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Even if it were true (and personally I'm not sure of that) that humans naturally tend to form hierarchical structures of power, that's not a good reason not to
by emt02 10y ago
Even if it were true (and personally I'm not sure of that) that humans naturally tend to form hierarchical structures of power, that's not a good reason not to try to overcome this "natural" condition to create a more just society.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoAnd I'm not sure if it's worth trying to overcome it. Two reasons why hierarchical structures show up: 1. If you want to even have someone looking at the "big picture", due to limits of human cognition, you have to build a hierarchy. 2. Hierarchy shows up as a natural solution to coordination problems. Consider e.g. various forms of the tragedy of commons. The solution to that[0] is that all actors involved agree to be governed by an independent one. This is something that humans end up rediscovering all the time. Basically, hierarchical governance is what lets humanity build societies larger than couple dozen people. -- [0] - in larger systems, i.e. beyond few people who know each other personally and can mutually agree not to be assholes to one another; we have a strongly developed social skills to handle such issues in small groups.
- emt02 10y agoI think you made some good points, but what I would like to point out is that, even if hierarchy was completely inevitable in some context, we should still struggle to get a just kind of hiearchy. (A part of) the world already did some good progress on this front with the gradual switch from absolute monarchies to democracies, and I hope it will eventually be able to continue on the path towards a more just world.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoThat I can agree with. I mean, hierarchy solves problems, therefore is useful. Having a fair world for everyone is a goal, so adjusting hierarchies to help reach that goal is something we should work on.