Conscription as a Philosophical Concept

The question of conscription as a valid policy of state involves consideration of the circumstances under which the state might compel a citizen to relinquish individual discretion and become part of a military force. Answering such a question goes to the consideration of the very structure of society, for it must be presumed that conscription is put forward as a policy in part for the reasons of state. It follows that the validity of state policies both in general and in particular is an aspect of the legitimacy of the state. Various theories of reformist social structure that have arisen since the rise of philosophies that point toward the formation of the modern state provide a useful framework for considering perceptions of and rationale for or against the validity of conscription. In particular, the theories of utilitarianism, the social contract, and liberalism will be treated, as well as theoretical interpretations that either analyze or build upon them as a means of identifying or discovering an appropriate conception of th

. . .
ying field as far as categories of citizenry are concerned. To the degree conscription, like slavery, involves the making of decisions by one category of society that affect other categories, there is an analogous point to be made about whether and where conscription may be an aspect of social structure. In the background of the issue of conscription as Rawls sees it is what he sees as the society in which it might emerge. It is important to understand that Rawls identifies an appropriate social structure as one that conforms to a refined version of the social contract. And to understand how Rawls refines it, one must needs explore what is being refined. The theory of the social contract was most explicitly developed by Rousseau as a response to the patent inequities of the absolutist model that prevailed in France at the time he was writing. The society predicated of the social contract, as Rousseau explains it, may reclaim the human heart as well as the capacity for reasoning, individually and collectively. The hard truth, of course, is that the normative idea, which Rousseau established when he first wrote The Social Contract, and upon which the Enlightenment politicians of England, France, and America acte
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
, Despite Rousseau's, Wealth Nations, Kant Rawls, Adolf Hitler, Iiii Nozick's, Indeed Ackerman, Vietnam Iraqi, Elsewhere Mill, Undoubtedly Mill's, social contract, nozick 1974, rawls 1971, issue conscription, social structure, contract theory, mill 1957, theory social, invisible hand, utilitarian society, contract theory social, partially explained invisiblehand, arguments advanced favor, justly constituted society, basic liberties,
Approximate Word count = 7313
Approximate Pages = 29 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Conscription as a Philosophical Concept