Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - August 16, 2021
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Plato’s Republic and the Authoritarian Option
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Plato’s Republic and the Authoritarian Option

A central part of Jesus’ ministry involved instructions on how to build communities grounded in love. This is an alternative to the scapegoating mechanism, in which contempt and hatred for “others” unites people. This is the “beloved community,” a term popularized by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Last essay, I considered strengths and weaknesses of democracies. This week, I will consider authoritarianism. Many people are attracted to authoritarian governance. While some of the motivations might be more psychological than practical (e.g., an infantile wish for protection by an omnipotent “father figure”), authoritarian regimes do offer some theoretical advances over democracies. In particular, authoritarians can make swift and decisive decisions, and governance does not require the mandate of a populace that can be fickle or ill-informed.

The problem with authoritarian regimes, of course, is that the authoritarians generally serve their own interests rather than those of the populace. Plato tried to address this problem by proposing that a just city would select from among its members the most meritorious person (man or woman) whose philosophic wisdom would guide them to best serve the needs of the people. Importantly, they would be inspired to such general benevolence because children would be taught that such governance is the will of the gods. Here, I think, is the problem. What if the philosopher king/queen comes to the conclusion that the gods don’t exist, or that they exist differently as envisioned by the ancient Greeks, or that their desires are not as benevolent as Plato would have wanted? In other words, if a wise and thoughtful king/queen came to reject a theology that is nearly universally regarded today as fictional, the foundation of the Republic would collapse. Then, there would be little reason for the king/queen to sacrifice self-interest in favor of general well-being. Even if the king/queen remained devoted to the Greek gods, would it not be tempting for the king/queen to believe that the gods wished to serve the king’s/queen’s interests predominantly? Finally, what if many adults became skeptical of these views about the gods? How can we expect them to teach children things they themselves don’t believe.

Next week, I will offer an ambitious but, in my opinion, viable strategy for saving humanity.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

Here are our recent All-Creatures Newsletter, which we hope you like and share with others to help stop the exploitation and killing of animals.

 

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