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HAGAKURE

葉隠For the most part, we admire our own opinions and grow fond of arguing.

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SYDE261 - W2011

The Social Contract

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Relevant Readings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract

The Social Contract

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So how do we all get along?

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

Some options are (but not limited to):

- build fences and borders to keep people we don’t like out

- make laws and rules that we agree to (sometimes there is no formal agreement)

- publish books telling others what we think is important- have meetings where we discuss values- vote on who is in charge and gets to make rules- have police and courts to punish people who do “bad” things (but who defines bad?)

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Social Contract - a pretty good definition from Wikipedia:

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

The notion of the social contract implies that the people give up sovereignty to a government or other authority in order to receive or maintain social order through the rule of law. It can also be thought of as an agreement by the governed on a set of rules by which they are governed. [Wikipedia]

Give up sovereignty

Receive social order through rule of law

Agreement on the rules by those affected by the rules!

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THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

There are clearly several different opinions on how we establish the rules of our society!

Democracy

RepublicChristianity

Islam

Socialism

Capitalism

FascismAnarchy

Communism

NihilismTaoism

Hagakure - the Way of the Samurai

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Hobbes

HOBBES - LEVIATHAN

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

According to Thomas Hobbes, human life would be "nasty, brutish, and short" without political authority. In its absence, we would live in a state of nature, where each person has unlimited natural freedoms, including the "right to all things" and thus the freedom to harm all who threaten our own self-preservation; there would be an endless "war of all against all" (Bellum omnium contra omnes). To avoid this, free men establish political community i.e. civil society through a social contract in which each gains civil rights in return for subjecting himself to civil law or to political authority.

[Wikipedia]

NASTY BRUTISH SHORTWithout political authority life is:

- first published contract theory

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LOCKE - Second Treatise of GovernmentJohn Locke's conception of the social contract differed from Hobbes' in several ways, but retained the central notion that persons in a state of nature would willingly come together to form a state. Locke believed that individuals in a state of nature would have stronger moral limits on their action than accepted by Hobbes, but recognized that people would still live in fear of one another. Locke argued that individuals would agree to form a state that would provide a "neutral judge", and that could therefore protect the lives, liberty, and property of those who lived within it. While Hobbes argued for near-absolute authority, Locke argued in his Second Treatise of Government that laws could only be legitimate if they sought to achieve the common good. Locke also believed that people will do the right thing as a group, and that all people have natural rights.

- people would come together to form a state- not as pessimistic as Hobbes about humans in a state of nature, but still believes we would live in fear of one another- laws should achieve the common good- people will do the “right thing” as a group- all people have natural rights

[Wikipedia]

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Rousseau - The Social ContractJean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), in his influential 1762 treatise The Social Contract, outlined a different version of social contract theory, based on popular sovereignty. Although Rousseau wrote that the British were perhaps at the time the freest people on earth, he did not approve of their representative government. Rousseau believed that liberty was possible only where there was direct rule by the people as a whole in lawmaking, where popular sovereignty was indivisible and inalienable. Citizens must, in at least some circumstances, be able to choose together the fundamental rules by which they would live, and be able to revise those rules on later occasions if they choose to do so - something the British people as a whole were unable to do.Rousseau's political theory has some points in common with Locke's individualism, but departs from it in his development of the "luminous conception" (which he credited to Diderot) of the general will. Rousseau argues a citizen can be an egoist and decide that his personal interest should override the collective interest. However, as part of a collective body, the individual citizen puts aside his egoism to create a "general will", which is popular sovereignty itself. Popular sovereignty (i.e., the rule of law), thus decides what is good for society as a whole, and the individual (including the administrative head of state, who could be a monarch) must bow to it, or be forced to bow to it:[The social contract] can be reduced to the following terms: Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will; and in a body we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.[2]

- differs from previous work by emphasizing the general will

- influenced the French Revolution and Republicism

- even the highest individual (like a king), must adhere to it

- addresses the manipulation of the law by the powerful and wealthy

[Wikipedia]

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Moralityis a sense of behavioral conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or right) and bad (or wrong). A moral code is a system of morality (for example, according to a particular philosophy, religion, culture, etc.) and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code. Immorality is the active opposition to morality, while amorality is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or disbelief in any set of moral standards or principles.[1][2][3][4]

also known as moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice, etc.

Ethics

[Wikipedia]

[Wikipedia]

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Rights

Duties

are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory. Rights are of essential importance in such disciplines as law and ethics, especially theories of justice and deontology.

is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action[citation needed] and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognizes a duty, that person commits himself/herself to the cause involved without considering the self-interested courses of actions that may have been relevant previously.

[Wikipedia]

[Wikipedia]

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THE GREEKS - the big three

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

Plato - 428-348 BC

Aristotle - 384-322 BC

Socrates - 469-399 BC

- found the universal in the particular

- universals exist apart from the particular - Beauty, Goodness, iPadness exist as ideal Forms in a metaphysical realm

- Beauty exists in the beautiful object, not in some other Form

- Plato’s teacher and a founder of Western philosophySocrates

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Plato

Plato in his book The Republic divided governments into four basic types:■democracy: government by the many■oligarchy: government by the few (often called aristocracy, i.e.

government by the best)■ timocracy: government by socio-military complexes (as in Sparta)■monarchy/tyranny: government by one

He found flaws with all of them and thus concluded that none were suitable systems of government. Aristotle largely embraced Plato's ideas and in his Politics three types (excluding timocracy) are discussed in detail. Aristotle considers aristocracy the ideal form of government, but he observes that none of the three are healthy and that states will cycle between the three forms in an abrupt and chaotic process known as the kyklos. In his Politics he lists a number of theories of how to create a stable government. One of these options is creating a government that is a mix of all three forms of government.

[Wikipedia]

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

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Aristotle

The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of prominent citizens was commonly used and contrasted with monarchy, in which an individual king held the power. The Ancient Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld.[2]In Rome, The Republic consisted of an aristocracy as well as consuls, a senate, and a tribal assembly. The Republic ended with the death of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BC. Later, aristocracies primarily consisted of an elite aristocratic class, privileged by birth and often wealth. Since the French Revolution, aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens hold some form of political power. However this distinction is oversimplified. Wealth also accumulates among the few in democracies, while aristocrats are often short of money[citation needed].

Aristocracy (from Greek ἄριστος aristos "excellent," and κράτος kratos "power"), is a form of government in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. The term was derived from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best".[1] See Aristocracy (class) for the historical roots of the term.

[Wikipedia]

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UtilitarianismUtilitarianism (also: utilism) is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its usefulness in maximizing utility or minimizing negative utility (utility can be defined as pleasure, preference satisfaction, knowledge or other things) as summed among all sentient beings. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. The most influential contributors to this theory are considered to be Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. [Wikipedia]

...but how do we actually make this calculation?

The moral value of an action is determined by the maximum utility.

In layman’s terms: The action which creates the most good is the most moral!

Sounds pretty good to me, I like “good”...

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UtilitarianismThe hedonic calculus is what Bentham thought all people must do before deciding the utility of the certain act in question. It is dependent on:■Its intensity.■Its duration.■Its certainty or uncertainty.■Its propinquity, or remoteness.■Its fecundity, or the chance it has of being followed by similar sensations: that is,

pleasures, if it is pleasure: pains, if it is pain.■Its purity, or the chance it has of not being followed by, sensations of the opposite

kind: that is, pain, if it is pleasure: pleasure, if it is pain.■Its extent (the number of people who are affected by it).However, Mill's rule utilitarianism is much more relative in that he encourages people to do acts that are pleasurable to themselves as long as they are what he calls a "higher pleasure" for example, the arts like literature, poetry, the opera. However, the meta-ethics of rule utilitarianism can be questioned as they are much more absolutist, since Mill is absolute in what he values as a higher pleasure.

[Wikipedia]

HEDONIC CALCULUS - sort of a pros vs. cons

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UtilitarianismPeter Singer, along with many animal rights activists, has argued that the well-being of all sentient beings ought to be seriously considered. Singer suggests that rights are conferred according to the level of a creature's self-awareness, regardless of their species. He adds that humans tend to be speciesist (discriminatory against non-humans) in ethical matters. Bentham made a similar argument, writing "the question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?"[1]. [Wikipedia]

Are you a speciesist?How do you calculate animal suffering?Are animals moral agents?

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NietzscheIn Daybreak Nietzsche begins his "Campaign against Morality".[49] He calls himself an "immoralist" and harshly criticizes the prominent moral schemes of his day: Christianity, Kantianism, and utilitarianism. In Ecce Homo Nietzsche called the establishment of moral systems based on a dichotomy of good and evil a "calamitous error",[50] and wished to initiate a re-evaluation of the values of the Judeo-Christian world.[51] He indicates his desire to bring about a new, more naturalistic source of value in the vital impulses of life itself.

[Wikipedia]- kickstarts the modern movement towards existentialism

- response to religious influence on morality, science, and basically every aspect of daily life

(best moustache in modern philosophy)

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The statement "God is dead", occurring in several of Nietzsche's works (notably in The Gay Science), has become one of his best-known remarks. On the basis of it, most commentators[52] regard Nietzsche as an atheist; others (such as Kaufmann) suggest that this statement reflects a more subtle understanding of divinity. In Nietzsche's view, recent developments in modern science and the increasing secularization of European society had effectively 'killed' the Christian God, who had served as the basis for meaning and value in the West for more than a thousand years.Nietzsche claimed the death of God would eventually lead to the loss of any universal perspective on things, and along with it any coherent sense of objective truth.[53] Instead we would retain only our own multiple, diverse, and fluid perspectives. This view has acquired the name "perspectivism". [Wikipedia]

- response to religion’s role in social order- wants to redefine morality and social values without God as a universal value

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One common response to Nietzsche:

“God is Dead” - Nietzsche

“Nietzsche is Dead” - God

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narchismAnarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy.[1][2] It seeks to diminish or even abolish authority in the conduct of human relations.[3] Anarchists widely disagree on what additional criteria are required in anarchism. [Wikipedia]

Social anarchism calls for a system with public ownership of means of production and democratic control of all organizations, without any government authority or coercion.

- it’s hard to define Anarchism as a whole, many sub groups and schools of thought- one prominent anarchist system is social anarchism

[Wikipedia]

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John Rawls' Theory of Justice (1971)John Rawls (1921–2002) proposed a contractarian approach that has a decidedly Kantian flavour, in A Theory of Justice (1971), whereby rational people in a hypothetical "original position", setting aside their individual preferences and capacities under a "veil of ignorance", would agree to certain general principles of justice. This idea is also used as a game-theoretical formalization of the notion of fairness. [Wikipedia]

- imagine yourself in an “original position”- remove all your personal baggage and experience (religion, beliefs, moral values, sexuality, sex, age, race, wealth, etc.)- now think that you could end up in any position in the world (king, slave, prisoner, peasant, straight, gay, black, white, brown, etc.)- now make the rules

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Multiculturalism- Canada is a country that has embraced multiculturalism.

What are the advantages and drawbacks of multiculturalism?

ADVANTAGES DRAWBACKS- conflicting cultural values- lack of assimilation leading to isolation- assimilation leading to loss of culture- makes the establishment of moral/legal consensus less likely

- diverse knowledge and experiences

"the only successful Arab/Jewish partnership since the dawn of human culture."

- Chromeo: Dave 1 and P-Thugg

- safety and opportunity for refugees

[Wikipedia]