he would "prefer to be ruled by a lion than one of his fellow rats", essentially endorsing monarchy. But this begs the question, why is being ruled by a lion preferable over being ruled by rats?
do we get free cheezeburger in socielism?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe4.html
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"
Bob Dylan
I wouldn`t bother myself with the words of a man who considered himself to be a rat all that much. He was obviously a bit bonkers.
Schopenhauer was very non-political and was infamous for his attacks on Hegel's warming up to the church/state duo. None of what I've read shows any coherent acceptance of government. Mostly he finds kings and all other systems to be terrible too. He sort of takes pride in ignoring politics -- which is refreshing.
This is a great line, though, by Schopenhauer that kind of explains his ambivalence (democracy and monarchy are both contra to nature).
From Counsels and Maxims:
"What are States and all the elaborate systems of politicalmachinery, and the rule of force, whether in home or in foreignaffairs,--what are they but barriers against the boundless iniquityof mankind? Does not all history show that whenever a king is firmlyplanted on a throne, and his people reach some degree of prosperity,he uses it to lead his army, like a band of robbers, against adjoiningcountries? Are not almost all wars ultimately undertaken for purposesof plunder? In the most remote antiquity, and to some extent also inthe Middle Ages, the conquered became slaves,--in other words, theyhad to work for those who conquered them; and where is the differencebetween that and paying war-taxes, which represent the product of ourprevious work?All war, says Voltaire, is a matter of robbery; and the Germans shouldtake that as a warning."
Marko: I wouldn`t bother myself with the words of a man who considered himself to be a rat all that much. He was obviously a bit bonkers.
haha maybe he was literal when he said that he preferred to be ruled by a lion. In which case I would agree that being under the rule of a lion would be preferable to any system of government that man has tried.
I am a big fan of Schopenhauer, that's why his quote caught my eye so much, for a man as bright as him i thought his politics was a little disappointing. Then again he was generally apolitical
From the Wiki article on him, he sounded like a minarchist-monarchist. He was the master of cynics though. He has some very funny quotes.
-Jon
Freedom of markets is positively correlated with the degree of evolution in any society...