This morning and early-afternoon I was reading a book that was egregious in many ways. But towards the end it led me to a mini-breakthrough. It's this:
I'm interested in how republicanism and liberalism relate to social control. I think they (especially liberalism) represent an alternative to patriarchalism where invisible, structural control takes the place of overt, active control. The concept of 'virtue' is central to this because it contains an implied structure of (invisible) social control: the virtuous man has 'self-control,' he willingly submits to 'legitimate' authority, sacrifices his 'immediate interests' and so on. The important source of my thought on this has actually been Robin Hanson's discussion of self-discipline.
But my realisation today was that there's a way of linking virtue to social control far more directly, using eighteenth-century thought itself. The Founders (as well as people like Adam Smith and David Hume) were believers in the 'spur of fame' - that men will find it in their 'interest' to do things that will make them look good to others and posterity. "The love of it [i.e. of fame, in this sense] is the love of virtue," said Smith. But acting in this way is really about acting according to social norms and structures (or acting in ways that aren't in your clear and present interest), doing what others expect and value: that's how you achieve 'fame'. Patriotism, self-sacrifice, obedience: virtue is social control.
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