Disbelief in the 'monumentum aere perennius'* – The attention of the individual [becomes] too firmly fixed on his own brief span of life and receives no stronger impulse to work at the construction of enduring institutions intended to last for centuries; he wants to pluck the fruit himself from the tree he plants, and he is therefore no longer interested in planting those trees which demand constant tending for a century and are intended to provide shade for long successions of generations.
*A memorial lasting longer than bronze
*A memorial lasting longer than bronze
Who is there who now still feels a strong compulsion to attach himself and his posterity to a particular place? Who is there who still feels any strong attachment at all?
Max Weber provided the most famous and widely accepted definition of the state, identifying it with the “monopoly of legitimate violence” in society. Without such a monopoly and the degree of centralization that it entails, the state cannot play its role as enforcer of law and order, let alone provide public services and encourage and regulate economic activity. When the state fails to achieve almost any political centralization, society sooner or later descends into chaos, as did Somalia.
— Why Nations Fail
— Why Nations Fail
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Max Weber provided the most famous and widely accepted definition of the state, identifying it with the “monopoly of legitimate violence” in society. Without such a monopoly and the degree of centralization that it entails, the state cannot play its role as…
السلطة المركزية هي أساس قيام أيِّ دولة ناجحة، وأساس قيام سلطة مركزية هو احتكار العنف. فالدولة هي "المؤسسة التي تحتكر العنف ولا تطبقه إلا بشكل مبرر" وفقًا لماكس ويبر. من أجل احتكار العنف، على الدولة أنْ تمتلك ما يكفي من القوة (بمعناها البسيط، مثل الجيش والسلاح) لفرض قوانينها على المجتمع والإقتصاد.
Intellect and morality. – One has to have a good memory if one is to keep a promise. One has to have a powerful imagination if one is to feel sympathy. So closely is morality tied to the quality of the intellect.
Against the trusting. – People who give us their complete trust believe they have acquired a right to ours. This is a false conclusion; gifts procure no rights.
What one can promise. – One can promise actions but not feelings; for the latter are involuntary. He who promises someone he will always love him or always hate him or always be faithful to him, promises something that does not reside in his power.
One, certainly very high level of culture has been attained when a man emerges from superstitious and religious concepts and fears and no longer believes in angels, for example, or in original sin, and has ceased to speak of the salvation of souls. Then, however, he needs to take a retrograde step: he has to grasp the historical justification that resides in such ideas, likewise the psychological; he has to recognize that they have been most responsible for the advancement of mankind and that without such a retrograde step he will deprive himself of the best that mankind has hitherto produced . . . at the end of the track, it is necessary to turn the corner.
— Human All Too Human
— Human All Too Human
Forwarded from Sympósion
When one can't talk; feels there are no ears to listen, one writes. Writing is an act of last resort, a rebellion against isolation, a schizophrenic gesture where one's self converses with itself.