Social AgathismSocial Agathists are concerned to do good for their society. They seek to engage in activities that make the life of their society better. They do this best when they are aware of how their society functions as a whole process, and have the wisdom to know what need to happen for a society to live happily and effectively.Social Agathists can be contrasted to 'Accidental Agathists' who attend immediately to individuals with problems that they happen to come across, without necessarily considering the wider impact of what they are doing if there is one. Social LifeThe English word society literally means 'people in alliance'. However in practice we use it with a wider meaning to refer to the ongoing life of human beings who are interacting with each other.In a society people are engaged in activities which impact on other people. This tends to lead to the development of regular customs among those who are neighbours so that they know what to expect from each other and so that this interaction can be more often fruitful rather than harmful. A well-functioning society has Harvatas ('Healthiness/Wholeness') and Amertas ('Sustainability'). A healthy society, like a healthy body, has all the necessary parts doing their jobs properly (like organs in the body), and has all the separate parts working in harmony with each other, and all the jobs which need to be done to sustain the life of the society as a whole are being performed by one part or another. Trophia, Dikaia, PaidiaWhat are the essential functions of society?One simple attempt at explaining what a society should do is with the triad of concepts: Trophia, Dikaia and Paidia. TrophiaTrophia is Nourishment. People need food as a start. There are also lots of other goods and services and opportunities that people need or benefit from. Trophia is about providing them so that people can survive and lead a happy and worthwhile life.Providing Trophia involves a person's immediate family and community as well as the wider economy and social institutions. Trophia is not just physical goods, but also services that one person can provide another, and also opportunities for experiences which are rewarding and help them grow. DikaiaDikaia is Justice. It is about social relationships being in balance. It is the activities that keep things in such good order.It involves creating good relationships between people.Justice involves punishing wrong-doing so that wrong-doer is discouraged from repeating it, so others are also discouraged from copying it, and so those wronged feel that ther hurt has been acknowledged and made up for. Justice also involves good distribution of economic wealth, taking into account for instance the natural right of people to keep what they have produced, the benefit to society of rewarding the productive so that more is produced, but also the need for everybody to get enough to live, and the problems caused by extreme disparities of wealth and power. PaidiaPaidia is Education. It is everything that shapes how a person develops, and the character they become. Not all Paidia is equally good and so we may distinguish between Eupaidia (Good Education) and Akopaidia (Bad Education).With Eupaidia people will typically develop into people who are productive, who can collaborate successfully with others in their society, and who work to sustain or improve the life of their society as it progresses into the future. Paidia is not just about formal education but all the work that is done to develop a person as they grow up. PhysisPhysis is 'Nature'. However understanding the word causes trouble for modern people. For us Nature can mean the natural world as opposed to the artificial human world or altenatively it can just mean the nature or character of something.To ancient people Physis meant something more like the process of growth and interaction of things. It was an ongoing process that an any time it had a particular character to it. We are all involved in the process of Physis and need to pay attention to the character of it, i.e. be respectful of its rules, because if we don't tailor our behaviour to how things are and ignore what it actually is then we won't achieve our wishes and could get into a lot of trouble. Kreia, Kresis and ThaliaKreia are 'Human Needs'. However the term encompasses more than things that we really must have to survive, and includes things that we would benefit from, even if we could manage without them.Kreia is linked to Physis, for what we need depends on what we are like and thus how we have grown to be. We have physical needs of course, for food and drink and shelter and bodily exercise for instance. We also have psychic needs ('needs of the soul') such as a need for social acceptance, to have a challenging task to perform, or a chance to put ones mark on the world. Kresis is the 'satisfaction of need'. Human lives can be seen as an ongoing process of Kreia, human need, arising or becoming more urgent and then being satisfied, or not satisfied, with Kresis. A good life, of the kind that Agathists seek to bring about, would involve the happy production of Kresis to meet the Kreia that arise in people. It is not always good for people to have their needs and desires met immediately or without effort on their part. It is necessary part of a full life to have to work at getting what you want, overcoming difficulties on the way, where things don't go exactly your own way. However it is a negative thing where people have needs that they can never get met whatever they do, and as a result they are maybe kept stuck in ill-health, their healing and growth prevented, and suffering caused. Even where there is no dramatic ill-effect, a person stymied from expressing an aspect of their innate personality, is someone who has lost the chance to fully flourish as a human being. Thalia or 'flourishing' is the term we give to a happy ongoing process of Kreia arising and being met with appropriate Kresis. Agathists strive for Thalia for themselves and others. Social Agathists in particular are concerned about the overall functioning of their society, its customs and institutions, and how they impact on the production of Thalia. July 4026 HE |