It is tempting to admit that there is such a thing as political philosophy untainted by ideology. Ideology is a pattern of particulars driven by precepts that have little to do with philosophy which presupposes universals. Neither totalitarianism nor democracy is relevant to philosophy because they evolve out the morass of preferential human behavior and beliefs from which precepts evolve. A totalitarian state develops ad-hoc organization of opportune power by the precept of distrust in the many whose behaviors must be under constant vigilance and punishment. A democratic state develops its opportune power by the precept of pervasive control through egalitarian law, in lieu of control by the few who have organized a network of hit men.
Notwithstanding the desirability of believing that this nation was formed by benevolent philosopher-kings, the fact is the founding fathers, whose grievances against a lunatic and tyrannical king, were well aware that to form a new nation in a wilderness consisting of essentially uneducated masses prone to lawlessness had to give the appearance of egalitarian laws to quell the potential of bestiality by the illusion that all men are created equal and therefore subject to individual responsibility under self rule. There was no pure philosophic primacy subject to some high brow maxim that all of humanity was in essence an intellectual force in behalf of universal goodness. On the contrary, humanity could never arrive anywhere near an ideal plane without the interdiction of stern justice, though clothed in a Bill of Rights, to punish the natural inclination of the savage and rebellious spirit.
Whether it be Hobbes’ Leviathan that humbles the free spirit, or Rousseau’s general will that magnifies natural, individual drive, they both pragmatically address the unpredictability of human behavior, not some underlying essence that cozies up to a pre-existent universal principle dictating to the human spirit to do good or evil. Humanity is simply what it is: just another unruly element in the universe. If civilization is to endure man must be tamed and refined either by aggressive law or brute force — surely not by philosophy.
Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: September 27, 2004.
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