to some apparent good

we

implies a teleological, or as

man and

of

sets forth his basic teleological

—

a proposition which

similarly in the

first

place "directed toward

some end,"

say to be understood in terms of their telos.

We read:

continue the argument?

How

and which embraces

for "highest" ruler

and the

is

at

rest,

aims

at

good

some

in a greater

The Greek word

is

and hence the argument

really

that the

is

the most lordly and on top of

all

aiming

at the

most

lordly,

com-

other minor

communities, such as families, brotherhoods and guilds, fore also

to

the highest of

is

the highest good."

is

here the superlative of kyrios which means lord,

like,

munity which

the

all

degree than any other, and

that

does Aristotle

"If all communities aim at

good, the polis or political community, which all,

view

incline to say, functionalist

government. The communities which he forms are

his

is

there-

most important good. Apart

from the pure verbalism involved, it may well be questioned fact that the political community rules the other communities makes their values the most important. But Aristotle

whether the

unquestionably asserts

He

it,

on the

basis of his analogical reasoning.

thereby lays the foundation for his later insistence upon the

need of such a community by any

man

seeking self-fulfillment

and happiness. There

is,

in

many

translations

and

interpretations,

found

a pro-

pensity to render the superlative of kyrios as sovereign. But the

notion of sovereignty in

primary modern meaning implies the

its

notion of being "free from law" (le gibus solutus) as Bodin has

put

it

in the sixteenth century in developing the concept of sov-

ereignty,

and such

to Plato.

That a community

superior does not

a notion

at all

that such a polis strongest,

it still is

free

quite alien to Aristotle, as

is

is

it

community presumed

it

had been

highest in the sense of having no

from the law. Even is

if

we

interpolate

the most powerful, or even the

to operate within the

and custom of the existing order of

nomos, the law

things. In Aristotle's original

THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY §

ARISTOTLE, PHILOSOPHER OF text there

thus none of the legalistic political terminology con-

is

veyed by the word sovereignty.

He

merely offering a descriptive

is

proposition which asserts that a polis community

communities

then proceeds to argue as

bit later

he claims that men by

to live in such communities.

we might

and deer

man

is

mentaries have

less

it.

their very nature are inclined

As

man

man

is

a

not.

actually say that

is

an animal

is

not very

Professor Mcllwain wrote, Aristotle distinguishes

man "who

For the polis

is

alone has reason" and mere

"who have

a soul"

and plants

for Aristotle "the final stage in

the development of man's nature." It

man

shown.

equally far from denying man's relation

animals, as he does between animals

fully

just

a "being living in a polis," just

is

idea that is

sharply between

who have

we have

But Aristotle does not

The

though he

Aristotelian,

no

matter of

this established

animal" as so many translations and com-

"political

to animals.

above the other

say that bees are hive-dwelling animals or that cattle

live in herds.

a

is

His Greek expression that

dzoon politikon means that he as

From

as a matter of fact.

fact, Aristotle

A

109

is

man's

telos to

become

only within the context of a political community.

must, however, bear in specific sense

mind

that "political"

by the Greeks which

at

is

is

We

used in a rather

once more particular and

more comprehensive than our usage (see p. 79 ff.). The political only what "belongs to the polis." It excludes empires, but it

is

The

also includes the religious dimension.

polis

both the ecclesiastical and the secular sphere. In

is

concerned with

common

today, the term political refers only to secular activity.

cannot say the polis

is

the state

This differentiation which

is

and the church because

it is

parlance

Yet one neither.

so characteristic for our western de-

velopment had not occurred in Greece,

as

it

has not in

many

primitive communities to this very day. If

we

bear in

polhica, the

mind

Greek

this religious

political

connotation of the koinonia

community, we come face

to face

with

the problem of the relation of politics to ethics. Aristotle dealt

with

this in

another very important work, the Nicomachean Ethics.

The Nicomachean Politics

Ethics has a very definite relationship to the

which we are studying. "They supplement each other by

HO

§

AN INTRODUCTION TO common

treating a to

POLITICAL THEORY

according to different aspects" according

field

one of the great Aristotelian scholars of our time (McKeon).

Both works are concerned with the happiness of man. The Ethics seeks to determine the inner psychic and moral conditions of happiness, while the Politics

concerned with the outer, the com-

is

munal conditions of happiness. Both

are inquiries into the greatest

good or happiness. For

both works are part of one

this reason

episteme, one system of knowledge, or understanding, or science

and

in the broadest sense. Ethics other. It

is

no

program for the

a kind of a

politics are closely linked to each

surprise, then, that at the

end of the Ethics we find

Politics. Aristotle there gives

an out-

line of the Politics. This has, incidentally, created another set of

long lasting headaches for scholars. The text of the Politics that has come

down through

the ages does not precisely correspond to

you remember that both the

Aristotle's outline in the Ethics. If

Ethics and Politics are actually based on lecture notes of students,

and consider your own lecture notes tures,

product do not precisely

fit

each other. In any case,

general indication of the outline the link between the

community, totle

in connection with

my

lec-

you will readily understand why the outline and the finished

it is

two works.

so because

it

I

think the

is

quite clear and

it

does provide

If,

then, the polis

is

the perfected

has reached the limit of what Aris-

We still use the word mean it in an economic sense. In Aristotle not an economic phenomenon but primarily an ethical

called self-sufficiency or autarkeia.

autarchy but autarkeia

is

we

and psychic one. rounded

self.

usually

He means

self-sufficiency in the sense of

This self-sufficiency

is

community and of those who compose

being a

a characteristic of the polis it.

Relating this proposition

to a contemporary argument, self-sufficiency prevents alienation.

The

self-sufficient

Through

his

man

communal

is

the opposite of the alienated man.

existence,

attains such self-sufficiency.

polis provides,

Community came

sake of mere existence, tzen, but life,

which the

it

man

into being for the

continues to exist for the good

for the eu tzen. Let us hear Aristotle himself on this point.

"When we come

to the final

and perfect

association, the

munity, formed from a number of villages,

we have

com-

already

ARISTOTLE, PHILOSOPHER OF THE POLITICAL

may be

reached the polis, an association that the height of full self-sufficiency.

we may

say that while

for the sake of the

it

good

Or

COMMUNITY

said to have reached

rather, to speak

more

grows for the sake of mere (Politics 1252,

life."

m

§

B

exactly

life, it exists

27-end)

This notion of self-sufficiency should be explored in relation to

two problems, and the other

One

treated by Aristotle. is

the need for diversity.

the problem of size

is

The problem

of size

is

hardly ever discussed today in an age of big national communities.

We

more

treat the size of nations

do not dispute whether one nation another like the American large. It

is

We

or less as a fact of nature. like the

Greek

is

too small or

rather large, or the Chinese

seems to us a given biological fact

how

much

too

large nations are.

But when the discussion concerns a newly founded, voluntary establishment, corresponding to the polis notion of the Greeks,

such as a university, the argument about size indeed.

is

a very live

one

There has been much debate recently about what the

optimal size of a school of higher learning ought to be, which is

enough when new

natural

Many

people are not

at all

universities are to be established.

happy about the multi-versity

that has

been announced as the wave of the future. Similarly, in Greece they argued about the size of

but a number of other

cities.

Not

men whose

views on the optimal size of

cities.

only Plato and Aristotle,

ideas Aristotle discusses,

One

of these

who had

had been

an advisor to Pericles on the building of the harbor of Athens, the Piraeus,

had suggested about 10,000

mean, with women, children,

citizens as right.

slaves, foreigners

80 and 100 thousand inhabitants. Such a

who

size

This would

and so on between

seemed too large

to

objects to

The Laws, a late dialogue, advises 5040. Aristotle this number as too large. Being sober and inclined to

relate his

arguments to experience, he speaks of the round figure

Plato

in

of 5000, since he was convinced that

and cared lations.

little

The

for Plato's astrological

Platonic body of citizens

it

was too

large,

anyhow,

and numerological specu-

would mean 40

to 50 thou-

sand inhabitants. Aristotle does not give a specific number, but suggests that experience with well-governed cities provides a basis.

But presumably he had one to two thousand

in

mind. The under-

AN INTRODUCTION TO

112 §

POLITICAL THEORY

lying thought in both Plato and Aristotle was that too large a size

disrupts

order.

As

the

communal life and undermines the political it: "Law is order, and good law is good

Aristotle puts

order; but a very great multitude cannot be orderly."

And he

con-

cludes the argument by saying that "the best limit of the population of a polis

of

life,

is

the largest

number which

and can be seen well

as a

suffices for the

purposes

whole (eusynoptos)."

1326) The standard of members of the

citizenry

(Pol.

knowing each

other had already been urged by Plato. For then they can talk

with one another. At the present time a similar argument over is

heard in

New

England

in connection with the question of

size

how

long the old town meeting type of government is viable. There are some people who say as long as there are not more than 1000 voters and others say not more than 2000, and others say 500. It is the same argument found in Aristotle. Beyond a certain number it

is

cases,

impossible to engage in meaningful confrontation. In such

where the

size of the

town meeting no longer enables people

to encounter one another, the open meeting

is

being replaced by a

representative body.

is

The second problem

related to self-sufficiency of the

the degree of unity.

Here again

totle accuses Plato of

very

much

Aristotle criticizes Plato. Aris-

over-emphasizing unity. Aristotle's views are

in line with today's attitudes. In his opinion a

munity presupposes that

its

self-sufficiency, of autarkeia.

and have a

community

life

of their

own

component

parts

These parts must

com-

have a measure of exist

by themselves

before they can form a community.

A

community must never be a perfect unity; it must also be a diversity of autonomous and self-sufficient members. These views prompted Aristotle to criticize bitterly Plato's community of wives and property. In such a

collective situation,

cease to be persons because they

own. They are true

totally

wrote Aristotle, people

no longer have

a sphere of their

absorbed into the community. This would be

whether the components of a community were persons,

families, villages, or

what have you.

In light of these views

it is

surprising that Aristotle's thought

did not evolve towards the notion of a federal union of

many

ARISTOTLE, PHILOSOPHER OF THE POLITICAL idea very

cities, a political

come

league was soon to

much

COMMUNITY

in the air in his day.

into existence.

The Achaean

One might have

autonomous

Aristotle to suggest that several

§ 113

expected

self-sufficient polis

could form a unified community, a federal union. This idea

is

not

forthcoming, however, for Aristotle the polis provides the limits of self-sufficiency.

(peras)

self-sufficiency

than

matter of

When

size.

is

It is

not feasible to achieve a greater

possible in the polis. Central here

you go beyond the

is

this

no longer

polis, there is

any possibility for confrontation, the immediacy of community lost.

Very

different

the outlook in Europe today, where

is

many dream

wider community of Europe which

And

to the national state.

Greek thinking

yet,

is

it is

is

the

of as an alternative

there not also an element of

in the lingering doubts of those

who,

like

General

de Gaulle, doubt the possibility of such a European community replacing the national communities?

One citizen

reason the Greeks could seriously discuss such a small

body

as Plato

acceptance of slavery. in any detail, I

want

and Aristotle favored

Though we cannot

at least to

mention

justify slavery insisting that there are ture. It

seems to

me

one of the

it.

is,

of course, their

discuss this institution

Aristotle undertakes to

men who

are slaves by na-

classic cases of a circular

argument

which proves nothing and simply repeats the premise from which

Be

it starts.

that as

it

may,

tasks could be excluded

these

all

men who perform

the menial

from the community; they were not part

of the polis. This sentiment was, as you know, very

much

by the noble and

country and

England, I

cite

down

would

like

self-sufficient

gentlemen in

this

shared

to the early nineteenth century.

now

to turn to a discussion of the Ethics

a few passages from

the central focus of

it.

human

I

and

to

think that Aristotle's thoughts on

existence and, hence, the foundation

of community, are more clearly revealed in the Ethics than in the Politics.

The

crucial passages for Aristotle's views are

very beginning of the work. reads: "Every art

and

in like

thought, at

The opening

found

in the

sentence of the Ethics

and every science reduced to a teachable form,

manner every action and moral choice aims, it is some good; for which reason a common and by no

114 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

means

a

POLITICAL THEORY

bad description of what the chief good

is, is that which Here you have a general discussion of what we the problem of value. Aristotle proceeds on the

things aim at."

all

would today

call

make

basis of this very general characterization to

observations a

with which

little

"And now resuming

further on:

we commenced,

the following the statement

knowledge and moral choice grasps at good of some kind or another, what good is that which we say politicae aims at?" Remember, when Aristotle says politics it

includes religion.

"Or

since all

in other words,

what

the highest of

is

the goods which are the objects of action? So far as

answers Aristotle, "there

is

all

goes,"

a pretty general agreement. For happi-

ness both the multitude and the refined

and doing well they conceive

few

call

and living well

it,

to be the same with being happy."

it

In orther words happiness, the highest good,

is

something which

apparently empirically based. Aristotle says that happiness

is

what most people would describe assertion

saying

is

modern

in line with

go and ask one of these

highest good.

The

as the highest

on the would be general agreement adds, and here comes the philoso-

Aristotle

this

happiness

dispute and the multitude do not in their account of

vations

.

.

means

mental but lect

and

We is

all this

itself

agree with

choose

it

always for

that happiness

intrinsic.

To

be

is

(Pol.

itself."

him with

the ultimate value.

sure,

we

It is

them

all

if

not instru-

choose honor, pleasure,

make

self-fulfillment.

choose each of these even

is

What

1097a)

in fact every excellence for themselves, too.

they provide seek

review of various moti-

and never for the sake of something

do, because such activities of the soul

we

it

the different ways in which

emerges Aristotle's conviction that happiness

there

"always desirable in this

all

men

beings might define happiness or might define value for

themselves. But ultimately, out of

.

is

pollsters to survey opinion

the wise." Aristotle then enumerates

else.

he

result of the survey

on happiness. "But,"

human

is

good. Aristotle's

social psychology. In a sense

pher with his problems, "about the nature of

is

name

no other

a

man

That

result

is

But

intel-

this

we

happy, because

why we would

were to follow, but

also because of the happiness they bring.

to say that they are in a sense intrinsic, yet not fully so.

That

But no

THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY

ARISTOTLE, PHILOSOPHER OF

man

§ 115

chooses happiness with a view to honor and these other

values, but strictly for itself.

In the following passage Aristotle ness

from possible confusing

notion of happi-

sets off this

some of which have played

notions,

a great role in political thought. First of

all

he disposes of Hobbes,

and Hobbesian principles long before the Englishman came along.

mere

Aristotle insisted that

such

shared by

life is plainly

want what

peculiar to

is

life

1098a) Here Aristotle

is

does not give happiness because

man

we

even with vegetables and

We

man.

want

to set off

the humanist above

all.

man. (Pol.

He

goes on to

say that also the life of the senses does not bring happiness, be-

cause

is

it

common

manifestly

Aristotle thus arrives at

namely man's

ness,

oxen and every animal.

to horses,

what he considers the true source of happi-

rational nature.

would

I

like to cite for

you

the famous passage in which this discussion of the rational nature

of

man

culminates. "If

working of the soul

to be a

of the soul in the of this conclusion,

Greek

original,

way I

then

all this is so,

in the

way

human good

of excellence."

turns out

A

working

of excellence! In view of the importance

cannot restrain myself from giving you the

much

as I dare say

it

will just puzzle you: to

anthroptnon agathon psyches energeia ginetai kat'areten. This

is

the famous formula which says better than the translator what

wanted to

Aristotle

say.

One

word which

tains the root

is

of these Greek words, energeia, con-

"work," ergon. En erg on means to be

"at work." Happiness, therefore, consists in the

man

at

work. This

is

mind and

the supreme and distinctly

happiness as contrasted with the

many

soul of

human form

of

other things which are also

pleasurable and nice. If Aristotle

be one of the

ended

many

whom

people would reply: "I do not want to live just the

mind. wiser

man

I

like to

man

have a pleasant

than most.

He

life too."

rejects the

to call a

man happy is

only

when he

is

most

of the

life

But Aristotle

a

much

famous saying of Solon

can only be called happy after he dies; for "is

say that happiness

he would

his discussion of happiness here

philosophers and religious sages to

is

it

dead, especially

an activity?" Happiness

is

that

not absurd

when we

the best, noblest,

AN INTRODUCTION TO

Il6 §

and most pleasant thing

many

situations

as instruments."

we

We

and a man

beauty,

in the world, but

"we need

external goods

For noble deeds require a certain freedom from want.

as well."

"In

POLITICAL THEORY

use friends and riches and political power

need good

also

is

"Happiness seems to need

Here you

birth,

goodly children, and

not likely to be happy

he lacks

if

this sort of prosperity."

(Pol.

these.

1099b)

humane aspect of Aristotle. He does of the mind is the source of the highest

clearly see the

not doubt that the life

happiness. But Aristotle realizes that other things are also necessary.

Man

cannot be in a very unsatisfactory condition with respect

human needs and still enjoy in the of the mind and soul. Aristotle is of

to basic

fullest sense the ac-

tivities

the opinion that the

community must provide the necessary conditions the mind.

The

for the life of

more aptly described, active life wisdom is made possible by his being a member and active community that provides all these other contemplative, or

of the seeker after

of the live

things such as property, family, and friends, that are necessary conditions for the fulfillment of one's existence. Aristotle speaks for a kind of individualism

is

meant

men

for the political order.

must be well-ordered

men and

which means that they should be stability, all

political order,

to live in cities, but they

the community, exist for

Man

which would have the not

stable.

In order to achieve such

extremes should be avoided. As in

so also in political science Aristotle

is

many

other

fields,

forever searching for the

middle road, the mean or mesotes, what the French

call

the bonne

mesure. For the social order in a well-arranged city this

calls for a

broad middle solid

sound

cities,

class of

citizens.

men who

We

are neither rich nor poor, but

do not know

his vast canvass of

Greek

covering well over a hundred of them, except for the study

of the Athenian Constitution, but

we may

surmise that Aristotle

could offer empirical evidence for this desirability of the middle class.

Related to this stress on the middle class and stability totle's

dislike

political order,

for change and

he seems

more

to feel,

is

is

Aris-

especially revolution.

Any

better than

its

throw, except possibly tyranny. But then tyranny

violent overis

short-lived

ARISTOTLE, PHILOSOPHER OF THE POLITICAL

COMMUNITY

anyhow. Broadly speaking, his famous theory of revolution

when

§ 117 is

that

the political order fails to correspond to the distribution of

property and hence of the class structure, tensions arise which will eventually lead to revolution.

Arguments over

justice are at the

heart of them.

In order to avoid such catastrophe, Aristotle develops a model constitution. It

is

mixed form of government

a

zens have some share in the government.

He

principle of constitutional democracy that

in

even

which

all citi-

states the basic

on everyday

practical

problems the many in their majority are apt to be wiser than the learned few. But one must not turn the government over to them,

democracy does. Rather, the many should contribute

as radical

their share in the popular assembly, while a council of seniors will restrain them,

and the

actual administration will be left to

or a few. There are hints here of

of the separation of powers in

one

what was to become the doctrine modern constitutional theory as

shaped in the seventeenth century by Harrington, Locke and others.

Basically,

view

Aristotle's

is

dominated by the concern

modern notion of organized political change is entirely lacking. Yet, it was a projection, and when Polybius many generations after Aristotle adapted the model of a mixed constitution to an interpretation of the Roman republic, he provided the basis for later employment of Aristotle's view. I would like to conclude this lecture with some comments on for stability, however, and the

Aristotle's

fate in the subsequent history of political

thought.

Professor Bury in his great Greek history makes the following

comment: to

whom

"It

is

not an overstatement to say that there

It is

doubtful whether this statement

quite correct in this general form. Nevertheless,

true

when

that there

restricted to the political sphere. If is

no one

to

whom

Europe owes

I

think

it

it is

Bury had claimed

a greater debt for the

higher political education of her peoples than Aristotle, think

no one

Europe owes a greater debt for the higher education of

her peoples than Aristotle." is

is

I

would

entirely true.

The most important

of Europe's students of Aristotle's politics

was Thomas Aquinas, the great

scholastic.

Aristotle's influence

Il8 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

before the work of Aquinas, however, also deserves mention.

After the

To

Europe.

Rome

of

fall

Aristotle

disappeared

virtually

from

be sure this was not a total disappearance. There were

always some remnants of his thought present, but on the whole

The Arabs having

his writings disappeared.

from the Greeks

taken over his thought

in the east, preserved the Aristotelian learning

throughout Europe's dark ages. His thought returned to Europe via the Arabs tury.

and via Spain

in the late twelfth

Because of his doctrine of happiness, and

communal

conditions of happiness, Aristotle

and thirteenth cenits

emphasis on the

made

a tremendous

impact on European thinkers. Quite a number of people were ready to go over entirely to his doctrines. This posed a problem for the Catholic Church. There obviously were very serious conflicts

between

natural

Aristotle's

philosophy and the transcendental

theology of the Christian Church.

Thomas Aquinas'

great achieve-

ment was to produce a kind of concordance of Aristotle's political and other philosophy with the Christian tradition. Aquinas succeeded so well that with this restatement of Aristotle, he shaped the entire thinking of the later middle ages. In founding the great tradition of scholasticism,

thought as well as

he developed a framework for

is

that

Thomas

political

The most important

political action.

ment from the point of view of

Christianity

He

agreed that

human

to enter into association with each other.

in this association

men

was unable, however,

community was the

thought

He

beings naturally liked accepted the fact that

reached a species of happiness. Aquinas

to adopt the

final

pagan notion that the

community because

centuries the Christian separation of church

tradition

develop-

political

accepted Aristotle's teaching on the naturalness of

community.

Nonetheless,

and

political

Thomas transcended

which looked upon the

and

political

in the intervening state

had occurred.

the Augustinian and Pauline

political

community

as

something

quite low, merely committed to the preservation of peace, and

merely concerned with providing a corrective for the intrinsic fulness

with a

of men.

Rejecting that tradition,

new optimism and

a

new

sin-

Aquinas proclaimed

naturalism, that

human

beings

:

.

ARISTOTLE, PHILOSOPHER OF

.

THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY

should live in political communities, that way. This was not merely a matter of

was

this

sin,

§ 119

their natural

but a matter of their

Thomas put it another and more theological way: God wants human beings to live in political community for their own happiness. In the creation of his great synthesis, Thomas self -fulfillment.

changed Aristotle somewhat and in a sense the

had to be rediscovered

in later years

essential Aristotle

by careful scholarship. So

tremendous became the influence of Thomas Aquinas that for

300 years men read Aristotle

may remember

as if

Dante put

that

he had been a Christian.

You

Aristotle into a very favorable

position because of the significance he

had acquired

in

shaping the

Christian tradition.

At the heart of political community that

human

Aristotle's great legacy is

is

the essential condition for

the idea that the

human

happiness must be defined not in

terms, but needs for

its

happiness,

strictly

implementation a recognition of

ordinary requirements and

finally that

only in this

spiritual its

more

way can order

be achieved.

READINGS, SUGGESTED AND REQUIRED Lectures 7 and 8

REQUIRED READING: Aristotle, I

Politics,

Books I-VI,

tr.

Barker (Galaxy). Ethics, Books

and V.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: Werner Jaeger (Oxford University Press). Richard McKeon (Random) jacob burckhardt, History of Greek Culture (Ungar) Sebastian degrazia, The Political Community (Phoenix). Aristotle, ed.

Aristotle, ed.

Community,

ed. C.

J.

mason hammond,

Friedrich,

City State

Nomos

II (Liberal Arts).

and World

richard koebner, Empire (Grosset).

State (Harvard).

.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

120 §

.

POLITICAL THEORY

lewis mumford, The City in History (Harcourt, Brace

Alfred

e.

&

World).

taylor, Aristotle (Dover)

eric voeglin, Order and History, Vol. 1: Israel and Revelation; Vol. 3

:

Plato

and

Aristotle (Louisiana State)

9 Power and Authority

Many

students of

political science claim that this is the

They would consider wrong that we come to power only in the latter part of these lectures. Not beginning with such a discussion is seen as a typical traditionalist oversight by the modern behaviorist convinced that power is the heart of politics. Harold Lasswell, one of central topic of political studies. it

the leading political scientists of our generation, put this position in a rather dramatic thirties, Politics:

ing

who

essay

little

way

Who

in a title to a

Gets What,

book he wrote

When and How.

in the

mid-

This stimulat-

on the subject of power dealt with the question of

possessed political power. But you can see by his formula-

power can well be and has indeed been, a subject that goes a good way beyond the field of politics. The power of agents, for example, can be a power quite different from political power. tion that

What we power

There tically

are concerned with here

is

of course political power, not

in the general sense. is

one famous definition of power which does

go beyond the

field of politics,

although

it

the great theoretical studies of politics, namely

characteris-

occurs in one of

Thomas Hobbes'

Leviathan. In the tenth chapter of that famous book there occurs

AN INTRODUCTION TO

122 §

POLITICAL THEORY

power which says that "power is the present means some future apparent good." There are various teasers

a definition of to obtain

or traps in this definition, such as the introduction of the

word "ap-

parent" which frees the author from discussing whether the good is

good

really

secure

it.

as

strictly political.

wealth

is

long as

it

appears good to the one

who

seeks to

This definition of power obviously extends beyond the It

could include, for example, wealth, because

certainly a present

means

to obtain

some future apparent

good. Other things such as physical strength or attractiveness are

means

also

parts of

to secure

power

some future apparent good. They

are all

in the broadest sense, but they are obviously only a

part of political power. In that respect, then, the definition

broad. But

it is

that

is,

also too

power

the fact that

is

narrow

in that

it fails

is

to take account of

often not a possession, a kind of substance,

which somebody has and can use against somebody

Frequently

it is

too

a give-and-take that rests

two or more people and

is

upon

else.

a relation between

properly described as a relation rather

than a possession. Hence, these two kinds of power have been

spoken of as substantive and relational power. In modern writings

on power there

is

mension that

is

power

Yet

not necessarily a good is

power predominantly

a tendency to see

relation rather than a possession.

often a possession.

he receives with that

way out

When

as a

stressing the relational di-

one

office certain stated

either, for is

it

is

clear

elected to an office,

powers to have and

to

They may be enjoyed, abused, wielded, and so forth. Any kind of office-holder acquires a certain amount of such power with his office. The power of that office may be greatly enhanced if its holder is skillful in utilizing his power in relations hold

like possessions.

may also be considerably reduced by unskillful use power. Anyone who has observed elected officials come into

with others. of

It

office

has noticed that some are capable of immediately making the

most

skillful use of their

given possession of power in relations

with others and thereby greatly enhancing their setup

is

total

power.

If the

democratic as in this country such increase in power

much more

feasible than

it

would be

(though by no means excluded

in

is

in a less democratic country

an autocratic one, as the history

POWER AND AUTHORITY of monarchy shows )

This

.

is

clearly seen by a

Johnson with Kosygin and Brezhnev. Johnson

at

§ 123

comparison of once upon step-

ping into the presidency utilized the given resources of the with exceptional know-how and practical

In this manner he

skill.

has considerably increased the actual power which the

him when he succeeded Kennedy. On

hand we

the other

gave

office

are

much

with regard to Kosygin and Brezhnev what the actual

less certain

power

office

situation

is.

they have the same

It

does not seem likely at the present time that

power

that

Khrushchev had

at the

height of his

Both of them, of course, have been put into a context

rule.

which a

power placed

skillful use of the

increase or decrease their total power.

when

I

talk about authority,

which

I

at their disposal

will return to this subject

closely linked to this

is

in

may

augmen-

tation of official power.

we

If

cannot satisfactorily define power the way Hobbes and

others have

done because such a

too narrow, the question

How

can

we

still

definition

both too broad and

is

confronts us: what

is

power?

political

myself lean jowards a

effectively characterize it? I

rather behavioral characterization or description of power.

I

would

suggest that power can best be described in terms of followership,

by saying that somebody has others

if

power over another or

political

several

these others can be observed to follow his preferences

do what he would

like

them

to

do rather than what they would

prefer to do themselves. This "rather" Skillful use of

and

is

a tricky word, however.

power produces the tendency in people to want to do desires them to do. We thus see

what the leader exercising power

that converting coercion into consent

the skillful use of power. In short,

of

command,

as

claimed in a great

customary tendency

commands. This

is,

sort.

There

any

ability

is first

man

very

much connected with

is

not merely a matter

many writings on politics. The power with the ability to give

no doubt, an important part of power, but

not the whole story. persuasive

to identify

is

is

power

of

A

great deal of

all

the

power

is

it is

of a very different

power connected with persuasion.

A

has a considerable amount of power unrelated to

he may have to give commands. Then there

influence, a very important

form of power;

it

is

is

also

usually, in fact

AN INTRODUCTION TO

124 §

POLITICAL THEORY

One man

almost always exercised without any command. fluences another

the

way he would

this reason is

him

like

in-

by getting him to act

in the field of politics

to act without any overt

command. For

has been said, and with good grounds, that influence

it

less invisible form of power. A great power exercised by pressure groups and propagandists

hidden power, a more or

deal of the is

man

of this hidden sort.

The

effort to control the exercise of such

hidden power merely consists in prescribing that public.

When we make

a law in the United

it

must be made

States obliging for-

we

eign agents to register and to disclose the source of their funds

are using precisely this instrumentality of publicity to reduce the

hidden power possessed by these agents. The law does not forbid

German

people to be agents of the British, It

merely says

if

or Russian government.

you are such an agent you must

register this

and you must also disclose where you are getting the money.

fact

This

is

done because

from the

quite clear that once

it is

it is

disclosed that

Moscow and that he receives $10,000 Russian government, many people will be rather cautious

Mr. Miller

is

an agent of

in dealing with Miller.

Indeed some might absolutely refuse

to.

In this way the law has quite effectively reduced Miller's influence.

This

What

is

the next basic question the student of politics must ask:

are the sources of

apparent, to

power

that

some

is

power? From what

extent,

a possession

is

have said

I

what the answer

will be.

primarily coercion.

it is

The

already

source of

When

an

office-

holder acquires a certain amount of power, he acquires the ability to coerce.

The

source of relational power, on the other hand,

a great extent consensual or cooperative.

develop a

new

A

leader

organization will very largely depend

sensual or cooperative power.

He

Now

there

is

is

to

seeks to

upon con-

will organize his followers by

arousing in them a desire to go along with his purposes.

who

a certain sophistry

own

objectives

and

which enters the

dis-

cussion at this point and which has created a great deal of con-

fusion in political analysis and political theory. This sophistry sees

no

difference between coercion

and consent because consent

produced by the power of persuasion. This,

more than

the

it is

argued,

power of putting oneself forward

is

is

nothing

in the best way,

POWER AND AUTHORITY which

after

is,

persuasion,

who

is

some kind of psychic

all,

it is

then what really

is so,

ference between consent and coercion?

politics, there is a difference, surely,

the same

and

the same time, however,

which

very important for

is

between the

our belly and says "give

pistol into

who swamps

the dif-

is

true that coercion

It is

At

a difference clear to all of us

is

words

argued, actually involves manipulating the person

being persuaded. If this

consent are not mutually exclusive. there

coercion. In other

§ 125

me

man who

sticks a

your purse" and the

man

us with letters of one sort or another and secures

amount from us

as the robber

by persuading us that

it is

wonderful to support some organization. Perhaps these are both forms of coercion, but somehow

two

we

feel differently coerced in the

different situations.

This brings

me

to another point, quite important in connection

with coercion. There are clearly different forms of coercion.

One

can distinguish physical coercion, economic coercion, and psychic

Even within the

coercion.

there are differences.

suade

me

to support

appeals to what

field

of these three forms of coersion

for example, the

If,

some organization

genuinely believe,

I

man who tried to me the truth and

tells I

per-

thus

will not be coerced in a

By misrepresenting the situation in a propagandistic way he exercises manipulative power which deceives me and prevents me from knowing what really is going to be done when technical sense.

I

part with

At

my

dough.

this point I

would

basic issue, the contrast

like to call

your attention to one more

between rule and rulership and power and

the wielding and handling of power. Bluntly stated that there

one

who

He

has

ability

is is

a difference in a direct

between a leader and a

coercive power, his

little

ruler.

dynamic relationship with

to persuade his followers.

power being

A

ruler

formal exerciser of political power. This

is

is

A

can say leader

is

his following.

a product of his

a very

due

we

much more

to the fact that in

ruling their realms, rulers exercise an organized and structured

power. Such power law, that

United

is

is,

in

modern

by constitutional

States,

societies,

charters.

The

organized usually by Constitution of the

for example, says that the President has certain

AN INTRODUCTION TO

126 §

POLITICAL THEORY

specified powers. This basic law, therefore, structures his power.

He

has no other powers unless he

able to persuade others to go

is

along with his preferences. If the President succeeds in being very persuasive with Congress so that Congress will do his bidding, he

power the Constitution gives him, a power the Constitution gives to Congress.

acquires in addition to the substantial part of the

In this

way

Thus

the President greatly enhances his power.

highly developed political orders there

is

in all

a constant interaction

between leadership and rulership and for that reason also between structured

At

and unstructured power.

key aspect of

politics

been much

be reading two of these

Machiavelli

is

really the writer

on the map, so

He

to speak.

The

problem of first

power

great theorists of

You

authority.

should by

and Hobbes.

put the problem of power

was primarily concerned, perhaps

a result of the time in which he lived, with sense, of the successful

recognized as a

theorists, Machiavelli

who

problem of

difficult

less generally

than has power.

said little about the distinct

now

important and

this point I reach the

authority. Authority has

power

deployment of violence. The

as

in the brute

Italian Renais-

sance was a very violent time and in Florence politics was a danger-

ous profession. Authority paid

little

attention to

with power, although

it.

I

is

a different matter and Machiavelli

would urge you not

this is frequently

incorrectly used interchangeably. This

to confuse authority

The two words

done.

is

in part

due

which people speak of "the authority" meaning

in

power-holders or the office-holders. Since pletely clarify

common

speech,

we

we

to the

way

actually the

cannot ever com-

will have to live with these

confused usages of our basic terms. But for a precise

political

kind of analysis needed for a deeper understanding

analysis, the

of politics,

are

it

is

important to separate and distinguish authority

from power. Authority

is

panies power. their It

not a kind of power, but something that accomIt is

a quality in

men and

things which enhances

power, something which creates power but

is

not

itself

power.

might be rather useful to go back to the origin of the word.

On

the whole, you know,

I

do not bother with these word

origins

POWER AND AUTHORITY

§ 127

because most of the time they are not very revealing. Often, as a

matter of

fact,

we

they are a source of error. In the case of authority,

good deal from the origin of the word. Authority derives from the Latin word auctoritas. It was ashowever,

are able to learn a

with a particular political institution, the Senate.

sociated

Senate of Rome, derived as you

know from

senex, the old

contained the elders of the political community as

many

it

The man,

does in so

primitive communities where the elders are organized into

some kind of counsel tribution to

make

for advice. This Senate

to political decisions.

this ancient constitutional republic, the

popular assemblies and

made

When

had a

a special con-

law was made

in

people gathered in their

the policy decision.

The Romans,

however, were by tradition a conservative people, deeply and continually influenced by religious considerations.

Hence they did The people

not feel sure that a popular decision was quite enough.

ought certainly to say what they want to do, but there

still

existed

the problem of whether the particular decision was agreeable to the gods.

Was

it

really

something that ought to be so decided?

This was related to another consideration.

Was

the popular prefer-

ence in keeping with what was customarily done in it

be

fitted into

ligious

and

Senate as

it

the traditions of the

traditional questions ratified or rejected the

Roman

Rome? Could

Republic? These

re-

were answered by the Roman assembly decision.

We

have, by

the way, in the function of this Senate something that resembles

Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme much more rationally elaborated, but it too evaluates the

that of the

Court

is

decisions of the legislative assembly in the light of the great tradition

embodied in what we

call

the Constitution. This Court, too,

upon to decide if something is or is not agreeable to the Constitution, and hence to the tradition of the American Republic. The Romans did not work with a written constitution and thus had a more difficult time resolving these questions. The tradition being tied to religion made the task even more complicated. The is

called

old

men

of the Senate were asked to settle the issue and

they said "yes, said the

the law also pleases

law had acquired

us;

we

auctoritas.

It

are in agreement,"

when it

was

had acquired authority

AN INTRODUCTION TO

128 §

POLITICAL THEORY

because the decision of will on the part of the popular assembly

had been enlarged by reflected

and

men

a decision of "reason," as the old

upon the wisdom of the

legislation in terms of tradition

religion.

This analysis leads to another very important point. Although it

may appear

but is

so at

actually the

is

first

glance, authority

embodiment of

not opposed to reason

is

reason. This reasoning, however,

not reason in the sense of mathematical demonstration, nor in

the sense of Cartesian logic which reaches a necessary conclusion

from It is

a given starting point by a rigorous process of ratiocination. are concerned with expedient matters that involve value

judgments and interest,

In such circumstances

interests.

solution to your problem? Authority

ask:

will, desire,

is

Given

is

this

the right

the capacity to justify by

from the point of view of or preference. Let me elaborate this somewhat

by straying from the

is

desired

Consider for a

field of politics.

authority of a scholar or a professor. to

we

given this value, given this belief, what

a process of reasoning what

mere

which we speak of reason

rather reasoning in the sense in

when we

When

you

sit

moment

the

here and listen

me, occasionally writing down a note, you take a great deal

of what

on

say

I

authority.

Professor Friedrich says Socratic point of view.

exactly the

way

so.

You

are quite willing to let

Now

You

you

should

make

Professor Friedrich says

it

be, if

ought not to from a

really

sure that everything

You might

it is.

is

begin by

exploring the authorities to which he referred. After this lecture, for example, you should immediately rush to the library and get

out Lasswell' s book to see whether

which

I

may

I

have misrepresented Lasswell

well have done. If you should be so ornery a char-

acter as to read Lasswell

and would discover that Friedrich mis-

represented Lasswell, then surely his authority would decline with you.

You might

even

say, "I

any longer; he deceived

what he

me

do not

about Lasswell,

says about Machiavelli? Perhaps

Machiavelli!" Authority you see

Consider doctor

trust old Professor Friedrich

we

now all

is

I

why

should

I

believe

ought to go and read

something rather mysterious.

the parallel case of a doctor. accept his authority which,

When we go

when you

think of

to a it,

is

POWER AND AUTHORITY very curious. For the predictions doctors

make

§ 129

are often wrong,

even in very serious situations involving the death of the patient. I

am

sure you all

know

cases,

as I do,

where death had been

predicted, but did not occur, just as there are others

man who

overtakes a

has just been told that he will be

The

provided he takes certain precautions.

upon

rests

though

his

knowledge

is

all right,

authority of the doctor

knowing more and having

his

where death

defective. Indeed,

even

better reasons,

where knowledge

is

complete and there can be no question, as in elementary mathematics, authority plays only a small role.

In

all situations

nificant role,

where uncertainty and contingency play a

on the other hand, the question of who has the

judgment becomes

basis for

vital.

This

is

and the law, but more particularly in great or small, but step

up the war

it is

true not only in medicine

politics.

always a factor.

sig-

better

LBJ

Authority

tells

us that

may be we must

Vietnam, and the majority of Americans go

in

some people express doubts that the proposal is it. Why do most people go along? They say that this is such a complicated matter that they do not know enough about it to have a judgment of their own. The President, along, although

sound and advise against

however, has access to a great deal of information and advice from people

who know

all

about Vietnam and

Communism. Hence

they

prefer to abide by his judgment and accept his authority. Is there

any

similarity, then,

between the authority of the doctor,

the professor and the President? Is the meaning of authority

roughly comparable or even the same in politics as in those other

human

areas of

relations? I

of these examples the

tions.

In

sesses

something that

all

would answer:

I

yes to both these ques-

man who

would describe

elaboration, for giving convincing reasons for

poses to have others do. Let If

we

me make

has authority pos-

as the capacity for reasoned

clearer

what he does or prowhat

I

mean by

that.

accept the authority of the professor on the platform, the

White House the reason we do so is that we have a conviction based on a good deal of experience. We feel that if we could ask them to elaborate and if the time permitted, they would have a lot of good reasons for doctor in the

office,

or the President in the

AN INTRODUCTION TO

130 §

POLITICAL THEORY

as they did. In the end we might not same conclusion, but we accept the fact that

having spoken and decided

have arrived there

at the

not enough time. In any case, the

is

He

accepts has "his" reasons.

many good

man whose

authority one

has the capacity for elaborating, with

upon what he has put forward as the right community such reasoning often

reasons,

action to take. In the political

and

relates to the values, interests

munity. That reasoning

community of such

is,

beliefs prevalent in the

values, interests

and

com-

dependent upon a

in other words, beliefs.

This reasoning about actions in terms of values, interests and beliefs

is

obviously something that

why

can understand

and decline of

authority.

agree with me, that

and believed in a

ward

I

would

Many who had his leadership

politician.

Now

subject to change.

say,

and

I

when Johnson came

was not very

office his authority

grave dismay.

is

you

there often occurs a curious augmentation

large.

A

think

many would

into the Presidential

many people

great

felt

been enthusiastic about Kennedy

saw

his successor as little

more than

This was the reaction of nearly everybody

al-

though there were some, most noticeably members of Congress,

who

felt quite differently

about Johnson's

abilities.

Gradually, as

his time in office has passed, Johnson's authority has increased. It

has increased on a variety of grounds,

to the fact that people

possesses a quality to succeed.

When

saw

as this

man

all

of which are related

got into action that he

which Americans value tremendously, the

thing in legislation," lo and behold, and contrary to what

come

ability

Johnson proclaims, "I want such and such a

we had

to expect, the Congress goes along agreeing to just that. This

success has

made

a deep impression

upon

a great

many

people,

greatly enhancing Johnson's authority. Therefore a lot of people

are inclined to look to Johnson with confidence difficult issues.

They

figure out a way.

There

when

he will somehow work

feel is

it

it

out,

comes

to

somehow

confidence on the part of the American

people that Johnson possesses the capacity for reasoned elaboration.

One

the case vote;

phenomena in other countries. Take for example of Adenauer. Adenauer was elected chancellor by one

finds similar

many

claim

it

was

his

own.

It is clear

then that

at the be-

POWER AND AUTHORITY ginning of

power

this

tenure he had nothing but the ill-defined coercive

of a chancellor,

which was considerable, but by no means

approximated what he eventually had.

He

succeeded, however, in

building up an enormous authority and even today

no longer has the

office

of chancellor, he

The

secret chancellor of Germany.

beyond

is

at

times

called the

still

authority he acquired carried

he

a personal quality which transcends the explicit powers

go with the

We

is

when Adenauer

his office because the capacity for reasoned elaboration

possesses that

§ 131

office.

can on the other hand also observe the decline of authority.

Take the

case of Khrushchev.

case for a long time, but

I

We

will not

think there

know

is little

the facts on this

doubt that

at

some

point before October, 1964, there must have set in a sharp decline in the authority of

Khrushchev. In his formal power nothing

changed. There was only one indication of change in 1964 in the sharpest possible sition of the Soviet

way

when

Khrushchev

several articles in Soviet military journals criticized

as the destroyer of the defensive po-

Union. Evidently, not only did Khrushchev

lose his authority in the

armed

forces, but doubts as to his

immediate

sense, his capacity for reasoning soundly, arose in his

entourage. This the later accusations against

him

good

By

revealed.

speaking of his impetuosity, his recklessness and similar

traits

and

habits, his successors intimated his loss of authority. Similar dra-

matic revelations have accompanied the sudden

fall

and Nkrumah. Such events will help explain why

I

of Sukarno think

it

so

important that the student of politics separate authority from

power. In the

field

of authority one

is

able to observe

phenomena

that are outside the sphere of power. In this connection I

point out to you one other thing.

The

most noticeable in the case of aging Sukarno are cases in point. leaders age?

A

What

is

might

loss of authority is often

leaders.

Khrushchev and

really involved here,

when

leader continues to cherish the values, interests and

beliefs of the time

when he came

the world has not stood

still.

into power. In the

meantime

People, the citizens of a political

community, change, partly in response to a changing environment.

More important

is

that their values

change and with their values

132 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO and

their interests

This

beliefs.

There occurs a continuous supports political power. fore there

may be

POLITICAL THEORY is

in part a question of generations.

alteration of the

As

human

material which

the younger generation comes to the

such a difference between the values of the

leadership and the values of the followership that this capacity for reasoned elaboration although continuing as an individual capacity ceases to be politically viable.

The reasoning which might

have made perfectly good sense in terms of the old values does not

make good

sense in terms of the

this lag leads political

new

values.

On

with fantastic suddenness to the

great occasions

total collapse of

power. Like an empty shell a political system disappears.

These are usually instances where not only individuals but whole systems have lost their authority and could not maintain their rule

with merely the resources of coercion, since their persuasive power is

The

in eclipse.

authority which

to be effective for

sudden and

must go with government for

any length of time

total collapse are the

is

it

gone. Examples of such

French situation before the great

revolution of 1789 or the Russian situation before the great revolution of 1917. In both cases one finds systems in

associated with the system

had completely

which the people

lost the capacity for

reasoned elaboration, because their values, interests and beliefs

were so

utterly

situation they

unshared by the community

were bound

to disappear,

at large.

and so they

did.

In such a

IO Machiavelli

and Hobbes—

Theorists of Political

Power

Machiavelli and hobbes are certainly among the thinkers most worthy of study in the history of

They were both preoccupied with but in rather different ways. In

power and

definition of

my

political thought.

the problem of power,

last lecture I

gave you Hobbes'

a critical evaluation of

Machiavelli

it.

As

does not offer a definition of power; he never defines. torian as

and man of

he finds them.

when you'want There

is

heard cited:

a

affairs, It

a his-

he uses the words in common parlance

makes reading him

to be sure of

what he has

easier at in

first,

but harder

mind.

famous saying of Lord Acton which you may have

''All

power," he wrote to a friend, "tends to corrupt,

and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The quotation

what torn from

is

some-

No, I should say. Some men are undoubtedly corrupted by power, and particularly so, if their power is "absolute." (Power never is really absolute, context, but anyway:

by the way.) But other sion of

power heightens

men

is it

true?

are ennobled by power.

their sense of responsibility. 133

The

posses-

Lord Bryce

AN INTRODUCTION TO

134 §

and others have commented,

when

nary men,

POLITICAL THEORY

e.g.,

upon the

fact that rather ordi-

American Presidency, have at times become greater than they seemed before. We have had some recent examples of

The

elected to the

that.

notion that power tends to corrupt

f rooted

in our Christian tradition;

The

important legacies. is

it

is

is

nonetheless deeply

the belief that

most

politically

two kingdoms or

doctrine of the

a part of that tradition, as

is

one of the

if all

cities

men were

true

no government would be needed. The tendency of the is anti-organizational and anti-power for that reason; remember the admonition of Jesus that his kingdom is not Christians,

New

Testament

of this world. Power,

it

seems,

is

something for worldly people.

True Christians are people concerned with the salvation of their souls. Their virtue is a humility which is ready to "offer the other \cheek." Hence they are indifferent to the threatening and somewhat

To

realm of power.

sinister

was the foremost writer to

He

to politics.

intention

principalities

how we

princes,

fore

good.

how it

is

something of use for

live

is

far

man who

to use

power and

.

."

the medi-

all

"My

he wrote in

"many have imagined

it,

lest

dynamics

republics and

exist in reality;

removed from how we ought he bring

Machiavelli, its

his

to live."

has to wield power had better be realistic disaster

necessary for a prince

..."

.

which have been seen or known to

Therefore, any

about

proclaimed with bold frankness that

to write

is

handbook for for

reject this Christian bias as irrelevant

about a Christian prince were but dreams:

notions

eval

He

such notions, Machiavelli was radically opposed.

all

.

.

).

upon the

to learn

state.

how

"There-

not to be

in accordance with this outlook, at the

put

center of his political thought.

Writing in the sixteenth century, Machiavelli was by no means without predecessors in his concern with power. His writings are in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance

manism had

which reinforced by Hu-

resuscitated the thought of the ancients,

and

in the

sequel had become more and more worldly and pagan. Characteristically,

Machiavelli was inspired by these works, but

by the historians than by the philosophers.

Only

more

historians,

he

MACHIAVELLI AND HOBBES felt,

he

had explored the considered

the

§ 135

Plato,

what

Aristotle

and

with a hard headed description of con-

it

he found

it

indeed Titus Livius, upon

Roman

of

tradition

Thucydides and

in Tacitus, Polybius,

whom

prehensive work, the Discourses Livius on

POWER

reality of politics. Machiavelli rejected

idealistic

Aquinas and replaced crete reality as

— POLITICAL

Machiavelli built his most com-

Upon

Ten Books

the

of Titus

was quite unsophisticated

History. Machiavelli

about the historical accuracy of these historians, one has to concede, however, that although

what these antique

we

are

Tarquinius, and the other greats of little affect

now much more

historians reported about

critical

Roman history, these findings we revise the Titus Livius

Machiavelli' s arguments. If

of tradition in terms of

critical historical scholarship,

most of the

arguments of Machiavelli would remain as well supported

were by the

literary Livius

reason for this

is

with

easy to discover.

The

as they

whom

Machiavelli worked.

What

Machiavelli was primarily

concerned with in the writings of the

you might

of

Romulus and Remus,

classical historians

The

was what

the heart of the matter rather than specific details.

call

heart of the matter was simply the ebb and flow of power.

Machiavelli 's reaction to power was certainly not Lord Acton's conviction that

power

corrupts. This attitude

endemic in American thinking on

is,

by the way,

still

politics. It is clearly present, for

example, in the popular characterization of the politician as some

kind of a scummy character, dubious

company one ought scandal.

to avoid lest

at best

and someone whose

one get involved

in a corruption

This type of thinking Machiavelli totally

rejects.

For

him the seeker of power and the manipulator and wielder of power were the acme of humankind, the men who had a chance at the greatest of

human

tradition of the ancients,

achievements. Machiavelli, following the

was convinced

that the political order

was

the quintessential setting for the display of genuine virtue. Machiavelli' s

conception of virtue was similar to that of the

the Greeks. In carried the

Rome

Virtus, the source of the

meaning of the

first syllable,

Vir,

word

Romans and

virtue, strongly

man. Virtus implied

the qualities of the fighter and warrior, those of a virile individual.

This notion of Virtus

is

evoked

in the

American

tradition by the

I36 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

image of the red-blooded American which

usually set against

is

who wants to manly warrior, who

the virtues of the do-gooder, the Christer, the fellow

help other people. asserts himself

and

It

is

image of the

this

fights for his rights that Machiavelli believes

requires the political order for

most

its

effective self-realization.

Machiavelli has rejected the Christian notion of virtue for the secular

and

political values of the ancient world.

recognize religion, but primarily because of

Once again

ing the political order.

model,

s

Rome where

which supported the of

Roman

polity

is

its

He

willing to

value in strengthen-

Rome which

it is

is

served as his

the prevailing religion was a state religion political order.

A

kind of idealized picture

the inspiration for Machiavelli's image of the

best political order. Machiavelli's nostalgia for ancient

Rome

left

him with burning hatred for the Christian church, which meant for him the Roman Catholic Church. This Roman Church, wrote Machiavelli, had been the corruptor of Italy; it had made the Italians bad. It had corrupted them, made them cattivi, cattivi being a strong expression in Italian, carrying with evil,

something rotten to the

by suggesting that transferred

if

it

the implication of

reinforced this sentiment

by chance the seat of the Pope should be

from Rome

a considerable

He

core.

to Switzerland, a country distinguished by

amount of

virtue, the Swiss

would be corrupted

within two generations and would become as rotten as the Italians. i

is

This attack on Christianity and on

an aspect of Machiavelli's thinking which

heritage of the Renaissance and ancient.

its

political

glorification

of

libertarian

the

exalted

esteem of things

and

complement

republic

during

its

constitutionalist period, the state

state as the greatest of all

tells

relatively

works of

art.

The

art.

man saw

the

Italian Renaissance,

celebration of Giotto's success in painting in perspective

way Americans

brief

was a work of

us that Renaissance

you know, was the great age of human adoration of

parable to the

in the

to Machiavelli's

of state and power. For Machiavelli, an

Florentine

Indeed the great Burckhardt as

to

is

Such sentiments found in a number of writers

fifteenth century are an important

official

power some extent a

striving for secular

its

art. is

The com-

celebrate a great baseball player,

MACHIAVELLI AND HOBBES or conceivably a

achieved a

movie

new form

— POLITICAL

POWER

§

137

Giotto was praised for having

actress.

of expression in painting.

The same

appre-

and the

ciation held, of course, for sculpture, architecture

mood of his era, creations of man was the

rest.

Machiavelli, in keeping with the prevailing

indi-

cated that the greatest of

state.

The

greatest of all arts

all artistic

was that of building a

Machiavelli thought of state-building very terms. It

of the

by

an

is

artistically

Now

in Renaissance

on the order of Brunelleschi's, the builder

activity

Duomo

political order.

much

who had amazed

in Florence

his contemporaries

solving the great technical problems involved in

building the vast cupola of the Florentine cathedral. If you see the cathedral you will note that

man

achievement. For Renaissance

an

also a technical as well as

was both a

it

artistic

and

achievement. is

One

very crucial

a mastery of the materials

posit the limit of the materials

can be done with them in order to be a great

used in the great work of

artistic

the building of the state was

aspect of any technical achievement

worked with. One must

technical

art that is

artist.

The

and what materials

the state are, as Machiavelli

human beings. One must not deceive himself about the human beings or he will be like a builder of a cathedral who treats stone as if it were wood, or wood as if it were some saw

it,

nature of

kind of flexible material. In looking at his

His view

men

scribes

human

material, Machiavelli

was a

"realist."

generally considered a very pessimistic one.

is

in rather

He

de-

uncomplimentary terms. This negativism

is

tempered, however, by a very considerable dose of optimism. This

same human being who, generally speaking, so deplorably lacks virtu,

the quality of greatness,

is

also capable of superb achieve-

ments. For besides the mass of ordinary men, there

superb

man.

leader, the

superb

Like

Nietzsche's

founder of the

virtu,

virtue.

order such a great entire citizenry.

state is a

When

man

is

superman,

is

the hero, the

Machiavelli's

great

unique person endowed with

building or remodeling a political

capable of infusing his virtue into the

These miserable creatures which human beings

usually are or tend to

become when not properly guided

transformed into patriotic

citizens,

capable of

are thereby

sacrifice, self -exertion

AN INTRODUCTION TO

138 §

and

the other patriotic virtues. But man's natural tendency

all

lose that virtue. Gradually

again a great

man must

philosophers, but filled republics

One

It is

most important

He

who would welcome

He

stroyed

Roman

many people

freedom.

men

in

He had

destroys a constitutional order

man and

reveals that there

is

Roman

opinion? Caesar, he

this

is

one

power

history.

had de-

felt,

Roman

destroyed the venerable it.

Someone who

to be despised even though he

a powerful man. His attitude toward Caesar a certain inconsistency or in-built contradic-

tion in Machiavelli's thought

which becomes evident when one

compares his Prince with his Discourses. In The Prince he seems to imply that

this

and Caesarism.

clearly rejects Caesar

constitution instead of regenerating or recreating

be a strong

as

a Caesar capable of reestablishing the

But Machiavelli

was Machiavelli of

clearly

at certain desperate turns rather anti-liber-

whom

tarian characters such as the Italian Condottiere,

Borgia

virtu-

he was extremely

to realize that

has been misread by

described Caesar as one of the worst

Why

good and

alternation between

and various degenerate governments.

hostile to Caesar.

state.

to

not quite like that in the Greek

cycle,

more an

should not misunderstand Machiavelli's attitude in

connection.

is

he succumbs to corruption and once

appear to reestablish the commonwealth.

So there exists a natural

of the

POLITICAL THEORY

much admired, can

reconstitute the Florentine

Cesare

Common-

wealth, or even unite Italy, as he hopes the addressee of the work,

the Medici Prince, might do. In his Discourses, however, he

makes

it

more

reflective

work, The

clear that once this task of re-

unification or of re-establishing the

power of the

state, is

accom-

plished, such a leader cannot be considered the great builder of a

true state unless he transforms this reconstituted

community

into

a constitutional order. This explains Machiavelli's admiration for a figure like Solon, the

famous Athenian

from Athens for many

years after he

tion, for fear that if velli

fully

it

he stayed he might become a

approved of

this

who

departed

new

constitu-

tyrant.

Machia-

legislator,

had given

course of action.

a

He

advised his

statesman-reformer to follow this path as contrasted with the

wrong

actions of such as Caesar.

MACHIAVELLI AND HOBBES would

I

like to

— POLITICAL

POWER

§ 139

mention one other point of great importance

in

connection with Machiavelli's attitude toward power, the notion of reason of

ment

state.

poses, be

it

When

one

confronted with the tasks govern-

is

the major secular task of building a political

order or the minor but nonetheless important task of maintaining a political order situations in

and operating

which one

is

effectively, there are continually

it

confronted with the problem of acting

There

rationally, in the sense of acting successfully.

is

in all of

Machiavelli's writings a persistent anti-Christian and indeed pagan

preoccupation with success. Such success

kind of

terms of other-worldly concerns or of goals

self-sacrifice in

and causes for which men anyone

who proposed

the opposite of any

is

up

will give

their lives.

was

to die for a lost cause

To

Machiavelli

and not

a fool,

worthy of consideration. This emphasis on success of operations leads Machiavelli to a kind of emphasis

on expediency, a purely

pragmatic rationality in connection with

politics. It is this ration-

ality

which the term "reason of

"Reason of

state"

is

state"

is

meant

a pragmatic rationality that

is

to designate.

not concerned

with whether the goals being sought are intrinsically reasonable or not.

concern

Its

is

purely with the question of

how

to conduct

operations that lead to a successful conclusion. In this connection

the claim

is

frequently

made

was an expounder

that Machiavelli

From what

of the doctrine that the end justifies the means. just said to case.

you

it

must be

clear,

Indeed, the sentence "end

occur in Machiavelli's writings. it

however, that

justifies It is

in your translation but

text.

The

translator

was what Machiavelli must have meant

translated a sentence

which

it

different kind of notion that the

"end

the means will be quite clear.

justification of

justifies

the means."

He

is

not at

all

de-

The justi-

interested in the

means. For Machiavelli the means are the means

rationally designed for achieving an end. Justification sary.

is

he

seeks to achieve," as the very

reason Machiavelli does not expound the view that the end fies

was

that

in Italian reads "every action

signed in terms of the end which

have

I

cannot be the

the means" does not even

found

does not occur in Machiavelli's original

so sure that this

this

The problem

of justification arises only

is

unneces-

when one must match

AN INTRODUCTION TO

140 §

POLITICAL THEORY

such rationality in terms of the needs of the situation with some conflicting moral, religious or ethical conviction. This

is

precisely

the problem that Machiavelli eliminated by saying that the organization

there

On

namely the

itself,

is

the highest value beyond which

state, is

no limiting standard.

turning from Machiavelli to Hobbes, one encounters a very

different kind of person

One and

and a very different

political climate.

The Prince Hobbes

a quarter centuries after the writing of

De

published his major works. In 1642 there appeared

Cive, a

kind of summary treatment of the problems of the Leviathan and in

1651 the Leviathan

itself

was published. Hobbes wrote

in the

midst of the great English revolution. His writings thus

fall

historically within the context of the Puritan's challenge to English

constitutional tradition

and the concurrent monarchical

effort to

transform this tradition. Consequently the social context of Hobbes'

England was that of a

traditional

tionary democratic forces. trary,

saw a

The

monarchy challenged by revoluon the con-

Italian Renaissance,

multiplicity of absolute rulers of the Italian city-states

fighting with each other. This incessant warfare created discontent

and weakness so widespread

invasion.

Not

and Machiavelli operated quite

different, so too

writing out of the ivory tower. Extremely

to construct a complete ivory tower,

managed

open

were

to foreign

their person-

He was

(Hobbes was very unlike Machiavelli.

alities.

man

that all Italy lay

only were the historical situations in which Hobbes a cloistered

difficult as

all

forms of academic involvement such

politics

are committed

to.

who become members

about

When ton,

is

office.

as

He

most

of a university faculty

Such involvements preclude an ivory tower

existence and inevitably involve practical politics. faculty

be

quite well in avoiding personal involvement such as

also avoided

on

may

Hobbes nearly succeeded. He

getting a wife or joining an organization or holding an

writers

it

not devoid of politics. There

Woodrow Wilson which Wilson, who had been a

became governor of

New

is

Even a university

a true anecdote told

illustrates this

point rather nicely.

professor and president of Prince-

Jersey, a rather

tough fight occurred

MACHIAVELLI AND HOBBES at

— POLITICAL

POWER

§ 141

one time in the Governor's Council. One of the professional turned to Wilson and said,

politicians

didn't realize

what you were getting into when you

be elected governor and ton."

"Well, Professor, you

Wilson smiled and

politics is child's play

"My

said:

compared

dear friend, this kind of

to academic politics."

He

not involve himself in this sort of thing.

On

let yourself

your academic cloister over in Prince-

left

Hobbes did

preferred his ivory

some great lord and lived in his manor house, but primarily he was preoccupied with his thinking and writing. At one and the same time, however, Hobbes is the philosopher of power. Much more than even Machiavelli, Hobbes is centrally concerned with the problem of power. In The Leviathan, which tower.

occasion he was the companion of

you have been reading, he describes the

and the

restless desire for

human

The

of his age. writings on is

is

man

as a "perpetual

power unto death." Hobbes saw

Hobbes

upon

to be looked

as the philosopher

seventeenth century in general

a recognition of

thinks

after

of

condition as a ceaseless striving for power. Incidentally,

these views entitle

lence. It

power

life

is

charactrized by

and a preoccupation with power. But Hobbes'

power

display, in a sense, a

clear that

he

detests this very

the central one with which

fHobbes, then, bases his

human

political

deep love/hate ambiva-

realm of power which he

human

beings must cope,

thought on a very different con-

Whereas Machiavelli is in one sense pessimistic regarding the ordinary man, but optimistic regarding the exceptional man, Hobbes is pessimistic ception

of

existence

than

does

Machiavelli.

through and through. His pessimism extends to

all

human

beings.

There is a famous chapter on equality in Leviathan in which Hobbes challenged a long tradition which some cherish to this day.

He

denies there that any real difference exists between

beings.

He

is

human

the egalitarian par excellence. Perhaps, he concedes,

there might be

some

slight differences

between people in physical

strength and mental ability, but on the whole they are not signifi-

cant enough to alter the basic equality of men. are like

most other human beings and they are

Most human beings all

pretty miserable!

AN INTRODUCTION TO

142 §

One

and fearful

indication of their sorry

of their equality

POLITICAL THEORY

the equal capacity of

:

lot is the ultimate

all

proof

individuals to kill one

another.

On

human

the basis of this conception of

what has been

veloped

described

rightly

nature, his

as

own

sentences, "life

view places Hobbes firmly

Europe

best

but motion." Such a

is

in the tradition rapidly developing in

1600 which we

after

de-

mechanistic

summed up

materialism. This mechanistic materialism can be

by one of Hobbes'

Hobbes

label the scientific revolution.

Me-

chanics became the central preoccupation of intellectuals from

Hobbes undertook

Galileo to Newton.

by proceeding on the premise that

its

like

was but motion. In the

Essential to Hobbes' theory

mother of so much of reflecting

upon

is

could be assembled, analyzed,

the devaluation of reason, the great

is

really

Plato and Aristotle. Reason subtracting, as

It

in the history of political thought.

political

Hobbes. For Hobbes reason

is

philosophy from Plato

mere reckoning. deep

now

he sometimes puts

issues of

motivation

is

It

it

is

die.

The

mood, leads one It is

did for

reckoning about? that

is

a

is

man's basic

no

summum malum,

is

summum a highest

important to note that Hobbes speaks

often stated that is

Hobbes speaks merely of

not true. Indeed, the fear of death pro-

duces a quite different kind of political philosophy. After

have to

it

to leave this life before one's time as a

is

result of violent death. It

of violent death;

as

merely calculating, adding and

the fear of violent death. There

the fear of death. This

to

it.

bonum, no highest good, but there highest evil

down

has nothing to

wisdom

What are such unhappy and miserable men What are they calculating? Hobbes answers

The

I

any other machine. This notion of Hobbes

marks an important milestone

evil.

mechanics

and thought7*he tried to develop mere mechanism, something akin to a

various components.

and understood

do with

politics into

to your reflection

the argument that life was

watch with

life

fit

two pages of The Leviathan, which

interesting introductory

recommend

to

all

we

all

general fear of death puts one into a metaphysical to speculation about the afterlife

the source of

much

religious thought. In

and immortality.

Hobbes the

stress is

MACHIAVELLI AND HOBBES

— POLITICAL

POWER

§ 143

on the fear of violent death. His concern is not religious, for this violence results mostly from hostile human beings who attack

and deprive one another of There are other

the most important of

life,

rival motivations like

values.

all

greed and the desire for

glory, but these are merely incidental to the basic motivation, the

fear of violent death. It leads to the basic

ing to Hobbes there

law of gravitation

a law of nature, in the

is

is

law of nature. Accord-

a law of nature,

same sense

that the

that all

human

which

is

beings are seeking security and to avoid violent death. this that It is

men on

reckon, that

men

ment on how the

state

^

You remember that in who knows how to accumulate

comes into being.

Machiavelli the superior individual

and manipulate power builds a miserable

state

men. Hobbes' account

men who

out of the recalcitrant mais

quite different. All these

are quaking in their boots because they

lose their lives by violent death gather together tract

about

foundation that Hobbes offers his striking argu-

this

terial that are

It is

calculate.

might

and make a con-

with each other to escape from their miserable condition. In

order to accomplish

what must they do? They must write

this,

the contract, "I agree with you and you agree with

submit ourselves to someone else

whom we

me

we

that

into will

will both allow to be

power over us. This person we shall call the Sovereign of our commonwealth." The Sovereign of the absolute state comes into existence because those subject to him have agreed with each other that without him their life is intolerable. In this the holder of absolute

connection

I

want

to cite

one more famous passage from Hobbes

which gives some indication of

power.

his extraordinary stylistic

In this passage he describes what would be the situation frightened It

is

clear

men

if

did not agree on a sovereign power above them.

from

this

passage that there

is

in Hobbes'

mind

a

notion of something besides bare subsistence as constituting values for

human

beings. This citation

is

from chapter 13 of the Levi-

athan and occurs in the context of Hobbes' discussion of the state of war.

"The condition

prior to their entering into the contract,

war of

the state of nature,

is

dition of universal

and general war with the constant threat of

a condition of

all

against

all,

a con-

/ /

e

144 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

violent death. Whatsoever therefore is consequent to where every man is enemy to every man, the same

when men

to the time their

own

live

war

a time of is

consequent

without any other security than what

strength and their

own

withal. In such condition there

invention should furnish them

no place for industry because

is

the fruits thereof are uncertain, and consequently no culture of the

no navigation nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious buildings, no instruments of movearth,

ing and removing such things as require

much

of the face of the earth, no account of time, societies,

and which

violent death

is

and the

worst of life

all,

continual fear and danger of

—

man

of

solitary, poor, nasty, brutish

me

and short." This sentence always reminds dent

who

no knowledge no arts, no letters, no force,

of the African stu-

describes Hobbes' state of nature as "solitary, poor,

nasty, British

and short."

This description of the

of nature

state

is

really the heart of the

Hobbesian position. The fear of violent death but

teristic feature,

we must

Hobbes did recognize

natural state, but they could not

men

to dislike their

central crucial

value of effective survival. This alone

prudent

men

that

compare to the

the lack of industry, letters and arts also led

all

most charac-

not forget that there are other un-

pleasant aspects of the state of nature.

(,

is its

made

it

a

law of nature for

to seek peace; peace defined in the organization of

political society.

There I

is

a

good deal more

one can say on

political theory, his theory of representation.

most keen on having one all

the other

men

that

man

Hobbes

is

be the recipient of the power of

come together

to

form

political society.

He

an Englishman and writing in England so he always adds after

his description of the unitary sovereign the words, "or a

men," but and makes he

but

this score,

would like to single out one other important ingredient in

Hobbes'

is

that

is

it is it

group of

obvious he does not truly believe in this concession

simply for the sake of the readers.

so preoccupied with having one single ruler

his notion of representation. In chapter 16,

One is

Hobbes

reason

why

derived from writes that a

group or multitude of people cannot be one except through the

MACHIAVELLI AND HOBBES single person

who

represents them.

— POLITICAL

The one who

POWER

represents

the creator of the political order because only in this

group of people become one. This

"maybe

casual acceptance of

by

rhetoric. It is contradicted

is

why

sentation.

emphasis on the multitude being

In this respect, as in so

Machiavelli was

still

many

it

might

problem of repre-

say about the crucial

little to

a

suggested that Hobbes'

represented by one in order to become one. Machiavelli,

be noted, has very

all is

way can

group of men" was merely

also a this

I

§ 145

other important ones,

solidly in the tradition of classical antiquity

which was not concerned with the problem of representation. So far

I

have developed for you these two

toward power. authority.

On

writers' attitudes

remains to say a word about their thought on

It

score

this

would be inclined

I

to put the rather

extreme proposition that neither Machiavelli nor Hobbes understood the

phenomenom

of authority. In some ways their defective-

ness as political thinkers

is

revealed in this failure to understand

the issues presented by authority as contrasted with the issues raised by power. It

is

very interesting in this respect to contrast

Machiavelli and Hobbes with Plato and Aristotle, particularly Plato, because

and

he was preoccupied with the problem of authority

in turn neglected as

seemed

unimportant the problem of power.

to Plato to be of

primary importance

develop for you as the problem of authority. in this

some

is

The

what

to

lack of interest

problem of our modern pair of writers may be explained

to

Hobbes were power and how

extent:T>y~tKe fact that both Machiavelli and

preoccupied with the problem of to bring the state into existence.

how

to organize

They were concerned with the

origin of the state, rather than the operation of the state

maintenance of a only

What

I tried

when one

is

political order.

What

rightly said,

you cannot

you cannot for long maintain an power; you must add to explained to you

Now, what

essential to note

is

that

concerned with the maintenance of a political

order does the problem of authority

As has been

is

and the :r

it

move

sit

into the foreground.

for long

upon bayonets, so with mere brute

effective order

this other

element of authority which

I

last time.

accounts for Machiavelli's and Hobbes' emphasis on

146 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

the origin of the state? that they

some is,

were both

all,

think that this

I

in part

is

due

to the fact

arch-individualists. In this respect they are, to

own

products of their

extent,

after

POLITICAL THEORY

Rising individualism

era.

a characteristic feature of the sixteenth

and seventeenth

They were both preoccupied with the independence of isolation from his fellow man. Consequently the

centuries.

man, with man's

problem of the origin of

do such

isolated

on the whole

political society

to be

much

How

became magnified.

and independent men get together? less individualistic

We who tend

and more inclined

assume along with Aristotle that human beings by nature

live in

society, are

not as plagued by this problem of the origins of

politi-

cal orders

and

to

states.

There

another possible explanation for

is

Hobbes' and Machiavelli's emphasis on the origin of the is

in this period that the

still

modern

state

state. It

emerged. In 1500 there could

be some doubt as to whether the decentralized feudal order

had passed. In 1650 there could not

modern

seventeenth century the

state

be.

By

the middle of the

had come

Such a

to stay.

revolutionary development was naturally a matter of great and

How

persistent concern for thoughtful people.

happened, they asked, what

is its

explanation?

could this have

The

first efforts

to

answer these questions were of a philosophical nature, stressing the

Only

abstract roots of obligation.

later, in

Hobbes, did people begin to make

the generation following

historical studies rather

than

write philosophical treatises on the origins of the political order.

Only then did

writers begin to trace the development of this

extraordinary kind of organization by detailed historical inquiry.

The

issue that

final

whether

it

is

I

possible in

want to deal with

is

the question of

any precise or detailed sense to label

Machiavelli and Hobbes as forerunners of totalitarianism.

answer

this question in the negative.

the favorite pastimes, as

it

At

I

would

the present time one of

has been for the past generation,

is

tracing the roots of totalitarianism to various hitherto respected

forerunners. Nearly everyone has

blame from Marx and Engels

come

to Luther

haps for politeness sake only, Jesus Christ

But since Luther and

St.

in for his share of the

and is

St.

Augustine. Per-

omitted from the

list.

Augustine were rather preoccupied with

MACHIAVELLI AND HOBBES the thought of Christ he

any case there

is

velli

more

Two

than of others.

that has

argument

whom

and Hobbes. Like the

on power

some

in the case of

this is particularly true are

totalitarians they

in their writings.

POWER

§ 147

brought in through the back door. In

is

to this

of

— POLITICAL

do have

emphasis

this

This emphasis on power

is

writers

Machia-

something

come under serious scrutiny in our times by the depth psyThe authoritarian personality is now a preoccupation

chologists.

with psychoanalysts.

It

has almost gotten to the point where

assumed that

is

too keen about power

if

one

when

very dreadful thing happened to you

nothing you can do about

The emphasis on power

it

means

it

is

some

very tiny. There

your authoritarian bent

it;

that

is

irreversible.

is

modern psychological studies and in the Hobbes is shared with totalitarianism.

in

writings of Machiavelli and

This emphasis, however,

is

phenomenon of our time power

is

a recurrent

institutions. is

There

is

not really the heart of the totalitarian

in

theme

its

most

Emphasis on

specific sense.

in the history of political thought

nothing surprising or novel about

it.

and

What

almost completely lacking in both Machiavelli and Hobbes are

the distinctive characteristics of totalitarianism which include

emphasis on an ideology and connected with party, the elitist status of

which

results

its

emphasis on

this its

from an understanding and

acceptance of this ideology. There are certain other organizational features of a totalitarian dictatorship like secret police

weapons which

oly of

ideology and

tures, the

I

two

central fea-

carrier the party, are the

unique and

leave aside here. These its

dynamic force that they have become because this ideology

ment.

It is

society

other

is

is

in the twentieth century

of a particular kind in a totalitarian move-

inspired by a belief on the one

totally

wrong, and

hand by the

and monop-

totally to

hand

that the existing

be condemned, and on the

belief that a total reconstruction

terms of the ideology that

is

expounded. The

contains both a critique and a program.

It

is

possible in

totalitarian ideology

can be argued that

ideology performs this dual function, but totalitarian ideology

unique in the

totality of

all is

both critique and reform. Unlike the

Nazi ideology the communist

totalitarian ideology

is

further in-

spired by a philosophy of history, an eschatological conception of

148 §

AN INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICAL THEORY

the course of history. I've talked about this earlier in the course

so

remind you of

I just

it

here. This philosophy of history lends to

the organizational claim of the vigor. It

is,

movement

a specific force and

so-to-speak, determined by history that the result

outcome of the revolutionary

must be organized

claims. All the activities that

and

be what the ideology

effort will

are merely helpful assistance to something that

is

to bring

about

it

going to happen

anyhow. This entire frame of reference of totalitarian thought pletely alien to to

Hobbes and Machiavelli.

have

I

is

com-

just pointed out

you that they were both archindividualists. Machiavelli en-

visioned an individual hero in his image.

No

who

could actually reshape a society

such fancies are found in Marxism.

Marx would

have considered such notions complete and absurd obscurantism.

The individual can do nothing himself to shape history. History its own law and all one can do is try and understand it. Once it understood one can help

Hobbes the

along. In

it

situation

similar. In contrast to Machiavelli, his writings bear

tion to history. is

Hobbes

no such thing

cannot happen.

happened.

is

even

The only

thing that can happen

is

There

men. This

what has always

People unite and subject themselves more or

miserably to the kind of rule found

no sense of perfectionism anywhere that there could be a this reason I

good

would

all

in

is

very

less rela-

ahistorical in the deepest sense.

an eschatological fulfillment for

as

is

is

less

over the globe. There

Hobbes. There

is

is

no notion

which man could construct. For Hobbes lacks the pseudo-religious

society

say that

impulse and zeal required of the important to realize that in

totalitarian. In this respect

many

it

is

ways, particularly in the realm the Middle Ages,

of thought control and uniformity,

against

which both Machiavelli and Hobbes fought so vigorously, were

modern era than is the thought They had no use for any of the

closer to the totalitarianism of the

of Hobbes and Machiavelli.

trappings of totalitarianism.

were both valiant lectivism.

thought

is

At

the

I

fighters for

think

same time, and

marred by

it

quite fair to say that they

modern man I

hope

I

against medieval col-

brought

this out, their

their preoccupation with power.

Both

their

.

MACHIAVELLI AND HOBBES strength and their weakness

the problem of

power

in

lie

in a dramatic

— POLITICAL

.

.

POWER

§ 149

the fact that they articulated

and challenging way. At the

same time, however, by positing power said the richness, variety

.

.

as

an absolute they gain-

and complexity of human existence.

READINGS, SUGGESTED AND REQUIRED Lectures 9 and 10:

REQUIRED READING: thomas hobbes,

Leviathan (Collier)

:

Part

I,

Chs. 10-16; Part

II.

niccolo MACHIAVELLI, The Prince, tr. Caponigri (Gateway). john plamenatz, Man and Society, Vol. I, Chs. 1, 4 (McGrawHill).

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: '-

Authority, ed. Friedrich,

Nomos

Herbert butterfield,

Statecraft of Machiavelli (Collier)

I

(Harvard).

frederico chabod, Machiavelli and the Renaissance (Harvard).

Robert filmer,

Patriarcha, ed. Laslett. Cf. J. Locke's First Treatise

(Hofner).