Dying for the telephone company

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"The modern nation-state, in whatever guise, is a dangerous and unmanageable institution, presenting itself on the one hand as a bureaucratic supplier of goods and services, which is always about to, but never actually does, give its clients value for money, and on the other as a repository of sacred values, which from time to time invites one to lay down one’s life on it’s behalf… It is like being asked to die for the telephone company…. The shared public goods of the modern nation-state are not the common goods of a genuine nation-wide community and, when the nation-state masquerades as the guardian of such a common good, the outcome is bound to be either ludicrous or disastrous or both." -- Alasdair MacIntyre, Whose Justice, Which Rationality?

Comments

  1. Samson Corwell5:39 PM

    Where does he lean politically?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gcallah3:35 AM

      MacIntyre is a former Marxist who converted to Catholicism. Basically, Catholic Social Teaching.

      Delete
    2. Samson Corwell12:42 AM

      Would you say that to be a Catholic means also accepting CatholicSocial Teaching, though? I am a Catholic, but my ideological wouldn't line up with the Church's social thought.

      Delete

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