Political Philosophy Philosophy 2B - Ray Critch Lecture 2 - The Politics of Human Nature

1. Political PhilosophyPhilosophy 2B - Ray CritchLecture 2 - The Politics of Human Nature In this lecture Approaches and Roles of Human Nature in Political Philosophy

2. The Cornerstone of Politics • According to Isaiah Berlin - Human nature is the cornerstone of all political philosophy. • Not everyone agrees • Three Approaches to the importance of Human Nature in Political Philosophy • 1 - Explicit - Hobbes • 2 - Implicit - Mill • 3 - Denial - Rawls

3. The Role of Human Nature • (At Least) Four Roles • Not every theory uses HN for all four. • 1 - Provides a picture of the state of nature. • Hobbes - Equality of individuals • Rousseau - Noble Savage • 2 - Accounts for ‘plausibility conditions.’ • Egoism and self-interest • The Circumstances of Justice and Disinterestedness

4. The Role of Human Nature • (At Least) Four Roles • 3 - Answers ‘Why Cooperate.’ • Scarcity and Fear • Circumstances of Justice • Natural Benevolence • Aside: Human Nature v. The Human Condition • 4 - Account of the Good or Right • Straightforwardly - Aristotle’s Perfectionism • Indirectly - Rawls’ Reflective Equilibrium

5. Human Nature as Methodology • Most works use all three • Historical/Empirical Projection • Hobbes: ‘There is a saying much usurped of late, that wisdom is acquired, not by reading of books, but of men’ + ‘there is another saying, not of late understood … and that is read thyself’ = ‘Though by men’s actions we do discover their design sometimes; yet to do it without comparing them with our own, and distinguishing all circumstances, by which the case may come to be altered, is to decipher without a key.’ • Drawbacks - Epistemic; Empirical

6. Human Nature as Methodology • Transcendental (Kantian) • Conditions of the possibility of X • If X is the case, and X requires, as a necessary condition, Y, then Y is also the case. • Feature X is necessary for political life • X is impossible without Y • Therefore, Y is necessary for political life • Drawbacks: Sufficient Conditions; Difficulty.

7. Human Nature as Methodology • A Priori Deduction (Aristotle) • An inversion of the transcendental. • X is true • If X is true then political condition Y is true • Therefore, political condition Y is true • Drawbacks - Deduction is only as good as its premises; Naturalistic Fallacy

8. Approaches to Human Nature • Hobbes • Explicit - see prior quotes. • Empirical - based on observation • Furthermore, human nature starts with the senses, so empiricism matters doubly. • Historical Projection • Motivation - the passions: • Importance of Security and concern with Safety • Written - Paris, 1651. • Why was Hobbes in Paris?

9. Approaches to Human Nature • Hobbes • Still - not exclusively historicist • Deductive Elements • Move from senses to the imagination via memory. • Transcendental Elements • Man as a necessary condition of the possibility of Religion (controversial, at the time and now).

10. Approaches to Human Nature • Rawls • Implicit • Rawls’ Claim to Neutrality • Rationality and other basic features derive from a process of reflection ending in reflective equilibrium • Nonetheless • Intuitions used in reflection are not devoid of human nature claims • Even a minimal approach to rationality makes minimal claims about irrationality and how people think.

11. Approaches to Human Nature • Rawls • Human Nature in the Original Position • Mutual Disinterestedness • Prohibited and Permitted Considerations • Human Nature in the Circumstances of Justice • Scarcity and the Human Condition • Cooperation and Mutual Advantage under Fair Terms