Patrick Gellar New Crop Submission 2/6/2012 Applied Political Philosophy on the Internet and Nihilism: The New Pacific Order A regularly brought up claim is that philosophy has no application to anything outside of the walls of academia. In some cases, where intensive erudition is required to be initiated into complicated schemas, like the Begriffschift, we could possibly agree that is the case. However, politics and what results from the Political has a definitive impact on what happens on a more universal level. Bhutan, for instance, bases its success on what they term gross national happiness rather than gross national product. It can be seen as a potentially non-reactionary approach toward the issue of globalization. Instead of simply re-emphasizing the old customs and ways, the Bhutanese developed the GNH index. The issue with presenting it as the major argument is its nature is still rooted in Buddhism and could simply be seen as a way to further the aims of Bhutan's royal family, so while it is an interesting real life case to consider, we have to look elsewhere. Conveniently, the majority of those involved in the working example are from the West. Due to Political Philosophy lacking various forms of implementation, the inapplicability of it is emphasized as the main cause and to his paper seeks to redress both thinkers like Leo Strauss and the layman, unfamiliar with philosophy. For me, as an individual only very brief overviews were given on thinkers like Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke, or even Tom Paine. This was likely the case in most high schools in the same district and I honestly doubt that the brief expositions of the thinking of those authors and their influence on the the U.S.'s founding fathers have lead to lasting impressions across the board. Leo Strauss' thought the role of political philosophy was not necessarily as providing a normative foundation for governing structures, but rather its role may be limited to simply being a contemplative exercise due to the inability of Philosophy to make definitive normative claims as it would preclude critical thought.1 He proclaims historicism as political philosophy's great antagonist, but it appears it is only his fairly narrow view of Political Philosophy is antagonized. 2His emphasis on eternal values being necessary for Political Philosophy is used to push forward such a charge3. His lack of hope is apparently widely shared about philosophy's role in politics as we do not see true philosophical debates in the western at this juncture. Short-term pragmatic centrist thinking has become the norm in the West with many successful politicians doing their best to move as close to the middle as they could get. Europe appears to have grown tired of ardent political movements since the '60s for instance. Even in less liberal countries, we find policies being implemented because of short-term gain and potential popularity, like China's movement towards a form of capitalism and increasing consumerism despite the effect it has on their air and water quality. In this paper, I aim to show the vast amount of power that a coherent political philosophy can wield in a setting frequently described as anarchic and without any coherent rules to be followed in order to confront not only Strauss but those who hold the belief that philosophy has no practical application. In order to rebut the claims made by anti-historicist thinkers or at least throw them into question, we can see a coherent political philosophy that is reliant on historicism, not as some sort of deterministic mechanism of history, but historicism instead serves to guide the Order's direction in an active sense. Seeing the concept as some sort of occasionalistic world-as-pantomime leads to Strauss' conclusion that historicism is opposed to political philosophy. He also says the crucial issue which causes his criticism as historicism is the rejection of the permanence of certain traits that differentiate the good and the bad in society. Meaning for example, a Marxist Humanist analysis such as that of Dunyevskaya would lean towards claiming that alienation of some sort leads to the result of bad and good. To offer a more accessible 1The Journal of Politics, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Aug., 1957), pp. 343-368 2 ibid. 3 ibid. example: we see this with the movement that advocates rehabilitation rather than incarceration. In addition, it uses the ideas advanced by Hobbes despite Hobbes eschewing eternal values outside of self-preservation for the good of the many. Strauss claims that historicism denies the answer to a good society. On the internet, in a political simulator, we that phenomenon taking place. In the games of Nation States and Cybernations, an ideology by the name of Francoism took hold. It is a mixture of Hobbes' Leviathan and Marx's Dialectical Materialism. Frequently references to both are made in the ideological texts written by Francoists such as the user named Vladimir. Hatred of those labeled traitors was heavily in play and still is to some extent, despite the Order's current lack of power. At one point, the Order dominated the political landscape of Cybernations. From the time nearing its Cybernations founding in 2006 to its loss in 2009, it was the main actor on the world stage. Strauss said the aim of political action is the complete good and the Order's Francoism seeks to provide that in a non-Idealistic sense. That goes for those who actually believe in the ideology. Much like the Soviet Union and other regimes of the sort, there have always existed those who merely used the ideology for short-term ends rather than actually being true believers. The Order employs a command economy, and command economies have operated extremely successfully within the setting of the game, with the alliances that have the most control over their memberships being the most successful. Recently, the Order celebrated its sixth birthday in Cybernations to quote Imperial Officer Letum: We were hunted. We were isolated. Perhaps not unfairly, we went through trials that would have rendered most alliances extinct or a powerless ruin. But we persevered, we adjusted and we became stronger for it. But year after year of focusing on survival means that there are many who have forgotten what it means to stand as a shining beacon of Order. An entire generation has been brought up never experiencing the glory of an alliance that is the envy of the world in diplomacy, economics and war. This must now change, and we can begin that change today. Today is our day of enlightenment, the day where we remember exactly who we are. Above all else, the key to all the successes of the Order has been our system. A system of ideals, values, traditions and beliefs which begun to be established almost nine years ago, and have been refined ever since. This is our Francoist legacy; and it is much more than philosophical debates or political treatises. It is what we breathe in our everyday life, what we inherit from training (and re-training), from our leadership, from the comrade who stands beside us in our time of need, from the colleague that works hard to create something amazing and it is this subconscious set of actions that we reinforce by repeating. And, most importantly, this is a system we never lost, despite all our trials. And it is this unique identity that sets us apart from some of the inert masses around the world that call themselves alliances.4 This is in reference to the Order's isolation and attacks on them that followed that isolation. For the first time, they experienced a true loss in the Karma War, which lasted from late April 2009 July of that year. Before the build up to the Karma War, The Order was dominant of the game through a set of binding treaties. A good analogy would be perhaps the Greek city state alliances that happened be led by the strongest power in Greece and its perhipheral regions at the time. Macedon's brief dominance would be an instance of that type of power relation. The relations between the Order and its 40 or so allies were uneasy consequently, as many of their allies were never really allies at all and had simply allied with the Order out of fear. In the Karma War, a group of alliances pounced on the opportunity to destroy the Order when the Order had launched on an ill-advised war on a fairly well-connected alliance.5 The attack triggered a WWI style set of treaty activations, which would seal the fat of the Order and its loyal allies. The terms following their loss entailed a period of almost one year of paying reparations to their opponents. While the Order still grew during that time, it was never to reach its pre-Karma zenith again and was greatly weakened as a result of spending almost a year paying reparations. To shed light on the nihilism aspect of this exposition and analysis(this should not be looked at as mere exposition, as I envision such a charged being leveled), we can look at the last paragraph. It is made clear that the guiding principles of Francoism have served the Order in terms of maintaining a purpose despite he trials and tribulations it has experienced. One would think that since it's merely a game, alliances would just fold when things go awry. Another thing to take into account: in spite of not knowing who the leaders really are as people, those who are active can connect more with the leadership despite it being an autocratic alliance. 4 Letum. 2012. Six Years of Order. [ONLINE] Available at: http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=108699. [Accessed 02 February 12]. 5"Karma War." Cybernations Wikia. Cybernations.net. 20 Apr 2009. Web. 1 February 2012. On the other hand, the Order has established an actual community that perseveres in spite of statistical and political losses. It is paramount to highlight the utterly basic nature of Cybernations, which is a text-based game, and has had minimal groundbreaking changes since 2006 when paired by the devotion shown by the players. There are no intense graphics for battles, they merely resolve themselves through simulation after players click on attack buttons. While having established such a powerful community based on a form of roleplaying, the members lead normal lives outside of Cybernations. Elaborate entries detailing the stories of specific players are up for display on the CN wikia and are consistently updated to this day. The Order harnesses a great number of graphic design artists as well and have perhaps some of the most well done banners in any game setting. The nihilistic ennui that characterizes a great deal of people within the game who are in less vibrant alliances is resolved for those within The Order by their engagement with the overall political program.To elucidate so as not to imply that everyone in the Order is a Philosopher, many of them have little care for the vast tomes written about Francoism and simply engage in its praxis6. Most are aware of the general concepts, but you won't see the majority of them drawing up different interpretations, simply because such writing is foreign is to them. Hobbes makes an appearance once again Letum mentions Democratic Autocracy, sometimes referred to in other texts as Autocratic Democracy as one of the most important principles: Democratic Autocracy How do you combine a community that is full of talented people with myriad of ideas, with a community where members stand by each other, and by their leaders, no matter what? One of the greatest achievements of our Francoist legacy is being able to make full use of both, whilst minimizing the conflict between the two ideals. We are all here voluntarily. We have each decided to collectivize our toils, our identity, and our future, in the image of this alliance. We go around and express ideas freely, we work hard in all walks of life, we debate, we argue, we even shout at each other. That is the purest expression of the power of the people. However, when the time for action comes, we unite behind a single purpose. We follow a strict hierarchy, and strike as one fist, no matter how many conflicting ideas were thrown around previously. The support for autocratic democracy ultimately rests on the premise that autocracy is most efficient to serve the good of all and that all 6 By praxis, I mean practical, hands-on, application of a Political Philosophy. freely participated and accept the Emperor's authority. It could be called a social contract, if you will.7 However, to better understand the Order, we need to get into its origins in Nation States. Nation States was a nation simulator used to advertise a book by Max Barry. There was no war engine, but each region in the game had elected delegates. There were two kinds of regions: user-created regions and regions that were already in existence that the game would feed new players into. Often times those who established homes in user-created regions would invade the feeder regions. From this, according to Vladimir in "Proper Francoist Thought" a class antagonism beween Userites and Feederites was identified by Francos' Spain, who Francoism is named after.8 He did not develop the ideology in a written form but was identified by those who would as someone who practiced it. The Feederites taking control of the Pacific region was an event referred to as the August Revolution, which according to Vladimir, "liberated the Pacific from domination by foreign interests". The Order would practice a kind of war in the game that involved coordinated movements from region to region to insert new Delegates. Taking that into account, the Order had an unparalleled level of organization and a system ready to be put into place when they migrated to Cybernations a week after its creation in January 2006. Democratic rhetoric was often used within the Order despite being a dictatorship for the vast majority of its existence. How could a seemingly totalitarian alliance justify such apparent bombast? In a dialogue titled the "The Sage and Student," where such rhetoric is called into question, the following explanation is given by one of Vladimir's fellow travelers, OPArsenal: "As simply as possible, it is the democratic will of the people being channeled through an autocratic institution. While there is no electoral vote the voices of Pacificans are nevertheless heard and acted on -and in a far more efficient and effective way than in an electoral democracy.9" The Emperor is then said to be inseparable from the Order and essentially an avatar of it, 7 op cit. 8 "Proper Francoist Thought." Cybernations Wikia. Unknown. <http://cybernations.wikia.com/wiki/ Proper_Francoist_Thought> 9 "The Sage and the Student." Cybernations Wikia. Unknown. <http://cybernations.wikia.com/wiki/ The_Sage_and_the_Student> rather than a self-interested agent. On this note, Francoism goes beyond Hobbes as Hobbes never imposed such conditions on a theoretical absolute monarch. A more palatable version of what is proposed in the Leviathan is brought forth as a solution to the issue of the Order being autocratically democratic despite the lack of voting processes within the Order. Letum almost appears to be responding to Strauss by talking about the good of all. Drawing upon the discussion of feederites and userites, one might ask, how without any such class distinction did The Order thrive in a new setting? The usual response is that the Order adapts to the material conditions changing and when they change, they take action. When approaching it from a different point of view, the objection that cases of people becoming addicted to online games like World of Warcraft are widespread. How can simply another case of people being too devoted be used as a counterpoint to Strauss and others? The difference is in many cases the excessive devotion to games like WoW is a result of it being a relatively linear game, with rewards for completing missions x, y, and z. There is much less of a contemplative component to it or meaning outside of improving one's individual character or the guild's. Games that reward achievements with loot, new gear, and other things also tend to be more decentralized rather than actually massive multiplayer and political. For example, a guild never holds as many members as a Cybernations alliance. Groups are restricted in number a lot of the time. Could one imagine a political ideology taking hold in such a setting? In contrast, in games like Cybernations and Nationstates, there is far less incentive for individuals to play the game with vigor other than some Politico-Philosophical motive that they wish to follow through on or valuing the community bonds established in alliance settings to a great extent. The community aspect is important for the Order in the biggest most visible way, but we see similar devotion, but rather in terms of hero worship, in the most successful alliances. In real life, when a a regime with a strong leader comes into power without a firm Philosophy behind his actions, the regime tends to function on his charisma and authority alone. For example in Russia, Putin regardless of being either President or Prime Minister continues to be the most powerful man in Russia. What if Putin were to die all of a sudden? It seems unlikely that his United Russia party would stay afloat as people from all across the political spectrum vote for him due to the impression he gives of restoring pride to Russia through realpolitik moves. Of course, people being behind developed Political Philosophies such as Francoism is not missing from the historical record, but it is missing in the current real political atmosphere when a well-argued stance could make a great deal of difference. Hans Sluga recently said that Foucault said people had begun to act in a historical fashion, rather than a temporal fashion, which is to say some recognition exists, but that simply doesn't seem to be the case as whole swathes of people remain uninvolved and choose to sequester themselves in isolated bubbles. The potential for Political Philosophy to be concretely relevant exists given the actions and writings of people mostly in their 20s. Vladimir for example no longer plays, but was a member of the British Socialist Workers Party. The categories Strauss created for what it means to philosophize and what it means to speak on Political Philosophy seem to aim towards fulfilling the ivory tower stereotype and is harmful for discourse as praxis can potentially lead to changes that are beneficial rather than it resulting in the closed uncritical system Strauss supposes a definitive practical application of Political and all kinds of Philosophy would entail. References: Strauss, Leo. "What is Political Philosophy?" The Journal of Politics. Vol. 19, No. 3 (Aug., 1957), pp. 343-368 Cybernations Wikia. http://cybernations.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page