As I mentioned in an earlier blog, one of the final exam questions in ethics class is to answer the question “why do I do what I do” pulling from all aspects of what the students learned from the course and one another in discussions. They also can include a Doctrine of Society or how people act when they are together. We handle the Doctrine of Society by studying the political ethics of three different ways groups deal with power. Politics is defined as how power is distributed when people get together. Who has it? How do I get it? We see this Doctrine of Society by looking at three basic principles found in three different theories of government where most governments have their structure and accountability today.
Thomas Hobbes believed that people are basically insecure, competitive, and glory seeking by nature. He formed his theory of group behavior starting with that premise. He therefore thought that the best government was when the group set aside a person referred to as the Leviathan with all the power. The masses agree that he has it and don’t allow for a means to get rid of the person designated as the Leviathan. Power is a one-way street with power located in the Leviathan. The people have no power except that given to them by the chosen leader. You will recognize this as the basis for a dictatorship. The problem with this type of government is that it demonstrates that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
John Locke who provided the basic theory for our form of government believed that people were basically good and left to their own devices would discover that treating others equally with respect was the key to groups working together, but he had one twist over the government of Hobbes for he indicated that you had to have a way of getting rid of people who were bad for the group by providing a way to take the power of the leader away so that power was a two way street. We exercise that basic factor with voting.
The third basic form of government came from Rousseau who said people were not only good, but they were also great. He believed the best way to achieve government and to have groups of people work together was to stay out of their way which included the concept of “he who governs best, governs least.”
We are amid the Democratic Convention in Chicago and have watched some of the Republican Campaign. We have also seen the candidates talking to others in various venues. How do the candidates view the basic nature of human beings and how have you seen them at work and what kind of leadership style they will employ.
But there is more! When people think about human evolution, I think most people think of the survival of the fittest which is the theory of Darwin. But there is another theory of evolution that is the opposite of Darwin’s. One of the great voices of this other theory is Alfie Kohn. His basic premise is that our civilization advanced because we humans learned to develop higher level societies where we treated others with empathy and compassion.
I was struck by a graduation address given to the class of 2023 by the governor of Illinois, J B Pritzker, to the graduates of Northwestern University. Northwestern does a great job in their selection of speakers. When one of my sons graduated from there, Stephen Colbert, an alumnus, was the speaker.
Pritzker’s address is below. It is one of the most succinct and best speeches to articulate the essence of how evolution really did occur. I think it should be played before each of our political candidate’s rallies or TV advertisements for their respective candidates.
We should be looking for the most decent person for the job of leading us. In fact, thinking about those whose memory inspires us, it is their decency that informed their decisions. Our civilization advanced because of decency not a quest to survive.
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