John. C Calhoun's Concurrent Majority
- Submitted by: Rboussias
- Views: 1090
- Category: History: American
- Date Submitted: 04/28/2010 09:23 AM
- Pages: 10
- Report this Essay
Rocky Boussias
Professor Alan Smith
American Political Thought
4/23/10
A democratic society is an ever-changing environment. There are a number of phenomena that are unique and exclusive to this style of government, and many ways to go about observing these phenomena; an endeavor that many in our history have attempted to do. A political theorist that I favor is John C. Calhoun. His thoughts about the way that our society is engineered and the ways in which it can be successfully run are profound and have withstood the test of time. In the passages that I have read and will be analyzing, Calhoun asks questions that are of such an essential nature that they are still pertinent in today's society. It is his primary intention, I believe, to understand whether or not there are any governmental imperatives to societal success. If there are, is there any particular methods that can be employed to ensure that those imperatives are met? Lastly, he ponders the idea of majority, and attempts to ascertain that there exists a variety of majorities, as opposed to the belief that the ’Numerical Majority’ is the sole of its kind. In analyzing these questions and what remains of his thought, I hope to convey the idea that his findings on the necessity of government, the methods by which it may be successfully employed, and the existence of a ’Concurrent Majority’ are relevant and correctly conceived.
Calhoun states in the fore text of these passages that there is a tendency of man to be a social being. I think that this idea is perhaps obvious, yet he is able to understand, to a further degree, why man as a social being, is now pre disposed to the need of a governmental body to regulate and control the order of that social society. This is at the very base of all of his findings, and can be used as the foundation for the formulation of government in case there is anyone who stands adversely to the idea of government, and its purpose. Later in the reading Calhoun...
Professor Alan Smith
American Political Thought
4/23/10
A democratic society is an ever-changing environment. There are a number of phenomena that are unique and exclusive to this style of government, and many ways to go about observing these phenomena; an endeavor that many in our history have attempted to do. A political theorist that I favor is John C. Calhoun. His thoughts about the way that our society is engineered and the ways in which it can be successfully run are profound and have withstood the test of time. In the passages that I have read and will be analyzing, Calhoun asks questions that are of such an essential nature that they are still pertinent in today's society. It is his primary intention, I believe, to understand whether or not there are any governmental imperatives to societal success. If there are, is there any particular methods that can be employed to ensure that those imperatives are met? Lastly, he ponders the idea of majority, and attempts to ascertain that there exists a variety of majorities, as opposed to the belief that the ’Numerical Majority’ is the sole of its kind. In analyzing these questions and what remains of his thought, I hope to convey the idea that his findings on the necessity of government, the methods by which it may be successfully employed, and the existence of a ’Concurrent Majority’ are relevant and correctly conceived.
Calhoun states in the fore text of these passages that there is a tendency of man to be a social being. I think that this idea is perhaps obvious, yet he is able to understand, to a further degree, why man as a social being, is now pre disposed to the need of a governmental body to regulate and control the order of that social society. This is at the very base of all of his findings, and can be used as the foundation for the formulation of government in case there is anyone who stands adversely to the idea of government, and its purpose. Later in the reading Calhoun...