On Involvement in Politics

Posted on November 2, 2013

The following is a list of some considerations for becoming involved in political activities:

(i) A citizen has the responsibility and duty to society as part of the Roussseain Social Contract (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Contract). This idea has a long tradition. Solon, the founder of democracy in Athens actually made it a law that all citizens – on pain of death – were required to become involved in the ruling of the polis (the city of athens).
(ii) In Aristotle (try and get hold of a copy of the Nichomachean Ethics from the Varsity library or online) he makes a clear linkage between leading an ethical life and political engagement.
(iii) There is an obligation placed on all of us to become involved to make sure that others, who may do worst, are not permitted to take positions of responsibility.
(iv) Instead of allowing yourself to become cynical or disappointed about politics and the ‘state of the country’, one’s obligation/responsibility is not to become trapped in this mode of thinking, but rather to become involved.
(v) There is an argument that Jean-Paul Sartre uses, in which he argues that the only way to appreciate one’s own humanity – to really actualize one’s Being (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_in_itself) – is only possible through the Gaze of the Other; i.e. maximizing the meaning of other’s lives and through actualizing the humanity of other’s, is it possible – and only through this way possible – to appreciate and gain an an understanding of one’s own Being/Humanity.