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MINISTRY OF TOKYO
US-ANGLO CAPITALISMEU-NATO IMPERIALISM
Illegitimate Transfer of Inalienable European Rights via Convention(s) & Supranational Bodies
Establishment of Sovereignty-Usurping Supranational Body Dictatorships
Enduring Program of DEMOGRAPHICS WAR on Europeans
Enduring Program of PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR on Europeans
Enduring Program of European Displacement, Dismemberment, Dispossession, & Dissolution
No wars or conditions abroad (& no domestic or global economic pretexts) justify government policy facilitating the invasion of ancestral European homelands, the rape of European women, the destruction of European societies, & the genocide of Europeans.
U.S. RULING OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR TO SALVAGE HEGEMONY
[LINK | Article]

*U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR* | U.S. Empire's Casino Unsustainable | Destabilised U.S. Monetary & Financial System | U.S. Defaults Twice A Year | Causes for Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Remain | Financial Pyramids Composed of Derivatives & National Debt Are Growing | *U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR* | U.S. Empire's Casino Unsustainable | Destabilised U.S. Monetary & Financial System | U.S. Defaults Twice A Year | Causes for Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Remain | Financial Pyramids Composed of Derivatives & National Debt Are Growing | *U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR*

Who's preaching world democracy, democracy, democracy? —Who wants to make free people free?
[info from Craig Murray video appearance, follows]  US-Anglo Alliance DELIBERATELY STOKING ANTI-RUSSIAN FEELING & RAMPING UP TENSION BETWEEN EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA.  British military/government feeding media PROPAGANDA.  Media choosing to PUBLISH government PROPAGANDA.  US naval aggression against Russia:  Baltic Sea — US naval aggression against China:  South China Sea.  Continued NATO pressure on Russia:  US missile systems moving into Eastern Europe.     [info from John Pilger interview follows]  War Hawk:  Hillary Clinton — embodiment of seamless aggressive American imperialist post-WWII system.  USA in frenzy of preparation for a conflict.  Greatest US-led build-up of forces since WWII gathered in Eastern Europe and in Baltic states.  US expansion & military preparation HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED IN THE WEST.  Since US paid for & controlled US coup, UKRAINE has become an American preserve and CIA Theme Park, on Russia's borderland, through which Germans invaded in the 1940s, costing 27 million Russian lives.  Imagine equivalent occurring on US borders in Canada or Mexico.  US military preparations against RUSSIA and against CHINA have NOT been reported by MEDIA.  US has sent guided missile ships to diputed zone in South China Sea.  DANGER OF US PRE-EMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKES.  China is on HIGH NUCLEAR ALERT.  US spy plane intercepted by Chinese fighter jets.  Public is primed to accept so-called 'aggressive' moves by China, when these are in fact defensive moves:  US 400 major bases encircling China; Okinawa has 32 American military installations; Japan has 130 American military bases in all.  WARNING PENTAGON MILITARY THINKING DOMINATES WASHINGTON. ⟴  
Showing posts with label Aristotle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aristotle. Show all posts

December 27, 2015

History - Civilisation

History
Civilisation



Earliest Primary (Pristine) States

  • Mesopotamia ca. 3700 BC
  • Egypt ca. 3300 BC
  • Indus Valley ca. 2500 BC
  • India ca. 1700 BC
  • China ca. 1600 BC

Directly or indirectly
fostered emergence of secondary states
via interaction with less developed neighbours
  • trade
  • warfare
  • migration
  • general ideological influence
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One of major milestones in evolution of polities / societies
is development of states, as follows:
  • large-scale
  • populous
  • politically centralised
  • socially stratified polities/societies
  • governed by powerful rulers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_the_11th_century_BC

polity (pl. polities)
1. form of government of a nation, state, church or organisation
2. organised society (eg nation) having specific form of govt

fm. Old French, fm Late Latin: politia (the Roman government)
see 'police'

police
fm. Old French, civil organisation
fm. Late Latin, politia (the Roman govt)

fm. Latin, 'the State'
fm. Greek, politeia
fm. polites, citizen
fm. polis, city-state

source | here

Politeia
  • ancient Greek
  • used in Greek political thought
  • esp.  Plato & Aristotle
 fm. polis ('city-state')

Politeia range of meanings:

from 'the rights of citizens' to a 'form of government'

Politeia
ancient Greek government

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Aristotle

'Politics, Nicomachean Ethics, Constitution of Athens'
(& other works)
used Greek word for constitution (politeia) in several senses

simplest, most neutral descriptive:
'arrangement of offices in a polis (state)'
Source | here


Aristotle: Politics

'Nicomachean Ethics' (384-322 BCE)
happy life intended for man by nature:
one lived in accordance with virtue
'Politics'

ideal:  community of 'virtuous citizens'

analysis of kinds of political community his time
  • belief in the inferiority of women
  • approval of slavery
describes role that politics & political community
must play in facilitating 'virtuous life' in citizenry

sees connection
re well-being of
political community + citizens

belief citizens must actively participate in politics
for happiness and virtue

analysis of what causes & prevents revolution

inspiration for many contemporary theorists

esp. those dissatisfied with liberal political philosophy

(liberal promoted by, eg. John Locke & John Stuart Mill)

http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-pol/



Virtue Ethics

  • one of x3 major approaches in normative ethics
  • normative ethics - study of ethical action
  • branch of philosophical ethics
  • investigates set of questions arising when considering how one ought to act, morally speaking

attempt to provide a general theory
indicating how we ought to live

involves arriving at moral standards regulating 'right' & 'wrong' conduct

theories are abstract conceptual constructs
that attempt to describe & explain certain phenomena

normative ethical theories
represent systematic attempts
to describe and explain
moral or ethical phenomena

in normative ethical theories, possible to isolate
a tripartite structure
that comprises:
  1. a moral standard
  2. general moral principles
  3. particular moral principles and judgements

Moral Standard
moral standard provides the criteria
re generation of moral principles and moral judgements
ie. specifies what characteristics all moral actions must possesses

utilitarian moral standard:
actions are moral to the degree that
consequences produce most happiness


moral standards generate:
general moral principles
(in turn) general moral principles generate:
particular moral principles and judgements

MORAL STANDARD
|
GENERAL MORAL PRINCIPLES
|
PARTICULAR MORAL PRINCIPLES AND JUDGEMENTS

Figure 1. The Levels In Normative Moral Theories

particular moral standards distinguish normative theories

theories (whether scientific or ethical)
are all built on basic assumptions (conceptual foundations)

in science, assumptions = basic presuppositions re material universe

in ethical theories, basic assumptions regarding 'moral domain' (nature, structure, applications)

standards that underlie moral theories distinguished by basic assumptions re:

1. specific element (focused upon re 'moral evaluation')
2. definitions of 'good' and 'right'
3. if ethical knowledge based in experience or reason (or combination)

distinguish between elements:

1. motive
2. intention
3. character
4. action
5. characteristics  (eg obligation, permissible, impermissible action)
6. consequences

*motive & intention are technically subtle difference (& problematic)


DUTY / OBLIGATION - 'right' prior to 'good'
Deontological ethics
normative ethical position
judges morality of action
based on action's adherence to a rule (or rules)

says: some acts are inherently 'moral' or 'immoral'

says: reason, intuition or 'moral' sense reveals what is 'right'

says: own interests/happiness have no relevance ('duty' prevails)

says: 'moral' (ie 'right') = observe 'moral duties', 'right' intentions

END PURPOSE / ENDS - 'good' prior to 'right'
Teleology
belief phenomena are best explained in terms of purpose rather than cause

theory of morality that derives 'duty' or 'moral obligation' from what is 'good' or 'desirable' as an end to be achieved [britannica]

x2 main types of theory
brought under rubric (classification) of teleological ethics
= Utilitarianism & varieties of ancient Greek virtue ethics
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Teleological_ethics

teleological ethics
theory of ethics (as utilitarianism or ethical egoism)
'rightness' of an act is determined by its end
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/teleological%20ethics

[Greek teleios, teleos, perfect, complete (from telos, end, result) [source: tfd]]

says: no acts are inherently 'moral' or 'immoral'

says: experience, rather than reason, reveals what is 'good'

says: own/other equal consideration, evaluation

says: 'moral' (ie 'good') = act to maximise happiness in end result action

SOURCE (predominantly)
http://www2.onu.edu/~m-dixon/handouts/ethical%20theories.html

[wikipedia & various other at start]



DOWNLOAD - e-book

'Politics'
Aristotle
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
University of Adelaide, Australia






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COMMENT

Wow, that was fun.

Started off looking for maps of Egypt when Ramesses III was around, and it sort of evolved from there.

Not sure that I'm up for all that reading.  And I'm not sure I like Aristotle.  Women and slaves aren't the problem.

All that 'virtue' stuff sounds unpleasant to me.  Is there a third way?

Quickly skimmed the philosophy of ethics info.  Not sure I'll remember much of it.  But I'm not that hung up on ethics, so it doesn't matter.

I'm inclined to think that you cannot have blanket ethics rules, because all things are not equal and each situation demands specific responses.  I'm talking about affairs of the state types of situations (rather than everyday existence, which is probably automatic).  That's my gut feeling, but I haven't really given this a whole heap of thought.

Also, I don't think 'nature' intended man to live in massive societies that consume and breed on a massive scale, and destroy nature for the enrichment of an elite few.  But 'nature' probably doesn't 'intend' anything.  Nature just is.

Might skim some of Aristotle's 'Politics' ... after I edit Ramesses III's GIF to my satisfaction, because it's an action that will result in greater good.  And it's more fun.  ;)