Friday 18 March 2011

University of Twitter - political Philosophy by Alain de Botton

Clever stuff from Alain de Botton via twitter so I combined them with 'avatar' pics mainly from Goodreads


alaindebotton Alain de Botton The University of Twitter: a short course in Political Philosophy in 7 parts:

Plato 1: Plato: We should be ruled not by leaders chosen by a majority, but by those who are most intelligent.





2. St Augustine: We should not try to build paradise on earth. Aim for tolerable government, true government only possible in the next life.


Niccolò Machiavelli 3. Machiavelli: Politician must choose between serving the interests of country and theinterests of Christian morality. Can't have both.





4. Hobbes: Rulers not appointed by God, but by people and if they can't guarantee their security, they can be legitimately kicked out.


Adam Smith 5. Smith: The market cannot alone create a moral community. Civil society must nudge capitalists to be good through emulation and honours.


Karl Marx 6. Karl Marx: The 'profit' of a capitalist is in essence theft, the stolen life and labour of the proletariat.


John Stuart Mill 7. J.S. Mill: Governments should not tell people how to live, they should give them the preconditions to make their own choices.

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