The 100 Season 6: Believing in the Common Good (early access)
The moral case for creating a common belief in the goodness of others.
Author’s Note: As some of you may know already, this will be available to free subscribers in a few months.
Also I made an error in the last piece showing what’s next up. I had to change it, the next piece is about The Wonder Years.
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What should society believe about itself?
How should we think about ourselves and believe about others? Are we inherently good or inherently bad? What makes something good or bad? Where should the line be drawn between the two? It's hard to come up with a viable way of thinking about such things. There are many different ways in which society could be organized to make it successful. Some of which we've explored in previous pieces around the show. It all depends on what the framework is and how it might work. If you do it in a good enough way, this could be a good thing. If you do it badly, it could go very, very wrong. Then there are those who create a functional system that's somewhere in between.
Previously in this space, we've explored why there are rules, how to resolve conflict between different sets of rules, what happens when you bring about a totalizing vision of society and try to force it on others. More recently we looked at how a society structured around the individual could work, and how to punish people who don't follow the rules set out in an individualistic society. But in order to function properly, an individualistic society must see itself as having moral standing. If this doesn't happen, you end up creating endless divisions over what a proper moral standing is.
They have to believe in each other and the goodness of society. Obviously, this isn't the easiest task by any means. You have to convince others to commit wholeheartedly. Thankfully, what helps is that most people want to believe in their own goodness. Usually this extends to those directly around you, your family members and to a lesser extent your friends. Such a belief is a good starting point for a broader moral framework. One that allows you to work towards a common good. So long as you have a proper sense of what the common good is, you can make that abstract enough that people will prize this commonality over the every day concerns.
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