The Social Contract

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This week I am coming to you live from Copenhagen Denmark. Well, not live exactly. The show is recorded, as usual. I am posting this from Denmark and as far as I know, I am very much alive. I have never been to Copenhagen, so I am looking forward to some exploring, but I suspect I know the reason this is not a tourist hot spot. So far, the city seems rather plain, a lot like a Midwestern American city. There is nothing wrong with plain, but tourists want a hopping city center, real or manufactured, painted with the local culture.

The one thing I have noticed is that this is hipster hell. I feel like I am in Portland. Every male has a skinny jeans, bespoke facial hair, and noticeable ink. Now, this may be true everywhere young white males congregate. I live in Lagos, so I do not see many hipsters or white people. Of course, I have yet to see a black person walking around here. I did see some Muslims and at the airport I swore they had Hispanics working the maintenance jobs. Maybe they import Spanish or Italians. Maybe Mexicans are great swimmers.

Since I am here doing some big brain stuff, the show this week will be a big-brained show, getting into political philosophy. For those with the small or medium brains, you may want to break out the brain oil before listening. One thing missing on our side of the great divide is anything resembling original thinking about politics. It is either criticism of the mainstream options or romanticism for long gone models. That is not going to cut it, so I am going to be doing more stuff on alternative politics and alternative political philosophy.

This week I have the usual variety of items in the now standard format. Spreaker has the full show. I am up on Google Play now, so the Android commies can take me along when out disrespecting the country. I am on iTunes, which means the Apple Nazis can listen to me on their Hitler phones. The anarchists can catch me on iHeart Radio. YouTube also has the full podcast. Of course, there is a download link below. I am now on Spotify, so the millennials can tune in when not sobbing over white privilege and toxic masculinity.

This Week’s Show

Contents

  • 00:00: Opening
  • 02:00: Socrates
  • 07:00: Hobbes & Locke
  • 17:00: Rousseau
  • 27:00: John Rawls
  • 37:00: The Sexual Contract
  • 47:00: The Biological Contract
  • 57:00: Closing

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To keep Z Man's voice alive for future generations, we’ve archived his writings from the original site at thezman.com. We’ve edited out ancillary links, advertisements, and donation requests to focus on his written content.

Comments (Historical)

The comments below were originally posted to thezman.com.

30 Comments

gb #73690 September 16, 2018 10:12 pm 0
Thanks for the primer on social contracts, I appreciate the effort that went into it. Very altruistic. What measures of altruism can be used in future writings on the subject? Seems like a lot of the measures for the lack of altruism, like crime between different ethnic groups, would be censored by media platforms.
Moran ya Simba #73563 September 14, 2018 8:04 pm 0
I believe any true ‘social contract’ has to be darwinian in nature or it is ‘unnatural’.
Shrugger #73562 September 14, 2018 7:56 pm 0
So what Z-man is proposing is a new third way, which turns out to be based on the original way. I think the question is whether a kin-based social contact can scale to a world of billions of people. And if so, is there a transition other than global (thermonuclear) war? So two questions for starters.
Darwins Sh-tlist #73557 September 14, 2018 6:43 pm 0
I’ve been thinking about Rawls’ thought experiment lately, particularly in terms of the usual gripes from the Coalition of the Fringes.The thought experiment usually asks “What kind of an ideal state would you want if you didn’t know what any of your major personal characteristics would be?” What if you change it to “Of the societies that have currently or previously existed, which of them would you want to be born into if you didn’t know what any of your major personal characteristics would be?”Would any of the BLM, metoo, trans radicals, or similar types choose to be born in any country outside of Northern or Western Europe, or the Anglosphere if they didn’t know their race, sex, or anything else? Would they run the risk of being born to a Christian family in Saudi Arabia (if there are any)? A Muslim in India? A woman in sub Saharan Africa? Non-Japanese in Japan (this probably wouldn’t be as bad as the others, but you would be constantly reminded that you’re an outsider, which they seem obsessed with)?To ask the question is to answer it.
Cerulean #73554 September 14, 2018 5:41 pm 0
If I may interrupt your pondering of political theory, I’ll suggest you look at this post on current actualities. Amazingly prescient speech, good 6-minute video. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/09/14/knowing-what-we-know-now-we-must-remind-ourselves/#more-154057 Your vote this November is important.
Cerulean #73556 September 14, 2018 6:03 pm 0
You’ll need to page up a bit for the video and initial remarks in the article.
LineInTheSand #73559 September 14, 2018 6:55 pm 0
Do you really believe that someone who identifies as “conservative” can help us? The revealed fundamental principle of conservatism is to champion the progressivism of 10-20 years ago. Conservatives share the same worldview as groups like Black Lives Matter but are just more timid about expressing it clearly. In 20 years, conservatives will be saying that pedophilia is a timeworn conservative value. Conservatives are willing to bet the future of the country on the possibility that Somalis can become Randians. F#ck those guys.
Cerulean #73560 September 14, 2018 7:37 pm 0
I don’t have many illusions about Conservatism Inc. I’m sure Donald Trump has even fewer illusions. However, for many reasons, I would like to see President Trump continue in office for two terms.Unlike some here, I don’t care much about rehabilitating the term “conservative.”Regardless of its name, the site I linked is the best daily source I’ve seen for analysis of the anti-Trump efforts of the Deep State, the uniparty Republicans, the Left, the neocons, the media, and Big Education.I figure if all those people are against Donald Trump, he’s worth supporting. And I think if those folks manage to get enough Ds elected, Trump will be impeached or at least further immobilized.So yeah, I thought it was a good video. It’s become increasingly obvious that in 2016 Donald Trump had a pretty good sense of what he (and we) are up against.
Dutch #73568 September 14, 2018 10:40 pm 0
Haven’t watched the video, but Conservative Tree House is THE must read for knowing what is really going on in the swamp. Don’t worry about the title.
Rod1963 #73567 September 14, 2018 9:27 pm 0
No they won’t. They’re just greedy pukes hiding behind a facade, this goes doubly for Randians. I’ve been following Conservativism since before Reagan. They never cared one bit for the average white workingman and woman. They never said squat as industry to moved to Asia and as we imported millions of wetbacks to work in shops and the land. When Milken and his LBO goon gutted American corporations and put hundreds of thousands of people out of work and raided pension funds. They rejoiced. They loved NAFTA, WTO, PNTR with China.They surrendered on the cultural war when I was a kid. All they kept was the “anti-abortion ” and “Christian” planks. It was the only thing that kept the party from fading into oblivion. Because it was clear the party hostile to middle-class Americans. They never did anything for them. Nothing.F**k them with a rusty chainsaw sideways and burn them alive in their country clubs.
Frip #73576 September 15, 2018 9:10 am 0
As far as I can tell it’s called The Last Refuge now.
Maus #73543 September 14, 2018 1:04 pm 0
Zman, thanks for an engaging overview of the philosophy of social contract. Two things struck me from your observations: 1. The shortcomings of Hobbes versus Locke in terms of the formative origins of the social contract. This was tough for me because I was formerly more prone to the Hobbesian view. 2. The abstract rationality of Rawls’ theory; and particularly how his second priniple on the distribution of social and economic goods influenced later proponents of feminism and critical race theory. I now have a better idea why his veil of ignorance never sat well with me.One observation on your critique of the SJWs version of the social contract. You emphasize that they are pure criticism of patriarchy or white power, a rejection without offering a corrective alternative. But it seems to me that the alternative social contract proposed by SJWs is equality of outcome in the distribution of social and economic goods. While most do not make an explicit quasi-Marxist claim for this, some do. Witness the surge in the social democrat style of socialism being touted by Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Gillum et al.I look to the future further exploration of a kin-based social contract supported by evolutionary biology with interest. It should be possible to study the actual mechanics of contract formation from existing archaeological and anthropological data. As I was listening to your concluding remarks, I couldn’t help thinking about the tribal relations that characterized the pre-Saudi/nationalization of the Arabian penninsula.
Vizzini #73538 September 14, 2018 12:05 pm 0
This is new. Saga’s performance of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” has been put in YouTube jail for “inappropriate or offensive content.” They hate us. They really hate us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_hiaOIWfm0
Vizzini #73539 September 14, 2018 12:28 pm 0
BTW, that song is Zman’s closing music this broadcast, thus the relevance to today’s thread.
lineman #73541 September 14, 2018 12:40 pm 0
Question is when are we going to come together to defeat the evil that is before us…We have been apathetic and have comprised with it for to long already and it is slowly strangling us to death…When will we become the Lions that we need to be…
Joachim #73569 September 15, 2018 1:10 am 0
Let me respond to your comment/cathartically vent :Since WWII, the right has been restricted to the bourgeois, nominally Christian materialists. The left has been free to develop into a political religion, a secularized Christianity of sorts, seeking to build egalitarian heaven on earth. They used bourgeois imposed “freedom” to grow to critical mass, and now, as with so many past religions, are imposing theocracy (banning opposing thinking, dynamiting the old temples, monuments, etc.) You can’t bring “freedom” loving bourgeois materialists, “love one another”, “turn the other cheek”, “all are one in Jesus Christ” Christians to boot, to a religious battle with crusading leftists, and expect to win. “What about my 401k, my tax cuts, my bourgeois social status signals?” is not going to cut it. A political religion of the right, right wing values (and I don’t mean 19th century liberalism, capitalism and “freedom”) boosted by a critical mass of “true believers” (the psychological types the left currently has a monopoly on (and that Christianity-proper used to dominate)) with the willingness to battle, sacrifice, to suffer being labeled “fanatics” by the superior, wise, abjectly defeated bourgeois materialists, are what’s needed. The overwhelming majority of whites today are either bourgeois, drug addled lumpen-proles, “true believers” in leftism (which is quite literally a religion of white/Western extermination), or Christians, rarely willing to use the extensive Talmudic arguments needed to break free from Christian universalism, humanism, pacifism, and egalitarianism (i.e. the New Testament).In other words, I would say we have a long, long way to go.
Frip #73565 September 14, 2018 8:50 pm 0
So funny. The first time I ever heard the song was on Z’s podcast. At first I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me, wtf is this. Then it started growing on me. Now I actually really like the song and will sing along. I’m not into the bombastic ending but the first half is really nice. Don’t know who Saga is This is the one that Z plays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN7r0Rr1Qyc
Vizzini #73566 September 14, 2018 9:11 pm 0
Z plays Saga’s version at the end of this podcast. I much prefer it to theCabaretversion.
lineman #73540 September 14, 2018 12:36 pm 0
Yes Yes They Do…We are at War and the enemy is doing everything they can to stack the odds in their favor…They import savage’s and tell us we have to take care of them and make them stronger while we grow weaker from their parasitic nature…They arm them and tell us we should disarm…PC has sucked the manhood out of so many I wonder if there will me enough left when we start fighting back…Sad That…
Karl Horst Germany #73534 September 14, 2018 9:54 am 0
The Danes are wonderful people although prices up there are as bad, if not worse, than Switzerland! If you have time, be sure to visit the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. It’s about 40-minutes due west of you.
Moran ya Simba #73533 September 14, 2018 9:05 am 0
Okay, big brainies, what is the name of the opening music? I hear it every now and then, I always forget its name. Also, fun review of Copenhagen, ‘hipster hell’ seems to be right on lol
MICoyote #73551 September 14, 2018 4:34 pm 0
March of the Templars
Moran ya Simba #73561 September 14, 2018 7:54 pm 0
gratias tibi ago I think it is actually called Preliator by Globus but your suggestion cracked the google hunt for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q6skxRLnsI
CAPT S #73528 September 14, 2018 7:44 am 0
“Brain Oil” = a quiet place. Most podcasts I listen to while I’m working in the shop. Sometimes I listen to your podcast in the shop, but often find myself putting down my tools and just listening. Many Americans are considered “dumb” when they simply have no attention span, and have been conditioned (conspiratorially?) to be non-thinkers, responsive only to smartphone alerts. Thanks for giving us something to listen to and learn from.
Glen Filthie #73532 September 14, 2018 8:34 am 0
Me too. Ya gotta listen carefully to this guy because if ya don’t you can miss crucial elements of his arguments and those points are often ones that nobody else is talking about.On this talk of big brains and little brains and such – it reminds me of an elegant turn of phrase I once heard: “People that get educated beyond their intellect”. It’s so true especially in these days of sexual and racial lunacy. They take a ‘thought experiment’, prop it up with artificial and unlikely contrivances to make it credible – and then use it as a springboard to leap to even more asnine opinions and viewpoints. In the cases of the feminists and race shills the crux of their position is always the same: “I am unhappy, it’s all YOUR fault, woe is me… give me free stuff.”I came to the faith late in life and I was just blown away by what I found. I was raised by progs that said the faith was hopelessly corrupt and used as a means of controlling stupid people. While there are places and people that justify that in the clergy – nothing is further from the truth with the people I met at our little chapel out in the country. They walk the walk, their social contract is unbreakable as is their faith. The whole point of Christianity is for you to control YOURSELF, and strengthen your brother. I also subscribe to the philosophy of classical Stoicism for much the same reasons.Stepping out of the complexities of big brain philosophy things actually simplify. If your philosophy makes you stronger you will prevail. If it makes you weaker, you perish. America is dying right now, and in my mind there is no doubt whatsoever who is responsible. The question is: will diversity dispose of them before it takes us? Or will we get dragged down with them?
Severian #73535 September 14, 2018 10:48 am 0
In Texas, I’m told, the phrase is “educated past your hat size.” I love it. It describes college to a T. Most academics aren’t all that intelligent — maybe a little bit smarter than the average bear, but not much — but they’re all “educated” waaaaaay past their hat sizes.
lineman #73542 September 14, 2018 12:41 pm 0
Amen Brother…
David_Wright #73527 September 14, 2018 7:15 am 0
Copenhagen. Scandza?
Severian #73526 September 14, 2018 6:11 am 0
Is there anywhere one could get a transcript of the podcast? Hobbes is near and dear to my heart, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, but podcasts, youtube, etc. drive me insane (in general, not yours in particular, I hasten to add). I read much faster than I listen, I like to highlight (vs. rewind), and in general I’m a curmudgeonly luddite (which means I don’t know if setting up a transcript involves huge $$ outlay). I’m a big fan – it miss getting my Friday fix.
Frip #73555 September 14, 2018 5:45 pm 0
Is this a roundabout way of saying you’re deaf?


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