State and Politics

The basic objective of the chapter consists of providing a general (abstract enough) map of the two “inhabitants” of the society, as symbolic species: the state (as an organizational type of the institution) and the politics (as a conceptual type of institution)—see Chapter 4 . According to the ratio essendi of the state, the concept of public goods is examined, in their essence, both economic and societal, together with a typology based on pre-established criteria. Next, the state legitimacy and legality are discussed “in mirror” and the relationships between them are identified. A (logical) proposal to establish the societal area in which the state intervention is legitimate is formulated and justified, based on the concept of (general) self-testability. In connection with the issue of the state, further the crucial concepts of liberty, responsibility, and authority are detailed, examined, and interpreted, together with the mutual relationships and, as a “by-product”, a pyramid of values in the society—definitions, typologies, connections among them, etc. Based on the above, the state’s basic (five) functions are identified. The concept of politics is defined through its sufficiency predicates, and the relationship between politics, state, and democracy is discussed. Moreover, the distinctions among the politic, the politics, and the policy are highlighted. Next, an important triad is discussed: knowledge–democracy–freedom, both two by two, and in ensemble. Annex 1 exposes the relationships between our typology of the public goods and the typology proposed by Martha C. Nussbaum, and Annex 2 exposes a general (and abstract) map of the concept of norm: concept, genesis, status, structure, and classes.