Equality was invented as a mean, not the end, to a problem of war. You need twice the enemy’s numbers to hold the ground after killed and wounded are added up. But you need to incentivize the followers to stick together. So, a Pater must introduce the idea of shared sacrifice and shared rewards while also introducing the possibility of higher ranks to advance to for exceptional service. So a elementary equality of the peers was introduced along with hierarchy of ranks. Too much equality can discourage talented youths from applying themselves, but too much inequality can also discourage the youths as well. So, there need to be a kind of flat inequality that will boost the investment of the youth in the state’s future.
There is something to Aristotle's idea that for a thing to be in a world of flux it must be the same as it was before, but also in another sense, it must differ from what it once was. There's an analogous reasoning to group membership. Members of a group must be in one sense equal (equally members of that group) but also unequal (in that they are not the same as each other). As long as it's understood that the difference is primary, we are folkish. If sameness is understood to be primary, we are on our way to liberalism. This goes back to my article on the metaphysics of difference.
Yes, the division of labor is the prime proof that difference dominated within and without group. More importantly, it is the key to evolution of anything. Cultural and physical isolation helped to amplify the differences much sooner. But some people are so stubborn in insisting either on individualism or universalism that they could see the facts all day and not noticing anything. Plato’s top-down Perfectionism is a plague even in the pagans.
One thing I want to ask regarding nationalism and animism is about Fylgja. Some see this Double as not only a protective spirit of a mortal, but that some also guard a family or a clan. It stand to reason that as a clan become a tribe and then a nation, they too would have their own Fylgja. Some so-called pagans insisted on keeping their Enlightenment belief that there is no society, only individuals. They even tried to use the real custom of vowing their troth on a ring to “prove” universal “nation”.
Equality was invented as a mean, not the end, to a problem of war. You need twice the enemy’s numbers to hold the ground after killed and wounded are added up. But you need to incentivize the followers to stick together. So, a Pater must introduce the idea of shared sacrifice and shared rewards while also introducing the possibility of higher ranks to advance to for exceptional service. So a elementary equality of the peers was introduced along with hierarchy of ranks. Too much equality can discourage talented youths from applying themselves, but too much inequality can also discourage the youths as well. So, there need to be a kind of flat inequality that will boost the investment of the youth in the state’s future.
There is something to Aristotle's idea that for a thing to be in a world of flux it must be the same as it was before, but also in another sense, it must differ from what it once was. There's an analogous reasoning to group membership. Members of a group must be in one sense equal (equally members of that group) but also unequal (in that they are not the same as each other). As long as it's understood that the difference is primary, we are folkish. If sameness is understood to be primary, we are on our way to liberalism. This goes back to my article on the metaphysics of difference.
Yes, the division of labor is the prime proof that difference dominated within and without group. More importantly, it is the key to evolution of anything. Cultural and physical isolation helped to amplify the differences much sooner. But some people are so stubborn in insisting either on individualism or universalism that they could see the facts all day and not noticing anything. Plato’s top-down Perfectionism is a plague even in the pagans.
Demanding Equality
Another strategy of the supposed nonplayer is to demand equality in ev-
ery area of life. Everyone must be treated alike, whatever their status and
strength. But if, to avoid the taint of power, you attempt to treat everyone
equally and fairly, you will confront the problem that some people do
certain things better than others. Treating everyone equally means ignor-
in their differences, elevating the less skillful and suppressing those who
excel.
Daily Law: Many of those who demand equality across the board are
actually deploying another power strategy, redistributing people's re-
wards in a way that they determine. Judge and reward people on the
quality of their work.
The 48 Laws of Power, Preface by Robert Greene
One thing I want to ask regarding nationalism and animism is about Fylgja. Some see this Double as not only a protective spirit of a mortal, but that some also guard a family or a clan. It stand to reason that as a clan become a tribe and then a nation, they too would have their own Fylgja. Some so-called pagans insisted on keeping their Enlightenment belief that there is no society, only individuals. They even tried to use the real custom of vowing their troth on a ring to “prove” universal “nation”.
This is it. We must find our folk, establish our folkhood gounded in tradition and make it live and breathe in post-modernity.