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American Heritage

American Heritage. Lecture 3. Human Nature: Key question for founders of any government. Heather will break the date with Fred to go with Lance. A. Yes B. No. Which of the following generally describes your view of human nature?.

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American Heritage

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  1. American Heritage Lecture 3

  2. Human Nature: Key question for founders of any government

  3. Heather will break the date with Fred to go with Lance. A. Yes B. No

  4. Which of the following generally describes your view of human nature? A. People are inherently good but society can change them for the worse. B. People are basically selfish but they can learn to care for others. C. People are inherently neither good nor bad. They are born as a blank slate to be written on by experience. D. People are inherently neither good nor bad (or they are both), but they choose to become good or evil.

  5. Why do we put persons convicted of crimes in prison? A. To punish them B. To reform them

  6. Human Nature • FREEDOM • ORDER • PHYSICAL GOODS • GOODS OF THE SOUL • “There is something within man which urges him to rise above himself . . . To live in a higher and more beautiful world. . . . To be alive only to appetite, pleasure, pride, money-making, and not to goodness and kindness, purity and love, poetry, music, flowers, stars, God and eternal hopes, is to deprive one’s self of the real joy of living.” David O. McKay • POWER

  7. How to decide who gets how much of these things? • A. Is it a zero-sum game? (I.e., is there a finite amount of these things? • B. How to spread the “good life”: one or the recurring themes of this course.

  8. A GOOD SOCIETY A condition of ordered freedom with plentiful goods for body and soul Human Aspiration

  9. Alternatives of forms of government: • Autocracy • Classical republicanism • Libertarianism • Liberalism

  10. Assumptions about human nature: people are like children; need guidance Forms: monarchies, dictatorships and other despotismsExamples: pre-revolutionary France, Nazi Germany, Stalinist Soviet Union, the current Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran Autocracy: one or few in charge, guardianships

  11. Meet George Orwell

  12. Animal Farm: A founding gone awry

  13. Assumptions about human nature: people are not necessarily corrupt, but are corruptible. Power corrupts…“We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” Doctrine and Covenants 121: 39Hence need design governments to restrain power and encourage moral behavior Classical Republicanism

  14. Libertarianism: just leave us alone, for crying out loud! Assumptions about human nature: people are what they are, some good, some bad, and government is not going to change that.Government is limited to protecting rights; morality is to be left to individuals.“That government is best which governs least.” Thomas Jefferson

  15. Assumptions about human nature: people are basically good. They need to be freed from malign influences.Government plays a positive role in addressing social problems that hinder human growth and development. It can address inequality, poverty and intolerance. Liberalism

  16. Political Economy Questions: • Can you have free markets without democratic government? • Can you have democratic government without free markets?

  17. Social Compact • Assumes state of nature • Assumes mutual interests • Assumes establishing government

  18. Sandel: Greatest Happiness • One approach to spreading societal goods: utilitarianism • Greatest good for the greatest number • An approach towards public policy

  19. Laying the groundwork for government

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