The new state : $b Group organization the solution of popular governmentFollett, Mary Parker
Science
The new state : $b Group organization the solution of popular government
Follett, Mary Parker
Democracy; Political participation; Social psychology; State, The
Secondly, I have said that the conception of right as a group product,
as coming from the ceaseless interplay of men, shows us that there is no
such thing as an individual conscience in the sense in which the term is
often used. As we are to obey no ideals dictated by others or the past,
it is equally important that we obey no ideal set up by our unrelated
self. To obey the moral law is to obey the social ideal. The social
ideal is born, grows and shapes itself through the associated life. The
individual cannot alone decide what is right or wrong. We can have no
true moral judgment except as we live our life with others. It is said,
“Every man is subject only to his own conscience.” But what is my
conscience? Has it not been produced by my time, my country, my
associates? To make a conscience by myself would be as difficult as to
try to make a language by myself.[16]
It is sometimes said, on the other hand, “The individual must yield his
right to judge for himself; let the majority judge.” But the individual
is not for a moment to yield his right to judge for himself; he can
judge better for himself if he joins with others in evolving a
synthesized judgment. Our individual conscience is not absorbed into a
national conscience; our individual conscience must be incorporated in a
national conscience as one of its constituent members.[17] Those of us
who are not wholly in sympathy with the conscientious objectors do not
think that they should yield to the majority. When we say that their
point of view is too particularistic, we do not mean that they should
give up the dictates of their own conscience to a collective conscience.
But we mean that they should ask themselves whether their conscience is
a freak, a purely personal, conscience, or a properly evolved
conscience. That is, have they tried, not to saturate themselves with
our collective ideals, but to take their part in evolving collective
standards by freely giving and taking. Have they lived the life which
makes possible the fullest interplay of their own ideas with all the
forces of their time? Before they range themselves against society they
must ask themselves if they have taken the opportunities offered them to
help form the ideas which they are opposing. I do not say that there is
no social value in heresy, I only ask the conscientious objectors to ask
themselves whether they are claiming the “individual rights” we have
long outgrown.
What we want is a related conscience, a conscience that is intimately
related to the consciences of other men and to all the spiritual
environment of our time, to all the progressive forces of our age. The
particularistic tendency has had its day in law, in politics, in
international relations and as a guiding tendency in our daily lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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