I have resolved
to write only the one chapter. The State is the background of the
individual, the scaffold which supports his moral life. Without it, he
may be a being; but he is scarcely recognizable as a _human_ being.
It has made the individual what he is, and it is the medium in which he
can give expression to the nature which he now possesses.
Plato maintains that the object of the constitution of the state is the
happiness of the whole, not of any part. [Footnote: _Republic_, II.
It must be borne in mind that both Plato and Aristotle had the Greek
prejudice touching citizenship. Their "citizenship" was enjoyed by a
strictly limited class.] Aristotle, in his "Politics," maintains that it
is the aim of the state to enable men to live well. Sidgwick defines
politics as "the theory of what ought to be (in human affairs) as far as
this depends on the common action of societies of men." [Footnote: _The
Methods of Ethics_, chapter ii.] We may agree with all three, and yet
leave ourselves much latitude in determining the nature of the
organization of, and the limits properly to be set to the activities of,
the State as such.
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