POLS 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Civil Society, John Locke, Legal Positivism
16 Jan 2018
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Topics: the ethical life thesis, freedom, the institutions of modern social life: the family, civil society and the state, private property, history (we will cover this later when we start marx) The market economy: point emphasized by classical political economists (smith) fulfilling our own ends also benefits others, this is unintentional, subjective selfishness turns into a contribution towards the satisfaction of everyone else (philosophy of right, section 199) Civil society: works through this invisible hand mechanism where even though you"re pursuing your own particular good, you"re actually helping the stability of your own society, ex. you"re paying taxes that pay for military, schools, etc. State: institutional structures and dispositions of patriotism and civic virtue, there are people that would give their lives to protect their country. Property and freedom: the true position is that, from the point of view of freedom, property, as the first existence of freedom, is an essential end for itself , essential end for itself.
