| Then the relation of the principle to other core principles, and to the general sense of what constitutes a well- functioning society, and one that fulfills the goal of inclusiveness and solidarity to the extent circumstances permit. As I said, in any society, honesty is a desirable quality, and there cannot be a healthy society without a high level of trust. Both fairness to individuals and social utility is enhanced by encouraging fluid social classes, which means that streamlining formal etiquette is desirable, since much of it is hard to acquire unless one has been brought up in it, and merely functions to exclude the parvenu. Feuding is socially disruptive, and therefore the attitudes which encourage vendettas should be discouraged (a touchy sense of honor, the need to prove one's manhood through violence, a disdain for public institutions). Aristocracy has served no great social function since the Middle Ages, when lords actually provided some degree of justice and security. For most of the modern period, since the Renaissance, they have mainly been courtiers, with few functions except to act in a tableau around the king, as it were. That is not to say that all titled persons are worthless, but that the system of aristocracy is rightly superceded. Etc........... |
