Across Human Knowledge: An Approach to Issues In Political Development (By Ogbule Chibuzo Isaac)
Updated: Apr 19
(Disclaimer: The guest posts do not necessarily align with Philosocom's manager, Mr. Tomasio Rubinshtein's beliefs, thoughts, or feelings. The point of guest posts is to allow a wide range of narratives from a wide range of people. To apply for a guest post of your own, please send your request to mrtomasio@philosocom.com)
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Introduction -- The Value of Conduct
Is there a need for code of conduct? Humans are not born with a conscience, but we develop one through our experiences and interactions with others. Love, moral values, religion, codes of conduct, and ethics are all ways that we try to live in harmony with ourselves and others.
Debateably, there have been more atrocities in history than in today's modern world. But today, many of us are afraid to go wrong, because of one reason or the other, fear of hell fire, fear of the law, fear of what you will have to lose, fear of abandonment, fear of prison. Etcetera.
Those who are not afraid to go wrong, may do so because they believe that the consequences are not as severe as they are often made out to be. When they are wrong in that regard, they pay the price they have underestimated.
Although there is no one answer that is universally accepted, I believe no one is born moral: Society instills morals in us. Just so you know, in spite of all our success to instill morals, some people out there are each and every day displaying this dark side of humans, hurting their fellow humans day in and day out.
A code of conduct is essential for setting behavioral expectations, promoting a positive environment, preventing misconduct, ensuring legal and ethical compliance, safeguarding reputation, providing guidance, and encouraging accountability. It serves as a valuable tool for organizations and communities to establish and maintain a culture of integrity and respect.
Without this code of conduct, laws, and order, we would have been wild like other animals.
Now let's talk about love...
You think love exists, and I believe you might be right. Do you know why?
I try to grasp its effect and feel the same way, though it's based on individual conception that can not be measured by others expect the person in question of experiencing it.
Assuming that love really exists, there is a problem with how it is applied.
Let's say I have love, I wish to love another being, and I desire the love to be reflected back to me.
It is no wonder that not everyone is attracted to each other, but only a few do.
The question is, who do you love, and how does he or she return your love, if love really exists?
We know that to love is to be loved, and to be loved is to be sure that love really exists.
The problem is not loving, because love is embedded in us naturally. We have the capability to give it to whoever we want.
But the problem is, if love really exists, do we feel the love being reflected back to us from the people we give it to?
If the love is not reflected back to us, that shows that it does not really exist. It might seem to exist in our imagination, but it is an illusion.
Why do people fail to maintain this simple act of love? Why do we get disappointed?
This proves that love does not exist. If there is disappointment in the end, it follows that we were only imagining its existence.
Then if so, that justify that it doesn't exist...
Because if there's a disappointment at the end... It follows that we were only having the imagination of its existence.
Love is an illusion. What really exists is interest. It is the combination of interest and emotion that people think is love. When the emotion comes, people start looking for someone to place their immediate interest on, in the name of love.
Love does not exist! If it does exist, then justify its existence with reason.
How to justify love, then?
The main condition for the achievement of love is the overcoming of one's narcissism. The narcissistic orientation is one in which one experiences as real only that which exists within oneself, while the phenomena in the outside world have no reality in themselves, but are experienced only from the viewpoint of their being useful or dangerous to one.
The opposite pole to narcissism is objectivity. It is the faculty to see other people and things as they are, objectively, and to be able to separate this objective picture from a picture which is formed by one's desires and fears. (By "objectivity", I refer to beyond self-interests).
In human life and society, Man in his rationality developed the idea of supreme Being (God) in whom all things must have came to be, as dictated by divine reason.
The basic question here is: what are the means by which such a being can be related? And thus, the question gave birth to what we know as religion today. What is religion again if not a means of relating to God by an individual or as a collective?
Many humans consider religion so special, holy and supernatural and thus influences human thinking, action and will, within society and communiy. Religion also constitutes other components like rituals, symbols & signs, worship, rites and many more.
It is also good to know that religion is quite different from culture though some contradicts that but sometimes it overlaps. It does not overlap, for example, in cultures where religion is not a significant feature.
Religion(s) is highly practiced by humans and truth be told, God intervenes; that has made people to be influenced by their choices of religion. But I think man should be authentic (free) in his choices (AKA, free will).
However, Man has been into existence before religion. But in today's world (especially in Africa), religion remains one of the caustic problems in most of the African Societies. Countless cases of religion crises, dogmatic presumptuousness, segregations e.t.c and these have affected the development of today's African society. But why?
People failed to understand that life is the most sacred there is. Any religion that disregard this value, deserves to be doubted.
People failed to question most of their faith and thereby believing everything! Forgetting that man is the foundation of all beliefs (AKA, Religious Humanism)
People failed to understand that religion acts as a means to an end, and stopped considering a particular religion as the best among all. Instead, many at least, stick to a particular religion, without much exploration.
It's good if we can acknowledge the fact that no one is sure of anything and stop fighting over religion! Bloodshed is not justified by ideas, religious or otherwise!
Let peace and love flow.
Niccolò Machiavelli's theory in the present day: Political Dispensation in Africa.
In human society, many discover the variety of views as regard to human belief, thought, rationality, culture tradition and conception. These factors affects human social life in relations to others. Then, when it comes to the political life of humans, the above factors influences the political view of humans, but the basic question remains: What is the State? who should rule the State?
Why should he or she do it? and what are the means of becoming a leader? These were the base of all the poltical theories that are seen today, though new theories keep coming up as everything is in the state of change.
In Niccolò Machiavelli's (1469-1527) Theory, the summary of his main idea is that 'The end justifies the means'.
Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence and worked as a diplomat in the court of Caesar Bongis. He is best known for his famous work The Prince, which expounded a new political vision that was a departure from idealism.
Machiavellianism is a shrewd, cynical political realist philosophy which emphasizes that people should be considered as they are instead of what we might wish them to be. He advises that if one wants to succeed in office, they should not be preoccupied by normal moral rules and must do whatever is necessary to stay in power.
To maintain power, one must have a strong military force that is loyal to him and always ready to defend him and his sovereignty when threatened.
Machiavelli's 'The Prince' represents a complete break with conventional political theory. While Machiavelli outlined what political science is and how it works, while Plato and Aristotle promoted and felt what political society deserves to be. He (Machiavelli) believed that no leader can succeed by upholding moral principles.
His Prince archetype had to use both human and animal techniques to respond to his acts. According to Machiavelli, depending on the circumstances, he had to kill, maim, oppress, deceive and cheat his friends and subjects.
Clearly, the political philosophy of Machiavelli has a wide range of effects. (positive and negative). Positively, Machiavelli is regarded as the forerunner of a larger current resurgence of the values of classical humanism and was considered as the first among the modern socio-political philosopher.
Consequently, Machiavelli's idea that power depends on the free will of the masses has been criticized for supporting universal egoism. And if the end justifies the means, are the means noble?
Macavelli was interested in the implications of his idea which is very bad of him because the means supposed to be as good as the end no wonder Sir Peter Obi in his speech over the 2023 Nigerian presidential election: "It is my belief that for you to answer “your excellency”, the process through which you arrive to office must be “excellent”. (2 March 2023)
(Rubinshtein's Note: In order to be deemed "excellent" as a leader, one must avoid becoming a kakistocrat)
Now, to philosophically relate the theory of Niccolò Machiavelli in the present day political dispensation (freedoms, rights) in Africa. We discover that the African world today, those who seeks political powers, anchors it in that of Machiavelli's theory. While they seek whichever possible to get their interest, not minding the implications of it.
These have made the system to loose the political value by negating the interest of the masses to selfish interest. And not the interest of the collective, nor the greater good. These have contributed to failed government, political cries, ethnocentrism and loss of interest among the masses (AKA, political apathy) and thus affects the development in Africa.
In most of the African countries (especially Nigeria) have lost the test of good governance as regard to these and thus remains one the challenges of today's politics this continent.
The effects of Machiavelli's political theory as regard to political dispensation in Africa have really affected African politics. This work of Machiavelli leads to absolutism and narrow nationalism.
If power will be the end, and not the means, it will lead to autocracy and war just as it's been recorded today in most of the African countries.
In conclusion, I think Sir Peter Obi actually captured the implication and the penancy in his assertions, as I will repeat his quote:
"It is my belief that for you to answer “your excellency”, the process through which you arrive to office must be “excellent”.
A Case Example: Facts About Nigerian Development
NIgeria is a country that is blessed with great people of different tribes and enthinics. The name Nigeria was coined by Lord Lugard during the british colonization, Nigeria is known for peace, unity and development; Nigeria have contributed to development of other country by providing most of the things the world would need to be be a better place for humankind.
Naturally, humans are the product of nature, thus point the fact that Men are not made to conquer the world, but rather to make it a better place for humanity to flourish and Nigeria has been known for this. Nigeria have contributed the growth of the world by providing most countries with electricity, petrolum, experts, and other natural and humane resources for other needy nations.
It is certain that no individual state or society can survive or thrive alone. It shouldn't totaly isolate itself from relating with others, e.g (North Korea) despite President Kim Jong Un's policies which were intented to isolate North Korea from the affairs of the world, this isolation policies did not has a100% success rate, because no State can totally isolate itself from the world, and still thrive.
There must be a combination of some neccesary factors that leads to change (development) which might not be found within themselves but in others. Counting some countries that have contributed to the development of others, Nigeria will not be left behind. This points to the fact Nigeria must be a great nation, in order to both survive and thrive.
However, the basic questions of development is: Who is developing and for who? Is it trying to raise plusible answer to the above question in the context of Nigeria, we discover that the Nigerian People are always perfoming well in the development of others but going to the Caritas, regardless.
We equally note that they have not be good in times of their (the Nigerians') own development. But what could be the causes? In a critical observation, we find out that the fault could be that Nigerian leaders have not understood the language of their problems or that they failed to discover the solutions to what might seems so problematic to them.
These challenges might have been articulated in their historical activities, cultural and metaphysical conceptions which calls for strict observation. Therefore, for Nigeria, to do well in development it calls for critical investigation over their cultural and historical conceptions so to discover most of the things that are not pragmatic and strive to restructure them in other to make some changes in their Sociopolitical and economical development.
These can not be achieved without a good leader. So Nigeria need rational thinkers, and moral beings, as leaders for them to achieve the goal that is the survival and prosperity of the nation.
(Rubinshtein's note: And this article's conclusion and be applied to any nation whatsoever, not only Nigeria).
