Thought of the Day 08.13.08

People sometimes wonder why I’m so interested in political theory. So I’ll try to explain. Legislation comes from morality, which comes from religion. Then it leads to arrests, trials, judgments, appeals, and punishments. There’s revenue, budgeting, military protection, and development of infrastructure. And these are just the formal concerns.

There’s also cultural issues, such as education, news, entertainment, relationships, art, sport, and health. You even have to think about citizen loyalty, public image, and foreign policy. See, to me, caring about politics is just another name for caring about everything humans do. But what I now realize is that my interest in politics was really a way of preparing me to think about all the various things that go into my current job.

Oh, not the one where I talk on the radio. That’s simple. I mean the other one where I’m the unelected governor of a small but growing polity called my family. In the end, aren’t all parents political theorists?
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Morality comes from religion? No, people like to legitimize morality through religion, but morality comes from successful social interaction. This was the point of my comment to your Thought of the Day regarding the Problem of Evil.

I think another important point is that while legislation may come from morality, it really only comes from a certain subset of morality; basically those parts which need to be backed by society as a whole, rather than personal action.

For example, it may not be the moral thing to do to act like an ass toward someone, it certainly isn't against the law to do so. This is because such an exchange is a personal one which does not require action by the society as a whole.

Then, of course, there is the other source for legislation: the desires of the legislators. There are way too many examples of laws being made simply because the lawmakers wanted it to be that way, rather than an actual need from society.

I think we can agree that all that is legal is not moral, nor is all that is moral legal.

I'm not terribly interested in politics and political theory myself, but like you I recognize its prevalence and importance.

August 12, 2008 at 8:24 PM

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