Origin of Government

Thank you, Mike_10-4, for joining me in this conversation, as it's much easier to have one with another person. Opening Thesis: The origin of government is only possible through the existence of a Moral Lawgiver. The purpose of government is for humans to interact with each other in good manner, as we are designed to belong in a community. Morality is known through divine and natural law, with natural law being discovered through reason, and divine through revelation. Through these two principles, governments were started by a patriarchal system, with the patriarch obeying the moral code. Question Is civilization the cause of moral standards, or does morality cause a civilization? Extrapolation Before we can discover the origin of government, we have to look at the current world, and then extrapolate what most likely occurred in the past. I will examine intentionality, and the purpose of both justice and equality. Argument 1- Intentionality Before I begin discussing society and laws, I first need to establish that objective moral values exist, and they necessitate the existence of a transcendent agent. There are two major worldviews, theism and atheism, which both make assumptions about the beginning of the universe. The theistic line of thought supports the notion that a transcendent being created our universe, while the atheistic line of thought supports the notion of no transcendent being creating the universe. Intentionality requires a moral agent. According the the law of causality, every cause can only produce certain effects. Intention only can produce intention, and non-intentionality can only produce non-intentionality. Therefore, non-intentionality can never cause an intention. In the atheistic paradigm, the only logical consequence is amorality, or moral relativism. The theistic paradigm supports an objective moral system, as the universe was created with intention. If the creation of the universe was non-intentional, humans would be unable to produce intentions. Since moral agents (humans) can recognize intention, it is impossible for the universe to have been caused without some intentional moral agent. As a Moral Lawgiver must exist, then an objective moral system also exists by necessity. This is true because, if the universe was created with a purpose, then there exists a standard in which to live by, i.e. a moral standard. Included in this system are natural laws that are understood by human reason, and divine laws that are revealed to people by the Lawgiver. Premise 1: Intentionality necessitates a Moral Lawgiver. Premise 2: Intentionality exists. Therefore, A Moral Lawgiver exists. Argument 2- Equality and JusticeThe argument of intentionality shows that there is an objective standard in which moral agents can understand through divine and natural law. The effect of divine and natural law is that society and government will be produced. Imagine the first human family. It begins with a husband and wife. A husband, through divine law, is appointed as the head of the family. This may come across as me making a statement of inequality that demeans women. But one must understand what equality means, and how justice plays an important part in equality. There is a difference between equality and justice. Imagine three people, with different heights, trying to see over a fence. There are three boxes. If we gave each of them a box, the smallest person would not be able to see over the fence. If we distributed the three boxes to give two to the smallet, one to the medium height, and none to the tallest person, then everyone would be able to see over the fence.There are different roles in society. A king makes decisions about a kingdom. A president of a business makes decisions that affect everyone in the company. But this does not make the king or president more important than the subjects or employees. All roles are needed for a functioning society. So, for justice, which is what is required for a government, each person necessarily plays a different role in society. But we are all equal in the fact that we have the choice in either to maintain justice, or betray it. We are equal in that we are all moral agents, but we are born to justice. So, a president of a country and a working class person ought to be both treated with respect, but the artificial ways in which we treat them will look like different things, relative to their roles in society. For example, I'd be respecting a working class citizen if I just met him and casually asked for him to come have a drink with me, but it would be disrespectful to casually ask that to a president that I don't personally know. Premise 1: A sense of justice is required for understanding the different roles within society. Premise 2: Every government, including the first, contains different roles for the people within a society. Therefore, justice causes a government, and the reverse is impossible. Social and Historical Sciences By looking at the social and historical sciences, we can come to an understanding of how humans have interacted in the past, and compare that with the current knowledge of human sociology. By combining these two sciences, we can deduce the probable origin of government. Argument 3- Social Science Given the point in time that we are, we have vast amounts of societies and governments to look at in history. Throughout all of the time and space, there have been many barbarous tribes that have existed. However, those barbarous tribes were unprogressive. Time went on, yet they maintained their uncivilized behavior. The behaviors only changed when a civilized group interacted with them, by means of missionaries, conquests, or colonies. However, we have never seen a barbaric tribe become civilized without some sort of outside agent. This would make sense if that the more ancient nations had a stronger sense of justice, and over time some peoples became isolated and degraded into a lesser state. Premise 1: Isolated tribes maintain their state until an outside agent interacts. Premise 2: Primeval nations started off with complex law codes. Therefore, the first government formed required an outside agent. Argument 4- Patriarchal Systems The next argument deals with the historicity of the patriarchal system. By looking at ancient law codes from Mesopotamia(1)(2) and Egypt(3), we find a male writing down the sacred laws for his nation. The laws require obedience, and punishment is established to maintain justice. In three major religions of the world- Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the patriarch Job is understood as an historical character (4). Job was a shepherd king who performed religious sacrifices for his family. Another important figure was Melchizedek (5). He was a priestly king of ancient Jerusalem. Later on, one of his successors, Ebed-Tob, states to AMENOPHIS IV that “Neither myfather nor my mother, but the arm of the Mighty King has established mein the house of my father. (6)” This shows that an ancient patriarchal system was set up, and that the successor would not be chosen by birth, but by some other means, involving the Mighty King (the Moral Lawgiver.) At this point, we see a patriarchal system where the leader maintains authority over the divine and natural law. The king and the priest were one and the same. Over time, the authority was split, and the kings and priests took over the secular and religious laws, respectively. Premise 1: The earliest governments were patriarchal systems. Premise 2: It is probable that primeval actions reflect original standards. Therefore, it is probable that the first government was a patriarchal system. Conclusion In order for a society to function well, the people forming it must have a sense of justice. Because of this, a society cannot create justice, it must exist beforehand. Once a government is established, it operates in order to maintain justice. The best governments are ones that maintain the highest level of justice as possible. Answer Forming a society does not cause moral standards- a sense of objective moral standards must exist before any type of government can be produced. Proof Premise 1: A Moral Lawgiver exists. Premise 2: Justice causes a government, and the reverse is impossible. Premise 3: The first government was probably a patriarchal system. Premise 4: The first government formed required an outside agent. Therefore: In the beginning, a Moral Lawgiver set up humanity with the tools to formulate a patriarchal government, which would construct just laws as instructed by natural law. ~ I look forward to hearing Con's philosophy of government. References 1: http://eawc.evansville.edu... 2: http://www.cidmod.org... 3: http://www.reshafim.org.il... 4: https://www.biblegateway.com... 5: https://www.biblegateway.com... 6: http://www.fullbooks.com...