Reason Behind Democracy - Essay Example

May 15, Reason as the Reason behind Democracy Human reason has been the product of intense analysis for numerous philosophers across the centuries. Cicero believes that people share the same endowments of nature which include upright posture, the ability to reason (hereinafter called as Reason), intelligence, rational speech, general perceptions and universal intuitions and urges from nature (Hauben). John Milton asserts that Reason is linked to human conscience and the capacity to make decisions (Lim 44). Reason is an important topic for them, because it provides the groundwork in discussing the best political structure for society too. For several philosophers and political thinkers, human reason is pertinent to the creation of rational political systems. This paper analyzes the relationship between human reason and democracy. It shows that Reason is needed to form and sustain democracy. In other words, Reason forms, informs, and guides democracy, so a person who believes in democracy also asserts that people have the power and ability of human reason to create and sustain a democratic state. Human nature provides the springboard for human reason. In Book IV, Chapters XVII, XVIII and XIX of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke explores the nature of Reason, the connections between Reason and faith and the nature of enthusiasm. Locke underscores that all sects use Reason to promote their spiritual aspirations. When they cannot explain something through Reason, they use faith to justify it (Uzagalis). Locke defines Reason as “the discovery of the certainty or probability of such propositions or truths, which the mind arrives at by deduction made from such ideas, as it has got by the use of its natural faculties; viz, by the use of sensation or reflection” (IV. XVIII. ii. 689 qtd. in Uzagalis). Faith refers to beliefs “…upon the credit of the proposer, as coming from God, in some extraordinary way of communication” (Uzagalis). Human nature uses reason to understand the world and to make decisions. It differs from faith that relies on mystic systems and explanations. Locke asserts in the role of Reason in understanding the truth about political, social, and economic systems. Reason provides the evidence that will justify the rightness or wrongness of humanity’s institutions. Cicero has a universal view of humanity and says: “however one defines man, the same definition applies to all of us” (The Laws, Book I, Chapter 30, or L I.30 qtd. in Hauben). Cicero believes that human nature is similar across the world and Reason is a common factor that binds them. Cicero asserts the power of Reason: “Reason in fact-- the one thing in which we are superior to the beasts, which enables us to make valid deductions, to argue, refute opponents, debate, solve problems, draw conclusions -- that certainly is common to all of us” (L I.30 qtd. in Hauben). Reason defines morality and helps apply it. Human reason is central to humanity and people who believe in it also consider that it is critical in making rational decisions, where rationality is related to what is right. Milton believes in Reason that allows people to make rational choices (Lim 44). Human reason enables people to think in a moral, organized, and productive manner. Cicero highlights that speech makes relations among humans more “delightful” and that of writing enables “conversations to be carried on with people who were far away” geographically and in time (R III.3 qtd. in Hauben). Human reason guides communication processes and products, which is critical in forming understandings about the world and organizing themselves, so that they can attain common ends. Milton emphasizes the importance of Reason in making moral choices (Lim 44). Cicero argues too that common Reason allows each individual to scrutinize nature and come to comprehend what nature urges him/her to do (qtd. in Hauben). These understandings produce the Natural Law. Cicero calls it: “The highest reason, inherent in nature which enjoins what ought to be done and forbids the opposite” (L I.18 qtd. in Hauben). The Natural Law enables people to provide certainty and order in their lives. To follow natural law in one’s life is what Cicero refers to as justice and thus “justice comes from nature” (L I.33 qtd. in Hauben). He understands that corruption comes from “bad habits” and can be “so great that it extinguishes, so to speak, the sparks given by nature and allows corresponding vices to spring up and flourish” (L I.33 qtd. in Hauben). Nevertheless, Cicero faithfully believes that “we are born for justice and that what is just is based, not on opinion, but on nature” (L I.28 in Hauben). Reason provides freedom and freedom, not pursuit of happiness per se, is critical to the formation of democracy. In the “Doctrine of Right”, Part One of his two-part Metaphysics of Morals, Kant analyzes several political topics, including freedom and human reason. He asserts that: “There is only one innate right. Freedom (independence from being constrained by anothers choice), insofar as it can coexist with the freedom of every other in accordance with a universal law” (6:237 qtd. in Rauscher). Freedom begets freedoms, which are the makings of a democratic state. Kant rebuffs any other groundwork for the state, and he specifically argues that the wellbeing of citizens cannot be the base of state power (Rauscher). Kant emphasizes that a state cannot lawfully enforce any specific idea of happiness upon its citizens (8:290–91 qtd. in Rauscher). This action only means that the state sees its citizens as children who have no capacity for human reason. This claim is related to Kants more general claim that moral law cannot rely on happiness or any other given empirical good. In the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant differentiates an ethics of autonomy, in which the will (Wille, or practical reason) is the foundation of its own law, from the ethics of heteronomy, in which something autonomous of the will, such as happiness, is the starting point of moral law (4:440–41 qtd. in Rauscher). Kant opposes utilitarians then, who believe that happiness is critical to a moral society. In the Critique of Practical Reason, Kant points out that happiness (the sociability of life when things go in harmony with ones wishes and desires), although commonly sought by human beings, is not precise enough to necessitate any definite universal desires in human beings (qtd. in Rauscher). Though universal desires exist among human beings, those desires are believed to be empirical and contingent, and thus, undeserving of being the foundation of any pure moral law (5:25–26 qtd. in Rauscher). As a result, happiness cannot be conceived as a “pure principle of the state,” especially when the general idea of happiness is too indistinguishable to provide the basis of a law. This shows that the “universal principle of right” cannot rely upon happiness but only on something truthfully universal, such as freedom (qtd. in Rauscher). People then have to believe in the faculty and the power of human reason, if they want to believe in their freedom to choose their political leaders and systems. When people in power no longer do what is right, they are not exercising their reason, and so the people should do this for their own sake. The “universal principle of right” Kant provides is: “Any action is right if it can coexist with everyones freedom in accordance with a universal law, or if on its maxim the freedom of choice of each can coexist with everyones freedom in accordance with a universal law” (6:230 qtd. in Rauscher). When democracies have become defunct of freedoms, people should rise and change their leaders and political structures. Milton argues that Natural Law is critical to maintaining a true democracy (Lim 43). The Natural Law applies equally to all people, including monarchy and leaders (Lim 443). It ensures social justice in the midst of human whims and corruption (Lim 44). To break the Natural Law results to the violation of justice, and this is immoral for Locke (Lim 44). Locke calls for people to exercise human reason to promote and defend justice in society (Lim 44). Locke defines Reason as the ability to choose between what is right and wrong, as well as promoting what is right (Lim 44). Human reason justifies liberty that the state and the people should protect (Lim 44). When the state fails to protect liberty, the people should not allow it and correct it with means available to them. Milton and Cicero stress that doing something wrong is against human nature. People have the capacity to do wrong, but their human reason should reinsure the defense of liberty. Kant asserts that people should fight for their freedom for this the foundation of democracy. Like Milton, Locke, and Cicero, Kant underscores the rationality of the human mind in promoting the kind of democracy that serves its moral agenda. This can be connected to his concept of Enlightenment. In one of his well-known essays, “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” he explores Enlightenment in terms of the exercise of an individuals own reason (8:35f qtd. in Rauscher). To be enlightened is to appear from ones self-incurred minority (juvenile) position to “a mature ability to think for oneself” (qtd. in Rauscher). Hence, Reason has the power to shape democratic structures and the election of its leaders too. Democracy creates governments that Reason forms and can destroy. People need to believe in the power and ability of humanity for human reason, before they can fathom how and why democracy works. People use reason to elect their leaders in democratic states. These leaders also use reason to protect and ensure freedoms. However, when leaders fail to exercise human reason, people can also use their power to eject their leaders. They know that human nature disavows what is wrong and Reason completes this innate feeling. Hence, human reason is critical to the formation of democracies. At the same time, it ensures the continuity and validity of democracy. Works Cited Hauben, Jay. “A Basis for Democracy in Ciceros The Republic and The Laws.” No date. Web. 14 May 2012. < http://www.ais.org/~jrh/geneva/cicero.txt>. Lim, Walter S. H. John Milton, Radical Politics, and Biblical Republicanism. New Jersey: Associated U P, 2006. Print. Rauscher, Frederick. “Kants Social and Political Philosophy.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 19 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. < http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-social-political/#RepEnlDem>. Uzgalis, William. “John Locke.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 5 May 2007. Web. 14 May 2012. < http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/#ReaFaiEnt>. Read More