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| 24371 | Natural law offers guidelines when a clash of laws creates a dilemma |
| Full Idea: Natural law suggests eight principles to understand which law should be followed in the case where both cannot be followed at the same time. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], I.17) | |||
| A reaction: [The passage is too lengthy for this database] As with the strategy of 'precisification' in the case of vague concepts, so we can have secondary principles to solve some dilemmas. What Hursthouse calls 'tragic dilemmas' remain, of course. |
| 24368 | In a shipwreck I am entitled to defend my one-person plank by force |
| Full Idea: In a shipwreck, suppose I have got hold of a plank which cannot carry two, if someone swims up with the intention of getting on the plank with me, thus destroying both of us together, I may use any amount of force to keep him away from the plank. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], I.05) | |||
| A reaction: The limits of altruism. Presumably the force could include killing him. This example was often cited in the seventeenth century. The point is that Pufendorf is citing it as a self-evident principle of natural law. What if the other man is the King? |
| 24373 | Cautious men see everyone as a friend who could become an enemy |
| Full Idea: A cautious man who loves his own security will believe all men his friends, but liable at any time to become enemies. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.01) | |||
| A reaction: I'm looking at my friends in a different light after reading this one. This sounds like a strategy in game theory. |
| 24372 | In nature we rely on strength, and life is utterly hideous in every respect |
| Full Idea: In the state of nature each is protected only by his own strength. There is the reign of passions, there there is war, fear, poverty, nastiness, solitude, barbarity, ignorance, savagery. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.01) | |||
| A reaction: He then describes a state in glowing terms. Clearly Pufendorf thought that Hobbes had been too soft in his account. |
| 24377 | The unity of a people is only possible through subservience to a man or an assembly |
| Full Idea: The only means by which the wills of the many may be united is that each submit his will to the will of one man or one assembly, so that the will of that man or assembly on common security be taken as the will of all. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.06) | |||
| A reaction: Only anarchists could, I think, disagree with this. Like Hobbes, Pufendorf preferred one man for the job (to avoid conflict), but all other modern countries acknowledge an assembly, usually elected. He doesn't acknowledge Hobbes's social contract. |
| 24376 | A good citizen is obedient, puts the state before himself, and identifies his good with the state's |
| Full Idea: A good citizen is one who promptly obeys the orders of those in power; one who strives for the public good, and puts his private good second - one, in fact, who believes that nothing is good for him unless it is also good for the state. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.05) | |||
| A reaction: We are obviously some way off liberal democracy here. Neoliberals are more selfish; trade unionists are less obedient. Perhaps the test of a good citizen is willingness to pay taxes. |
| 24378 | Democracy is rule by an assembly of the heads of households |
| Full Idea: Where sovereignty is in the hands of an assembly consisting of all heads of households, this is called democracy. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.08) | |||
| A reaction: He is explicit that the heads of households should always be men, though he never explains why. A useful reminder that democracy does not entail universal suffrage (or even elections). |
| 24374 | A man may sell his son into slavery, if the alternative is death from want |
| Full Idea: If there is no other means of supporting his child, a father may give up his son as a pledge for a loan, or sell him into endurable slavery rather than let him die of want, at least on the condition that these acts may be revoked. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.03) | |||
| A reaction: Shocking to us, but bear in mind 1) very large families, and 2) that to die of want was not uncommon. Even so, using your son as surety for a load is a bit startling, coming from a famous proponent of natural law. |
| 24375 | Originally slavery was probably voluntary, driven by necessities |
| Full Idea: In the beginning slaves probably offered themselves of their own free will; their motive was poverty, or a sense of their own lack of intelligence. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.04) | |||
| A reaction: He goes on to say that the commonest type of slave is a prisoner of war (who is lucky to be alive). There are still people who are trapped in poverty or illiterate, and are facing such a dilemma. |
| 24369 | We are all equal in human nature, and hence should treat others as equals |
| Full Idea: Human nature belongs equally to all …and hence it is the duty of every man that each man value and treat the other as naturally his equal, or as equally a man. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], I.07) | |||
| A reaction: Being 'equally a man' is a mere tautology, and any other sense of 'equal' needs to specify the respect of the equality (which obviously is not height). I would guess that the equality is in their common human needs, like food, drink, shelter, security. |
| 24370 | Equity corrects deficiencies in more universal laws |
| Full Idea: Equity is the correction of what is deficient in the law because of its universality. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], I.17) | |||
| A reaction: For Pufendorf this is most needed when there is a gap between 'the letter of the law' and the principles of natural law. Some school teachers need to be reminded of the principle of equity when administering school rules! |
| 24366 | Natural law fits human nature so closely that a society cannot flourish without it |
| Full Idea: Natural law is law which is so congruent with the rational and social nature of man that there cannot be a good and peaceful society for the human race without it. Hence it can be known …by reflection on human nature in general. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], I.02) | |||
| A reaction: 'Nonsense on stilts' says Bentham! My view is closer to Pufendorf. If law is merely the creation of rulers, what guidance could that have other than human nature, if a flourishing society is the aim? Only imperialism or pyramids would need otherwise. |
| 24367 | The basic natural law is: everyone should cultivate and preserve society |
| Full Idea: The fundamental natural law is: every man ought to do as much as he can to cultivate and preserve sociality. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], I.03) | |||
| A reaction: That seems exactly right, and yet what is the authority for making such a firm assertion? The only possible basis for natural law has to be a wide consensus among the citizens. Then the consensus might vary between cultures. |
| 24381 | Humanity requires us to minimise an enemy's suffering when we pursue our rights |
| Full Idea: Humanity requires that so far as the momentum of warfare permits, we should inflict no more suffering on an enemy than defence or vindication of our right and its future assurance requires. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.16) | |||
| A reaction: The standard natural law view. Dream on! War always lets loose chaos and innumerable opportunities for unfettered violence and cruelty. That is not to disagree with the principle, which seems right. |
| 24380 | A citizen does no wrong if he obediently fights in an unjust war |
| Full Idea: If a citizen bears arms on the orders of the sovereign even in an unjust war, he does not do wrong. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.12) | |||
| A reaction: Pufendorf goes on to say that the individual still bears moral responibility for specific wrongs, such as bearing false witness. McMahan disagrees with this idea. |
| 24379 | Sovereigns need only maintain subjects who (undeservingly) cannot support themselves |
| Full Idea: Sovereigns are not obliged to maintain their subjects, though, exceptionally, charity requires them to take particular care of those who cannot support themselves because of some undeserved misfortune. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.11) | |||
| A reaction: In Anglo-Saxon England lords seem to have fully maintained their followers, perhaps because they owned all the food and housing. Plenty of scope here to debate the meaning of 'cannot' and 'undeserved'! |
| 24382 | Teachers should hold knowledge worthless if it does not enhance our lives |
| Full Idea: Teachers should hold that all human knowledge which is not useful for human and civil life is worthless. | |||
| From: Samuel Pufendorf (On the Duty of Man and Citizen [1673], II.18) | |||
| A reaction: An idea which was despised in the twentieth century, but is approaching orthodoxy in the twenty-first. Personally I think the arts and philosophy hugely enhance human life, but that view is becoming an uphill struggle. |