Wisdom from the 42nd Page

The Mirage of Social Justice

On the forty-second page of “Law, Legislation and Liberty, Volume 2: The Mirage of Social Justice” author F. A. Hayek wrote (emphasis added):

this does not exclude the possibility that we may later discover cases to which, if we had not commited ourselves, we should wish not to apply the rule, and where we discover that we had thought to be quite just is in fact not so; in which event we may be forced to alter the rule for the future. Such a demonstration of a conflict between the intuitive feeling of justice and rules we wish also to preserve may often force us to review our opinion.

We shall later have to consider further the changes in the recognized rules which will be necessary for the preservation of the overall order if the rules of just conduct are to be the same for all. We shall then see that often effects which seem unjust to us may still be just in the sense that they are necessary consequences of the just actions of all concerned. In the abstract order in which we live and to which we owe most of the advantages of civilization, it must thus in the last resort be our intellect and not intuitive perception of what is good which must guide us. Our present moral views undoubtedly still contain layers of strata deriving from earlier phases of the evolution of human societies—the small horde to the organized tribe, the still larger groups of clans and the other successive steps toward the Great Society. And though some of the rules or opinions emerging in later stages may actually presuppose the continued acceptance of earlier ones, other new elements may be in conflict with some of those of earlier origins which still persist.

The significant of the negative character of the test of injustice

The fact that, though we have no positive criteria of justice, we do have negative criteria which show us what is unjust, is very important in several respects. It means, in the first instance, that, though the striving to eliminate the unjust will not be a sufficient foundation for building up a wholly new system of law, it can be an adequate guide for developing an existing body of law with the aim of making it more just. In such an effort towards the development of a body of rules, most of which are accepted by the members of society, there will therefore also exist an 'objective' (in the sense of being inter-personally valid, but not of universal—because it will be valid only for those other members of the society who accept most of its other rules) test of what is unjust. Such a test of injustice may be sufficient to tell us in what direction we must develop an established system of law, though it would be insufficient to enable us to construct a wholly new system of law.

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(University of Chicago Press, October 1978. Paperback, 210 pages. ISBN: 0226320839; EAN: 9780226320830.)

Beast and Man

On the forty-second page of “Beast and Man: The Roots of Human Nature” author Mary Midgley wrote (emphasis added):

should have put an end to this convenient way of thinking. They did, however, and as a the Greek notion of the gods grew steadily more dignified and noble, the problem, "Whom can I blame for my faults?" again became pressing. I do not think it is any accident that Plato, the first Greek who consistently wrote of the gods as good, was also the first active exponent of the Beast Within. Black horses, wolves, lions, hawks, asses, and pigs recur every time he mentions the subject of evil; they provide the only terms in which he can talk about it. This is not an idle stylistic device: there is no such thing in Plato. His serious view is that evil is something alien to the soul; something Other, the debasing effect of matter seeping in through the instinctive nature. This treacherous element clearly cannot be anything properly human; it must be described in animal terms—and those of no particular animal at that, since all particular animals have their redeeming features, but a dreadful composite monster combining all the vices: in short, the Beast Within, whose only opponent is the Rational Soul. Certainly good feeling is sometimes invoked too, and given body as a Good Beast, but its goodness is supposed to consist in its obedience to Reason, not in its contributing anything itself. The white horse willingly obeys the charioteer and helps him to restrain the black;²³ it is no Balaam's Ass that hazards its own suggestions. Accordingly the feeling named in this connection are shame, ambition, the sense of honor, never, for instance, pity or affection, where the body might be held to make good suggestions to the soul. Plato's map excludes such a possibility. This exclusion has been both morally and psychologically disastrous. Fear of and contempt for feeling make up an irrational prejudice built into the structure of European rationalism.²⁴

Aristotelian and Kantian Beasts

Aristotle, though in general he was much more convinced of man's continuity with the physical world than Plato, makes some equally odd uses of the contrast between man and beast. In the Nicomachean Ethics (1 7) he asks what the true function of man is, in order to see what his

23. Plato, Phaedrus 254–257
24. I shall develop this point further in chap 11.

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(Routledge, October 2002. Paperback, 416 pages. ISBN: 0415289874; EAN: 9780415289870.)

Why Courage Matters

On the forty-second page of “Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life” author John McCain wrote (emphasis added):

[suc]cessfully attacking Japanese bases in the Palaus and the Philippines for weeks and meeting with lighter than anticipated resistance. He concluded that the Japanese defense of the Philippines wouldn't be as formidable as war planners had assumed; that the timetable for the invasion of Leyte Island should be accelerated; and that an invasion of Peleliu, to secure an air base there, wouldn't be necessary to protect the attack on Leyte. Nimitz cabled the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who then conferred with President Roosevelt and General MacArthur, who decided to accept part of Halsey's recommendation. The invasion of Leyte would be advanced two months, and the second phase of Operation Stalemate II would be dropped. The invasion of Peleliu, along with two other island in the archipelago,

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(Random House Large Print Publishing, May 2004. Hardcover, 336 pages. ISBN: 0375432345; EAN: 9780375432347.)

Science as Salvation

On the forty-second page of “Science as Salvation: A Modern Myth and Its Meaning” author Mary Midgley wrote (emphasis added):

Destiny is written as and while, not before, it happens... The universe was not pregnant with life nor the biosphere with man. Our number came up in the Monte Carlo game. Is it surprising that, like the person who has just made a million at the casino, we should feel strange and a little unreal?¹⁰

Notice how hard it is to depersonify one's world. Clearly, Monod thinks of a casino as embodying the total lack of order and purposive connexion which he takes as the basic condition of nature. This story is a gross insult to casinos. Real casinos are not chancy things at all but highly purposeful human artefacts, devices to produce a peculiar arrangement that is never normally found in nature—namely, a calculated disorder which can baffle prediction. How artificial this kind of 'chance' is can be seen from the amount of trouble it takes to produce it. Complex techniques and ceaseless vigilance are needed to make the roulette tables (or whatever), and the people running them, following this peculiar pattern.¹¹

The same thing emerges from the difficulties experienced by the people who publish random number tables. They must carefully examine these tables so as to remove orderly sequences which constantly get into them by accident. The fact that these sequences are accidental—that is, natural—does not mean that they can be accepted. The randomness of these numbers does not really mean 'chance' at all in the sense of accident. It means aptness for a very special purpose—namely, defeating prediction.

Why, then, should the basic constitution of the universe be—as Monod claims it is—this particular, highly artificial arrangement of disconnected items? There is no obvious reason in the nature of science why it should be so. This pattern was indeed the one used when physicists thought of matter as composed of standard little chunks which acted merely by being banged against each other. But that kind of physics was not successful. The idea of a 'scientific' approach as commited to it cannot be right.

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(Routledge, May 1994. Paperback, 239 pages. ISBN: 0415107733; EAN: 9780415107730.)