“What the libertarian typically refers to as "the state" is the uberstate – a collection of oughts that have become detached from personal interest and have taken on a life of their own. “
This conclusion seems to deserve some explanation, evidence, or argument, rather than being treated as a casual and obvious observation.
Well, the whole text tries to explain this :). Are you familiar with Freud's structural "model of the psyche"? It can help to understand my text. Ultimately, it is a model - the result of a conceptualisation. It defines. It is a concept that goes beyond the usual dichotomy of state vs. market, with the uberstate as something that has withdrawn from the individual will and ratio, as Freud's superego.
What I ultimately want to say is that "the state" (as it is conventionally understood by libertarians, going back to Oppenheimer) is more than just a robber. It is much more. An uberstate, a collective mental state.
The text treats it more like a premise than a conclusion.
I am not familiar with Freud.
This post seems to be saying something similar to what I read long ago in a blog by the “bad Quaker.” He had an interesting idea, something like “the state is not really an organization, it is a mind virus that causes people to treat some persons and organizations differently from others, for reasons they would not accept in other situations.”
Yes. It is essentially based on the Kantian understanding of knowledge: you need a pure or conceptual part in order to be able to grasp the found world as a datum in the first place. A priori parts, so to speak. In German we call it "Vorstellung", a concept or idea that you put in front of something you want to understand.
“What the libertarian typically refers to as "the state" is the uberstate – a collection of oughts that have become detached from personal interest and have taken on a life of their own. “
This conclusion seems to deserve some explanation, evidence, or argument, rather than being treated as a casual and obvious observation.
Well, the whole text tries to explain this :). Are you familiar with Freud's structural "model of the psyche"? It can help to understand my text. Ultimately, it is a model - the result of a conceptualisation. It defines. It is a concept that goes beyond the usual dichotomy of state vs. market, with the uberstate as something that has withdrawn from the individual will and ratio, as Freud's superego.
What I ultimately want to say is that "the state" (as it is conventionally understood by libertarians, going back to Oppenheimer) is more than just a robber. It is much more. An uberstate, a collective mental state.
The text treats it more like a premise than a conclusion.
I am not familiar with Freud.
This post seems to be saying something similar to what I read long ago in a blog by the “bad Quaker.” He had an interesting idea, something like “the state is not really an organization, it is a mind virus that causes people to treat some persons and organizations differently from others, for reasons they would not accept in other situations.”
Yes. It is essentially based on the Kantian understanding of knowledge: you need a pure or conceptual part in order to be able to grasp the found world as a datum in the first place. A priori parts, so to speak. In German we call it "Vorstellung", a concept or idea that you put in front of something you want to understand.