Political Ideals

Bertrand Russell

Description

A major contributor to twentieth-century philosophy, British-born thinker Bertrand Russell is credited as one of the key figures in the founding of the field of analytic philosophy. Throughout his life, he flirted with liberal schools of thought such as socialism and pacifism. In the essays collected in Political Ideals, Russell subjects these concepts to a thorough, unsparing analysis.

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776583935
• Langue: English

Extrait

POLITICAL IDEALS
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BERTRAND RUSSELL
 
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Political Ideals First published in 1917 Epub ISBN 978-1-77658-393-5 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77658-394-2 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Chapter I - Political Ideals Chapter II - Capitalism and the Wage System Chapter III - Pitfalls in Socialism Chapter IV - Individual Liberty and Public Control Chapter V - National Independence and Internationalism Endnotes
Chapter I - Political Ideals
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In dark days, men need a clear faith and a well-grounded hope; and asthe outcome of these, the calm courage which takes no account ofhardships by the way. The times through which we are passing haveafforded to many of us a confirmation of our faith. We see that thethings we had thought evil are really evil, and we know moredefinitely than we ever did before the directions in which men mustmove if a better world is to arise on the ruins of the one which isnow hurling itself into destruction. We see that men's politicaldealings with one another are based on wholly wrong ideals, and canonly be saved by quite different ideals from continuing to be a sourceof suffering, devastation, and sin.
Political ideals must be based upon ideals for the individual life.The aim of politics should be to make the lives of individuals as goodas possible. There is nothing for the politician to consider outsideor above the various men, women, and children who compose the world.The problem of politics is to adjust the relations of human beings insuch a way that each severally may have as much of good in hisexistence as possible. And this problem requires that we should firstconsider what it is that we think good in the individual life.
To begin with, we do not want all men to be alike. We do not want tolay down a pattern or type to which men of all sorts are to be made bysome means or another to approximate. This is the ideal of theimpatient administrator. A bad teacher will aim at imposing hisopinion, and turning out a set of pupils all of whom will give thesame definite answer on a doubtful point. Mr. Bernard Shaw is said tohold that Troilus and Cressida is the best of Shakespeare's plays.Although I disagree with this opinion, I should welcome it in a pupilas a sign of individuality; but most teachers would not tolerate sucha heterodox view. Not only teachers, but all commonplace persons inauthority, desire in their subordinates that kind of uniformity whichmakes their actions easily predictable and never inconvenient. Theresult is that they crush initiative and individuality when they can,and when they cannot, they quarrel with it.
It is not one ideal for all men, but a separate ideal for eachseparate man, that has to be realized if possible. Every man has itin his being to develop into something good or bad: there is a bestpossible for him, and a worst possible. His circumstances willdetermine whether his capacities for good are developed or crushed,and whether his bad impulses are strengthened or gradually divertedinto better channels.
But although we cannot set up in any detail an ideal of characterwhich is to be universally applicable—although we cannot say, forinstance, that all men ought to be industrious, or self-sacrificing,or fond of music—there are some broad principles which can be used toguide our estimates as to what is possible or desirable.
We may distinguish two sorts of goods, and two corresponding sorts ofimpulses. There are goods in regard to which individual possession ispossible, and there are goods in which all can share alike. The foodand clothing of one man is not the food and clothing of another; ifthe supply is insufficient, what one man has is obtained at theexpense of some other man. This applies to material goods generally,and therefore to the greater part of the present economic life of theworld. On the other hand, mental and spiritual goods do not belong toone man to the exclusion of another. If one man knows a science, thatdoes not prevent others from knowing it; on the contrary, it helpsthem to acquire the knowledge. If one man is a great artist or poet,that does not prevent others from painting pictures or writing poems,but helps to create the atmosphere in which such things are possible.If one man is full of good-will toward others, that does not mean thatthere is less good-will to be shared among the rest; the moregood-will one man has, the more he is likely to create among others.In such matters there is no possession , because there is not adefinite amount to be shared; any increase anywhere tends to producean increase everywhere.
There are two kinds of impulses, corresponding to the two kinds ofgoods. There are possessive impulses, which aim at acquiring orretaining private goods that cannot be shared; these center in theimpulse of property. And there are creative or constructive impulses,which aim at bringing into the world or making available for use thekind of goods in which there is no privacy and no possession.
The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play thelargest part and the possessive impulses the smallest. This is no newdiscovery. The Gospel says: "Take no thought, saying, What shall weeat? or What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?"The thought we give to these things is taken away from matters of moreimportance. And what is worse, the habit of mind engendered bythinking of these things is a bad one; it leads to competition, envy,domination, cruelty, and almost all the moral evils that infest theworld. In particular, it leads to the predatory use of force.Material possessions can be taken by force and enjoyed by the robber.Spiritual possessions cannot be taken in this way. You may kill anartist or a thinker, but you cannot acquire his art or his thought.You may put a man to death because he loves his fellow-men, but youwill not by so doing acquire the love which made his happiness. Forceis impotent in such matters; it is only as regards material goods thatit is effective. For this reason the men who believe in force are themen whose thoughts and desires are preoccupied with material goods.
The possessive impulses, when they are strong, infect activities whichought to be purely creative. A man who has made some valuablediscovery may be filled with jealousy of a rival discoverer. If oneman has found a cure for cancer and another has found a cure forconsumption, one of them may be delighted if the other man's discoveryturns out a mistake, instead of regretting the suffering of patientswhich would otherwise have been avoided. In such cases, instead ofdesiring knowledge for its own sake, or for the sake of itsusefulness, a man is desiring it as a means to reputation. Everycreative impulse is shadowed by a possessive impulse; even theaspirant to saintliness may be jealous of the more successful saint.Most affection is accompanied by some tinge of jealousy, which is apossessive impulse intruding into the creative region. Worst of all,in this direction, is the sheer envy of those who have missedeverything worth having in life, and who are instinctively bent onpreventing others from enjoying what they have not had. There isoften much of this in the attitude of the old toward the young.
There is in human beings, as in plants and animals, a certain naturalimpulse of growth, and this is just as true of mental as of physicaldevelopment. Physical development is helped by air and nourishmentand exercise, and may be hindered by the sort of treatment which madeChinese women's feet small. In just the same way mental developmentmay be helped or hindered by outside influences. The outsideinfluences that help are those that merely provide encouragement ormental food or opportunities for exercising mental faculties. Theinfluences that hinder are those that interfere with growth byapplying any kind of force, whether discipline or authority or fear orthe tyranny of public opinion or the necessity of engaging in sometotally incongenial occupation. Worst of all influences are thosethat thwart or twist a man's fundamental impulse, which is what showsitself as conscience in the moral sphere; such influences are likelyto do a man an inward danger from which he will never recover.
Those who realize the harm that can be done to others by any use offorce against them, and the worthlessness of the goods that can beacquired by force, will be very full of respect for the liberty ofothers; they will not try to bind them or fetter them; they will beslow to judge and swift to sympathize; they will treat every humanbeing with a kind of tenderness, because the principle of good in himis at once fragile and infinitely precious. They will not condemnthose who are unlike themselves; they will know and feel thatindividuality brings differences and uniformity means death. Theywill wish each human being to be as much a living thing and as littlea mechanical product as it is possible to be; they will cherish ineach one just those things which the harsh usage of a ruthless worldwould destroy. In one word, all their dealings with others will beinspired by a deep impulse of reverence .
What we shall desire for individuals is now clear: strong creativeimpulses, overpowering and absorbing the instinct of possession;reverence for others; respect for the fundamental creative impulse inourselves. A certain kind of self-respect or native pride isnecessary to a good life; a man must