Lecture Notes on What Constitutes a Healthy or Well-Ordered Society

Below are the lecture notes I was not able to get to yesterday (Thurs. 2/12). Before I get into them, let me remind you of the family activity I posted yesterday as well, which describes what we will be doing next Tuesday. Check it out.


I wrapped up yesterday's class by defining society as an ORGANIZED SYSTEM OF INSTITUTIONS. Earlier I had defined institutions as ORGANIZED SYSTEMS OF OBJECTS DIRECTED TOWARD HUMAN ENDS, and stressed how they are the real actors in modern society and that, as individuals, we achieve our ends through these institutions. That brings us to the final question we need to address, which is: what constitutes a healthy or well-ordered society? Just as the doctor must have a conception of a healthy body to make a diagnosis of sickness, likewise we need to have some idea of a healthy society to diagnosis sickness (or problems) in it.

A. So, based on the conception of society presented above, I would argue that, in general, a well-ordered society would involve the proper organization of these institutions -- that these institutions function harmoniously, which in turn is key to individuals leading a satisfying life.

1. There is a difference between institutions functioning harmoniously and the NORMAL functioning of these institutions -- indeed, the NORMAL functioning of these institutions may be the real problem (as I believe we will see in our critical analysis of overconsumption/debt and the "cheating culture," etc.) This is like making the argument that "business as usual" is the problem. In a book entitled, The Sane Society, Erich Fromm introduced the concept of the "pathology of normalcy," which also suggests that what we look upon as normal may be pathological or sick.

2. More practically speaking, to have a good house to live in (which is a crucial object for all of us), it is important that the carpenter you hire is competent, has been well-trained, has good tools and materials, and proper nourishment -- in short, that he is properly instrumented. In an ultimate sense, this would require that the economy be right, agriculture be right, education/training be right, etc. for good houses to be built. Remember human relations are mediated by objects.

B. To push this further, one would have to define the essential purpose of the basic institutions in our society -- what role each institutions plays in maintaining that larger life (society) in which we all participate. It is also vital for us as individuals to consider our place, our role in this larger life too. (As the authors of Affluenza do in Chapter 14 when they consider the broad question of what the purpose of our economy should be.)

C. Since my sketch of society is largely based on the social thought of American philosopher, Elijah Jordan, I believe it is appropriate to give him the last word on this -- a statement of what he calls "the law of morality," or a standard for determining what constitutes a healthy society --

"The good life posits a person or actor endowed by nature and by culture with all the capacities that are possible to him, with these capacities developed to their fullest possible degree; the person living in a world so organized and ordered as to guarantee to the person full and free access to all the means and instruments necessary to the adequate and appropriate expression of his capacities and to the realization of his acts in satisfying objects." p. 59, The Good Life

Another nice statement of a general standard of a good society can be found in Affluenza, p. 140. The authors are discussing some of the ideas of William Morris:

" 'The good life of the future,' said Morris, would be totally unlike the life of the rich of his day. 'Free men,' he maintained, 'must live simple lives and have simple pleasures.' Morris defined a decent, wealthy life as requiring 'a healthy body, an active mind, occupation fit for a healthy body and active mind, and a beautiful world to live in.'"

1. One can easily gather from these general statements that conditions such as poverty, hunger, homelessness, unemployment (but also a life of excess) clearly represent social problems, problems both for individuals and for the larger society. Work is especially important -- it is, as I stressed earlier, AN ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. We build our lives around our work. When there is a lack of work, meaningless or unrewarding work, or work that undermines or destroys that larger order of society, this is a serious social problem.

2. Insofar as our society, or any society, falls short of this standard of a healthy society described above (as all societies obviously do in varying degrees), we can say something is wrong, that social problems exist, that we have work to do.


That wraps up my effort to describe a ground or basis for defining social problems, so we will get into the social problem of "affluenza" next time....