Page 45 - Oswald Ducrot, Slovenian Lectures, Digitalna knjižnica/Digital Library, Dissertationes 6
P. 45
Lecture II
attitude of the people. The people believe that the organisation of society is
fair. The people, in Pascal’s view, believe in the justice of society: they be-
lieve that the king is a good, intelligent, handsome man endowed with all
imaginable qualities; they believe that the laws are fair, that the members of
the aristocracy are those who have the highest value in society, etc. Believ-
ing that the organisation of society is fair, the people comply with the or-
ganisation of society because of the fairness which they credit it with: the
people obey the laws because they believe the laws are fair. That is the first
possible attitude. Second attitude: the attitude of people Pascal calls the
semi-wise. The semi-wise are people who have noticed that the organisa-
tion of society is unfair, more exactly that it has nothing to do with fairness
and is simply based on force: the people who dominate others are mere-
ly the strongest, and there is no legitimacy whatsoever to their domination
over others. More generally, no institution has any legitimacy. So, the semi-
wise have observed that the organisation of society has no justice in it, and
from this observation, they draw the conclusion that since the organisation
of society has no justice in it, since it is based merely on force, one must not
submit to the organisation of society, one must avoid obeying it as much
as possible: the semi-wise are revolutionaries; or at least, potential revolu-
tionaries. Then, there is a third possible attitude, which according to Pas-
cal is the good one. It is the attitude of the wise, therefore of Pascal him-
self, which consists in this: the wise, like the semi-wise, have observed that
the institution of society is wholly foreign to justice and is based on mere
force. So, as far as the analysis of social reality is concerned, the wise whol-
ly agree with the semi-wise and wholly disagree with the people. But the
wise do not draw from that unjust character of the organisation of socie-
ty the same conclusions as the semi-wise do: the wise, on the contrary, con-
clude that one must respect the organisation of society. Not respect it intel-
lectually but respect it in fact: one must submit to, comply with the organi-
sation of society. Their argument is the following. Man, by nature, is unfair:
man has neither a knowledge of justice nor, when he does have some idea
of what justice might be, does he have any tendency in him to follow that
idea of justice. For that reason, it is an excellent thing that the organisation
of justice should be unfair: if the organisation of justice were fair, men, be-
ing as they are, would constantly be fighting against it. An unfair society is
appropriate to the unfair. For example, Pascal in a well-known text says the
following: it is a very good thing that the king should be chosen at random,
simply on the ground that he is the precedent king’s eldest son, because that
greatly simplifies the succession of kings. If one had to elect the fairest, the
attitude of the people. The people believe that the organisation of society is
fair. The people, in Pascal’s view, believe in the justice of society: they be-
lieve that the king is a good, intelligent, handsome man endowed with all
imaginable qualities; they believe that the laws are fair, that the members of
the aristocracy are those who have the highest value in society, etc. Believ-
ing that the organisation of society is fair, the people comply with the or-
ganisation of society because of the fairness which they credit it with: the
people obey the laws because they believe the laws are fair. That is the first
possible attitude. Second attitude: the attitude of people Pascal calls the
semi-wise. The semi-wise are people who have noticed that the organisa-
tion of society is unfair, more exactly that it has nothing to do with fairness
and is simply based on force: the people who dominate others are mere-
ly the strongest, and there is no legitimacy whatsoever to their domination
over others. More generally, no institution has any legitimacy. So, the semi-
wise have observed that the organisation of society has no justice in it, and
from this observation, they draw the conclusion that since the organisation
of society has no justice in it, since it is based merely on force, one must not
submit to the organisation of society, one must avoid obeying it as much
as possible: the semi-wise are revolutionaries; or at least, potential revolu-
tionaries. Then, there is a third possible attitude, which according to Pas-
cal is the good one. It is the attitude of the wise, therefore of Pascal him-
self, which consists in this: the wise, like the semi-wise, have observed that
the institution of society is wholly foreign to justice and is based on mere
force. So, as far as the analysis of social reality is concerned, the wise whol-
ly agree with the semi-wise and wholly disagree with the people. But the
wise do not draw from that unjust character of the organisation of socie-
ty the same conclusions as the semi-wise do: the wise, on the contrary, con-
clude that one must respect the organisation of society. Not respect it intel-
lectually but respect it in fact: one must submit to, comply with the organi-
sation of society. Their argument is the following. Man, by nature, is unfair:
man has neither a knowledge of justice nor, when he does have some idea
of what justice might be, does he have any tendency in him to follow that
idea of justice. For that reason, it is an excellent thing that the organisation
of justice should be unfair: if the organisation of justice were fair, men, be-
ing as they are, would constantly be fighting against it. An unfair society is
appropriate to the unfair. For example, Pascal in a well-known text says the
following: it is a very good thing that the king should be chosen at random,
simply on the ground that he is the precedent king’s eldest son, because that
greatly simplifies the succession of kings. If one had to elect the fairest, the
