tailieunhanh - Luận án kinh tế - "Human and action" - Chapter 25

XXV. THE IMAGINARY CONSTRUCTION OF A SOCIALIST SOCIETY When the social philosophers of the eighteenth century laid the foundations of praxeology and economics, they were confronted with an almost universally accepted and uncontested distinction between the petty selfish individuals and the state | Part Five Social Cooperalion Without a Market XXV THE IMAGINARY CONSTRUCTION OF A SOCIALIST SOCIETY 1. The Historical Origin of the Socialist Idea When the social philosophers of the eighteenth century laid the foundations of praxeology and economics they were confronted with an almost universally accepted and uncontested distinction between the petty selfish individuals and the state the representative of the interests of the whole society. However at that time the deification process which finally elevated the men managing the social apparatus of coercion and compulsion into the ranks of the gods was not yet completed. What people had in mind when speaking of government was not yet the quasi-theological notion of an omnipotent and omniscient deity the perfect embodiment of all virtues it was the concrete governments as they acted on the political scene. It was the various sovereign entities whose territorial size was the outcome ofbloody wars diplomatic intrigues and dynastic intermarriage and succession. It was the princes whose private domain and revenue were in many countries not yet separated from the public treasury and oligarchic republics like Venice and some of the Swiss cantons in which the ultimate objective of the conduct of public affairs was to enrich the ruling aristocracy. The interests of these rulers were in opposition to those of their selfish subjects exclusively committed to the pursuit of their own happiness on the one hand and to those of foreign governments longing for booty and territorial aggrandizement on the other hand. In dealing with these antagonisms the authors of books on public affairs were ready to espouse the cause of their own country s government. They assumed quite candidly that the rulers are the champions of the interests of the whole society irreconcilably conflicting with those of the individuals. In checking the selfishness of their subjects governments were promoting the welfare of the whole of society as against the .

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