What should be the fundamental value at the heart of a respectable society? In other words, what should be the basis of our social contract, what should be the source of our mutual trust and our cooperation as members of the same Nation ?
The so-called “liberal” Revolutions have insisted on the value of Liberty. They conceived it as freedom from the arbitrary powers of the State, an individual freedom to be and to think, a freedom to undertake and to do. But the result of their actions has led to some unacceptable abuses, both in the business world and on a personal level. In addition, their ideology has resulted in the weakening of the state, which still is the defender of the general interest against private interests.
The so-called “socialist” Revolutions have emphasized Equality. Noble in their essentially humanist conceptions, they wanted to conceive a world not of classes but a world as a home for united Humanity. For them the main obstacle on the road to real equality was private property which had to be removed. But without the guarantees offered by what is called “the First Generation of Human Rights” (namely civil and political rights) they have only built horrible dictatorships legitimized by a socialist ideology elevated to the rank of a religion, without any concrete effect in reality.
But if neither Liberty nor Equality have succeeded in building a balanced society, what then must be the fundamental value of our human societies?
The answer is more obvious than you might think. This value is Justice. Justice is balance, it is merit, it is common sense. But it is also Liberty where it has its place and Equality where there can be no artificial distinctions.
Justice is what roman philosophy aimed for when it advised us to always aim for the middle way. Neither deficiency nor excess was their maxim. I can only agree with these stipulations.
Justice is also something instinctive. Not that we all have the same conception of what is right, of course, but it cannot be denied that in certain situations we all have the same reactions. We feel injustices in our guts when they appear before us. This feeling of empathy and thirst for justice is, I think, a characteristic feature of our common Humanity.
Justice is also the reason why we create communities. The Universe is by nature chaotic. The law of the jungle, the natural order of things, has no interest in balance or merit. Poverty, hunger, death, strike human populations without having at the heart a philosophy, a religion or an interest. So to survive in this world so brutal and violent towards Man, isolated in the state of nature, we keep among ourselves because together we have the hope of balancing the situation. Together we have the potential to overcome the challenges we face and together we can create the conditions of a true justice.
If we have failed in the past it is mainly because we have lost sight of this fundamental value of Justice. It is also because we have been dazzled by the prospects of Liberty and by the promises of Equality. But too much freedom is unjust towards the person crushed by the ego of others. Too much Equality is unfair for those who want to achieve their dreams but are prevented from doing so.
Only Justice can give everyone what they deserve. And that's why I decided to start my blog, my ideas and my discourse on what I believe to be the basis of a renewal of Humanity in this 21st century.
Nothing can or should be built if it cannot be based on the notion of Justice. And everything that is unjust in this world must perish. We have wandered too long in a world dictated by chaos and the law of the strongest to tolerate any longer a universe which has lost its sense of Justice.