Civil Society, Capitalism and the State

Colin Tyler

Description

Civil Society, Capitalism and the State presents a critical reconstruction of the social and political facets of Thomas Hill Green's liberal socialism. It explores the complex relationships Green sees between human nature, personal freedom, the common good, rights and the state. It explores Green's analysis of free exchange, his critique of capitalism and his defence of trade union activity and the cooperative movement. It establishes that Green gives only grudging support to welfarism, which he saw as a conservative mechanism in effect if not conscious design. It is shown that he believes state provision of welfare to be justified only to the extent that peasants and the proletariat lack a culture and institutions which enable them to assert themselves against abusive landlords and capitalists. Ultimately, it is shown that Green's guiding ideal is the creation of a eudaimonically-enriching kingdom of ends, which favours the creation of a dynamic and free society driven by mass participation through decentralised social and political institutions. This book builds on Colin Tyler's The Metaphysics of Self-realisation and Freedom (2010), although it can also be read as a freestanding work.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781845405564
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title page
Civil Society, Capitalism and the State
Part 2 of The Liberal Socialism of Thomas Hill Green
Colin Tyler



Copyright page
Copyright © Colin Tyler, 2012
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism and discussion.
Originally published in the UK by Imprint Academic, PO Box 200, Exeter EX5 5YX, UK
Originally distributed in the USA by Ingram Book Company, One Ingram Blvd., La Vergne, TN 37086, USA
2012 digital version by Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com



Quotations
‘There are some people, I know, who think that we have only to sit still, and Reform will come of itself. There is a game one sees children playing at, in which one says to the other, “Open your mouth and shut your eyes, and see what will come to your great surprise.” (Laughter and cheers.) So they think-these good, easy souls-that if we only shut our eyes close enough, and open our mouths wide enough, the cherries will drop in through some unseen beneficence of the governing class.’
T.H. Green, public meeting of the Oxford Reform Club, 25 March 1867 (Works, vol. 5, p. 227)
‘If we wish to investigate the best constitution appropriately, we must first decide what is the most desirable life; for if we do not know that, the best constitution is also bound to elude us.’
Aristotle, Politics, Book 7, section 1
‘But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.’
George Eliot, Middlemarch, the closing paragraph.
‘Let the flag of England be dragged through the dirt rather than sixpence be added to the taxes which weigh on the poor.’
T.H. Green, quoted in Nettleship, Memoir, pp. xx-xxi



Preface
Civil Society, Capitalism and the State is the second and final part of The Liberal Socialism of Thomas Hill Green . The first part was published in 2010, with the title The Metaphysics of Self-realisation and Freedom . Together, these books come to around a quarter of a million words and deal with all aspects of Green’s philosophical system, excluding his logic, analysing particularly his metaphysical, ethical, social, political and economic thought. The Liberal Socialism of Thomas Hill Green as a whole presupposes the truth of the quotation from Aristotle which opened this book: ‘If we wish to investigate the best constitution appropriately, we must first decide what is the most desirable life; for if we do not know that, the best constitution is also bound to elude us.’ [1] Green’s friend and colleague William Lambert Newman remembered Green speaking of this passage ‘in terms of high approval’. [2] Even those readers with only the most rudimentary knowledge of Green’s thought should not be surprised by this fact. Green was influenced deeply by Aristotle, and he insists repeatedly that in order to assess the value of any particular society, political system or economy, one must decide to what extent it enables human beings to lead their best life.
Green’s perfectionism has worried many people. Some have argued that it implies a form of personal essentialism, such that Green believes human beings are at their best when they live in accordance with their ‘true’ concrete human nature. More to the point, many critics impute to Green the belief that individuals should be forced, by the state, say, or by ‘society’, to live in a particular way because that is their ‘vocation’ as human beings. This might cause concern because the critic rejects essentialism, or because she holds that, even though there is a ‘best’ way for humans to live, no one should be forced to live it.
Among other things, Civil Society seeks to allay these fears. It argues that, although Green does believe human beings have an underlying human nature which they should work to realise in their lives, as a universal nature it is made up of a rather abstract set of potential needs and capacities. Only when individuals live in societies that allow them to act in ways that, as individuals, they find valuable will each of them be able to construct lives that they find valuable. Importantly, it is argued in this book that, for Green, each individual should tailor her own life to herself, and that ultimately only she can judge whether a particular way of life expresses her true nature. Civil Society explores the ways in which Green theorises the preconditions of such a life: in what sort of society should the individual live in order to be able to arrive at well-informed and conscientious judgements regarding the particular life that is best for her? It establishes why Green believes the individual should work to ensure the good functioning of the social institutions she values; in Green’s terms, why she should promote the common good. Yet, Civil Society also establishes at great length that, for Green, this enquiry cannot be a purely theoretical activity. In fact, it shows that he believes ultimately it is an activity that infuses our inherently practical daily lives. Green shows the ways in which, as George Eliot puts it, ‘that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs’. [3]
The irreducibly practical nature of the individual’s construction of her own good life has implications for the method it is appropriate to use when interpreting Green. Whereas most chapters of Metaphysics were almost exclusively philosophical, Civil Society contains a lot more history. One can only really understand Green’s arguments regarding the nature of the modern state and sovereignty, of rights, duties and obligations, of civil disobedience, education and the economy if one understands something about the context in which he was writing. All thoughts are thoughts of real individuals in determinate contexts (you and I, here and now), and understanding those contexts is particularly important if one wants to understand correctly their thoughts on society, politics and the economy. [4] In this regard, the speeches, letters and parliamentary evidence collected by Peter Nicholson in the fifth volume of Green’s Works become profoundly significant. One cannot properly understand Green’s philosophical writings in these applied areas unless one takes account of these records of his practical interventions in the issues of his day. This is merely one more debt that scholars of British idealism and British political thought more generally, owe to Peter.
I have been very conscious throughout writing Civil Society that people who are interested in Green’s social, political and economic thought might not be that concerned about his metaphysics of the will, and might wish to be able to read this book without reading the first one. Consequently, while this book builds on the argument of the first, I have done my best to enable people who have not read Metaphysics to understand the argument of Civil Society . Obviously, the nuances of my interpretation of Green can be gleaned only by reading both books. For that reason, at various points I cite specific passages in Metaphysics that shed light on specific arguments in Civil Society .
Civil Society is based loosely on the final four chapters and conclusion of my very first book, Thomas Hill Green (1836-1882) and the Philosophical Foundations of Politics . [5] Even though the latter received very pleasing reviews, I have treated its text as a very rough draft. I have reworked thoroughly every page, significantly extended each section, restructured and redivided chapters with no regard for the arrangement of the original text. The resulting book is nearly twice as long as the original. I have altered radically many of the core arguments in light of the research I and others have carried out since 1997, not least by bringing out much more carefully and thoroughly what I see as the constructivist elements of Green’s theory. The most fundamental shift is that I now read Green as primarily a socialist, although one with important liberal concerns. Taken together, these changes are so extensive and radical that Civil Society constitutes a new book.
I am very pleased to thank Peter Nicholson for his continuing advice and criticism as editor of Imprint Academic’s series British Idealist Studies: T.H. Green . Once again, Peter has been generous and careful with his comments, saving me from many errors along the way. I continue to owe him a huge personal debt. I am also pleased to thank Keith Sutherland, Graham Horswell and, formerly, Anthony Freeman for their assistance and great patience as publishers. I wish to thank the Master and Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford for their permission to consult and quote from their holdings of Green’s papers. I wish to thank also the Principal and Fellows of St John’s College, Oxford, for their hospitality during my time as a Visiting Scholar with them in the summer of 2007. This book has benefitted very significantly from the life of the Centre for Idealism and the New Liberalism at the University of Hull, of which I am Joint Director with my friend and colleague, Jim Connelly. In this regard, in addition to Jim, I am also pleased to thank Matt Beech, Richard Bellamy, David Boucher, Thom Brooks, Glenn Burgess, Jon Cruddas, Alberto de Sanctis, Maria Dimova-Cookson, Owen Fellows, Michael Freeden, Janusz Grygienc, Stéphane Guy, John Horton, Louise W. Knight, Simon Lee, Sean Magee, Bill Mander, Catherine Marshall, Sue Mendus, John Morrow, Noël O’Sullivan, Adrian Paylor,