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Collective ones run into the problem “who gets to decide, and what’s to stop ''them'' tilting the scales, and what of people who legitimately disagree?” | Collective ones run into the problem “who gets to decide, and what’s to stop ''them'' tilting the scales, and what of people who legitimately disagree?” | ||
Individualistic ones are fine until we have to interact with each other — over the course of human history, we’ve tended to do that a lot — whereupon they all run into the same basic conundrum: what to do when ''my'' expression of | Individualistic ones are fine until we have to interact with each other — over the course of human history, we’ve tended to do that a lot — whereupon they all run into the same basic conundrum: what to do when ''my'' expression of personal freedom interferes with ''yours''? | ||
These lead to strands of philosophy one may characterise as basically ''Hobbesian'' (pessimistic) or ''[[Adam Smith|Smithian]]'' (optimistic) in grappling with the proposition that there are finite resources, unlimited demands on them, but in any case when gathered together humans are a fundamentally argumentative bunch, and this is a necessary condition of society (Hobbes) and a desirable one (Smith). | These lead to strands of philosophy one may characterise as basically ''Hobbesian'' (pessimistic) or ''[[Adam Smith|Smithian]]'' (optimistic) in grappling with the proposition that there are finite resources, unlimited demands on them, but in any case when gathered together humans are a fundamentally argumentative bunch, and this is a necessary condition of society (Hobbes) and a desirable one (Smith). | ||
It used to be only those contesting beauty pageants who aspired to | It used to be only those contesting beauty pageants who aspired to end conflict and lube blissed out in peace, love and happiness: nowadays it seems to include a large part of the educated metropolitan elite — at least, in their in unguarded moments, when they haven’t been thinking too hard about it. | ||
Influencers wring their hands and ask, “What is the biggest impediment to world peace? How can we reach this state? What must we change? | Influencers wring their hands and ask, “What is the biggest impediment to world peace? How can we reach this state? What must we change? |