The New State · Chapter
XVI: Democracy Not “Liberty” and “Equality”: Our Political Dualism explained
This chapter argues that true democracy is not based on abstract notions of natural rights, liberty, and equality, but on the group principle.
What happens
This chapter argues that true democracy is not based on abstract notions of natural rights, liberty, and equality, but on the group principle. It redefines liberty as obedience to the group-self, equality as filling one's place in the whole, and rights as created through group membership. The chapter critiques the dualism between individual and state, advocating for a unified conception where the state expresses the collective will and freedom increases with social organization.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Individualism and Particularism
The chapter rejects natural rights and the particularist individual, arguing that rights and liberty arise only through group membership.
The Unifying State vs. Political Pluralism
The chapter argues for a unified state that expresses the collective will, dissolving the dualism between individual and state.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
Presents the argument that democracy must be redefined through the group principle, rejecting natural rights and the individual-state dualism.
- We the People
Referenced as the collective that must become the state, with the state expressing the common will.
Key passages
“If my true self is the group-self, then my only rights are those which membership in a group gives me.”
Rights are not inherent but derive from participation in a group.
Central to the chapter's redefinition of rights.
“The free man is he who actualizes the will of the whole.”
Freedom consists in realizing the collective will.
Redefines liberty in terms of group membership.
“The state must be no external authority which restrains and regulates me, but it must be myself acting as the state in every smallest detail of life.”
The state should be an expression of the individual's own will, not an external force.
Key to dissolving the individual-state dualism.