To define and to perhaps bring about Equality among humans has been one of the underlying principles of almost all the major philosophies of our times. It appears as the mystical mistress, so eagerly sought, yet so elusive to be easily defined or attainable in societies so diversified in its ability and social standing. One factor that led many a philosophies so haywire, that they went about creating societies so artificial in its standings that either they perished with the course of time or simply got corrupted to more tangible forms that could survive the test of time. The very fact that philosophy like Marxism never got enacted in totality ever is for this very reason, it’s in viability to define human nature and action. This bottom up approach to fit man into an economic model has invariably failed or got modified with time.
Of the many philosophies that tried to justify equality among humans, one that I believe had at least the right inclination was perhaps the one of Immanuel Kant, He in his one line ‘men are not mere means but an end in themselves’ gave us the first workable philosophical base over which we can built on models that can encompass this basic dictum and thereby work successfully in human society.
If man need to be an end in himself he needs to own himself, and also his actions. This gives rise to the supposed start point of all arguments of self ownership and property rights. Self ownership protects our ability to pursue our own goals, our conception of ourselves. To own oneself and ones actions, one needs to be the master of not only himself, his talents but also the elements on which he would manifest his action. It is foolish to say that man would cultivate an un-owned field and its fruit will be reaped by anyone who comes that way. How will he then quantify his action, if he is not eligible to reap the result of his action?
Human action is so very responsible for his sustenance and there after his self conception and cognitive development that we have to take this provision as one of the most fundamental needs of man. A child needs to cry for itself when it needs milk or feels uncomfortable otherwise. Once grown and he forsakes this dependence on others he needs to by his action alone find means for his sustenance. What society really provides to humanity is that it allows men to indulge in an action that goes beyond needs of sustenance. Not all of us need to produce food and make shelter for ourselves.
Society allows men to diversify actions, indulge in activity that goes beyond sustenance, to higher echelons of the Maslow’s triangle. What one chooses to do would depend on one’s ability and invariably would bring in differences in social status. These differences however do not undermine the equality that is fundamentally guaranteed to each individual, to be master of himself, his action and therefore his fate.
Any system that tries to re appropriate fruits of one persons actions among others by taxation or by simply debarring one from ownership of one’s talent or environment/material required to manifest coercively, therefore are the ones which fundamentally default towards creating a society that is truly equal. An economy truly must only acts as a medium for appropriation of true value to various human endeavours, actions and enterprise, so that they can be traded or exchanged. Allowing men to diversify their efforts, indulge in activities that suit their talent and also the one that gives them maximum results. While re-appropriative or regulatory economic model simply acts as a regulator that offsets the true trade value of various actions. While certain actions are deprived from reaping its complete benefits by means of taxation, certain non-productive and self defeating actions by individuals are sustained on the name of benevolence towards the deprived/ disadvantaged.
“It leads also to a baffling sort of double standard or double perspective in their way of viewing men and events: if they observe a shoemaker, they find no difficulty in concluding that he is working in order to make a living; but as political economists, on the tribal premise, they declare that his purpose (and duty) is to provide society with shoes” – Ayn Rand
There is no denying that people are born into natural advantages and disadvantages. Some are born with silver spoon while others are dumped into garbage the moment they are born. Irrespective, if we keep the values of our society intact, let give the man full right of himself and his action we would in effect create a stable society. Forbes list of world’s riches people has it on record that there are very few families who have sustained their wealth for generation and it are replete with cases of both rags to riches and vice versa. The ones who are really capable would work hard and make way for himself and one, who is not, will rot even if all ways are kept clear for him. We as a society need not really try and account and adjust for this fundamental advantage or deficiencies among humans. Provide man with rights of self ownership, right over his actions and its fruits there with we would be surely in our way toward a rich and prosperous society.
To end with I would leave you again with Ayn Rand -
‘Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man’s mind. A rational mind does not work under compulsion; it dot not subordinate its grasp of reality to anyone’s orders, directives, or controls; it does not sacrifice its knowledge, its veil of the truth, to anyone’s opinions, threats, wishes, plans, or “welfare.” Such a mind may be hampered by others, it may be silenced, proscribed, imprisoned, or destroyed; it cannot be forced; a gun is not an argument.
It is from the work and the inviolate integrity of such minds from the intransigent innovators—that all of mankind’s knowledge and achievements have come. It is to such minds that mankind owes it survival.
The same principle applies to all men, on every level of ability and ambition. To the extent that a man is guided by his rational judgment, he acts in accordance with the requirements of his nature and, to that extent succeeds in achieving, a human form of survival and well-being; to the extent that he acts irrationally, he acts as his own destroyer.
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GP Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 6:35 pmAny system that tries to re appropriate fruits of one persons actions among others by taxation or by simply debarring one from ownership of one’s talent or environment/material required to manifest coercively, therefore are the ones which fundamentally default towards creating a society that is truly equal.
<<<<<<< Do u mean Government here? how about Chinese govt then? apart from Human rights violations I guess they
are able to manage China very well and made China true Asian superpower who can pose huge challenge to USA in near future in terms of economy,Armed forces/weapons,etc >>
if we keep the values of our society intact, let give the man full right of himself and his action we would in effect create a stable society.
<<< pardon me If I get it wrong, but do u mean to say – current law and order needs to be revamped and unrestricted freedom should be granted to society so that each member ( read common ppl ) in that society can decide what is best for them instead of getting coerced by Govt. rules (GR)/policies/ or may be Supreme court directives?…don’t u think its kida of Anarchy then?>>>
Provide man with rights of self ownership, right over his actions and its fruits there with we would be surely in our way toward a rich and prosperous society
<< Truely Idealistic and seems to be reality ONLY if ppl who have been granted such freedom are using their rights with true societal obligations and sense of responsibility( read as : communists who really wanted everyone associated with them
get properous and whole society gets benefitted…can this be true in future?>>
And I think you wud also agree that capitalistic society has their own flaws and biggest example would be – current recession which started from motherland of capitalistic thoughts(read US)
So I guess it all comes down to individual and his EQ (Emotional Quotient) and his/her free will ..which cannot be controlled by any power/program ( of course unless humans are turned into cyborgs who are programmed to respond in consistent manner under certain constraints).
Liberty Speaks Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 11:26 pmyeah when I spoke about corruption I meant chineese only…corruption is not used in the classical sense that we are used to hear…china started progressing when they started invinting investments …bussiness outsourcing and so and so forth .
they have a lot of cheap human resourse to offer that makes them swinging these days. Almost all the electronic companies sony, lenovo to start with are now operating majorly from china. and these are all capitalist enterprise. Corruption I mean change in the classical approach of their philosophy. when USSR fell, china learned it lessone, reformed and so they are progressing.
Even Bengal chief minister got a clue out of that is trying to modernise his state that has got so badly hit by the plague of communism. He is having a tough time killing the dragon he fed all his life I guess.
About gun law and anarchism, I would write soon, I guess it will have to be a very elaborate reply…if I need to justice to that question. You have 200 years of colonistic slavery speaking at that issue. soon after american revolution, britishers realised that gun in hand of common man is a really dangerous option. See movie patriot if you get a chance. I ll leave it at that, rest I ll bring accross in my post.
Its not the flaw of the capitalist society really…its the fault of the state. Imagine a fan without regulator…it will run at its optimum speed, it will never speed up or slow down. but when you have a regulator like our federal agencies and RBI…they try and regulate things giving us this artificial sense of boom and bust. Its already covered out here very nicely by another author…please take time and go through. Our endeavour is to put the message accross to as many people as we can get through…through our words and thoughts.
thanks again for the read…I guess you are the first genuine reader to my post, thanks for the response, please feel free with both your appreciation and criticism, especially my writing part. I am not really good at it…so I would really appreciate any correction needed in that regards
thanks
GP Says:
December 29th, 2008 at 6:54 pmYup I had seen Patriot..its really cool..especially Mel Gibson’s act but its about – Revenge of common man against opressive regime which cost him his family and children i.e. more on the line of BraveHeart(though it was entirely different as there he fought for everyone i.e. for his own nation) so i won’t compare it with situation u mentioned(having guns in common man’s hand as dangerous option),as there is big difference in scenarios/reasons. >>
Yeah I do agree its not entirely fault of capitalist viewpoint but u see in capitalistic nations like US, govt. always try to promote free economy by interfering less with
trades and services and being less regulative but now they must have learnt the lessons after fallout of Lehman Bros.
Yup will do it..thanks a lot for sharing ur thoughts and all the best to your endeavour.Yup Will leave a feedback/comments as and when I go through your posts and I must admit you write very well, just need to add your thoughts on solution part of the issue too ..I know it won’t be perfect always..but at least it will definitely give some food for thought to readers. Keep writing
Liberty Speaks Says:
December 29th, 2008 at 8:53 pm“though it was entirely different as there he fought for everyone i.e. for his own nation) so i won’t compare it with situation u mentioned(having guns in common man’s hand as dangerous option),as there is big difference in scenarios/reasons.”
yeah I agree it is a dangerous option…it can bring down an entire state.
As far as lesson learnt by americans are considered…all I would say is that we unduly expect states to respond to such things …who is lehman bros he is a private enterpreneur doing his bussiness his sucess is as much his as are his losses. It s a different thng that all the money that the govenrnemt has…have been accumulated by coercively taxing people like him only. where else does US Govt get money from. So all they are doing is perhaps paying back a portion of tax back now that they are in loss.
Thanks for getting back though….I would try and incorporate ur suggestions…looking forward to ur comments