I've been yammering on and on about Oligarchy as an archetypical form of government much beloved by TPTB and I was never even aware of the Italian school.
I discovered your Substack from reading the “Editor’s Introduction” to the book by Lobaczewski “Political Ponerology: The Science of Evil, Psychopathy and the Origins of Totalitarianism.” I look forward to reading this Substack as I get into Lobaczewski.
Your summary above immediately reminded me of the current push by “elites” for “Equity” in contradiction to “Equality of Opportunity.” The ruling elites will find it much easier to control and manage those who are chosen not by talent, hard work and excellence but by race, sex, gender, connections etc., they know it.
Mar 30, 2022·edited Mar 30, 2022Liked by The Evolved Psyche
Great summary. In conversations with other people I sometimes find it necessary or desirable to summarize my foundational political beliefs. Now I just can provide them with this link :)
>And the political actors were the patres familias or headsmen of the families that made up such a hunter-gatherer band or tribe.
I just used the expression "pater familias" in a comment to your earlier post before reading this one. Uncanny.
> It would be an error to romanticize this proto-aristocratic egalitarianism as excluding coercion or aggression within the family, or as circumstances may dictate, between such families
True. However, under normal and healthy conditions the patriarch always has the interests of the members of his family in mind. To a lesser extent the same applies to clan and tribal elites. Contrariwise, on such a small scale the populace has a better and more immediate political understanding. And they can coordinate better with each other, including in their support for alternative elites.
I believe that many of the political challenges we face are caused by the inability of our natural political faculties that are geared toward the natural hierarchy of family / clan / tribe to scale to the level of a state or an empire.
[The problem with the natural hierarchy, of course, that a successful state or empire would have it for lunch. Where "successful" can be very temporary - couple generations or so]
This is really good stuff.
I've been yammering on and on about Oligarchy as an archetypical form of government much beloved by TPTB and I was never even aware of the Italian school.
Much appreciated work.
I discovered your Substack from reading the “Editor’s Introduction” to the book by Lobaczewski “Political Ponerology: The Science of Evil, Psychopathy and the Origins of Totalitarianism.” I look forward to reading this Substack as I get into Lobaczewski.
Your summary above immediately reminded me of the current push by “elites” for “Equity” in contradiction to “Equality of Opportunity.” The ruling elites will find it much easier to control and manage those who are chosen not by talent, hard work and excellence but by race, sex, gender, connections etc., they know it.
Great summary. In conversations with other people I sometimes find it necessary or desirable to summarize my foundational political beliefs. Now I just can provide them with this link :)
>And the political actors were the patres familias or headsmen of the families that made up such a hunter-gatherer band or tribe.
I just used the expression "pater familias" in a comment to your earlier post before reading this one. Uncanny.
> It would be an error to romanticize this proto-aristocratic egalitarianism as excluding coercion or aggression within the family, or as circumstances may dictate, between such families
True. However, under normal and healthy conditions the patriarch always has the interests of the members of his family in mind. To a lesser extent the same applies to clan and tribal elites. Contrariwise, on such a small scale the populace has a better and more immediate political understanding. And they can coordinate better with each other, including in their support for alternative elites.
I believe that many of the political challenges we face are caused by the inability of our natural political faculties that are geared toward the natural hierarchy of family / clan / tribe to scale to the level of a state or an empire.
[The problem with the natural hierarchy, of course, that a successful state or empire would have it for lunch. Where "successful" can be very temporary - couple generations or so]