Guild and State by Antony Black

Author:Antony Black [Black, Antony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Political Science, History & Theory, Social Science, Anthropology, Cultural & Social
ISBN: 9780765809780
Google: LFUJnwEACAAJ
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 2003-01-15T05:00:50+00:00

This is no mere repetition of the communal values of medieval thought. Rather, it is a calculated statement of how mutual need leads to exchange (communicatio), and exchange to solidarity (consortium, communio). Contract played an important part in Althusius' theory of political legitimacy (Hoepfl and Thompson 1979, 935-6), precisely because he regarded it as part of the basis for all forms of association. While, as will become clear, human need and economic exchange play a central role in Althusius' view of the origin of society, this did not mean that for him men are essentially competitive; rather the term communicatio (a rendering of the Greek koinonia: sharing, communion)* indicated that reciprocity was inherent in the process of exchange. (The function of gifts in simple societies perfectly illustrates Althusius' point.) Unlike medieval theorists, on the other hand, he does not see solidarity as simply given, instinctive, implanted in human nature; it arises out of the process of exchange. The social bonds thus generated are, none the less, durable and morally significant. As in Hegel, community is based upon deliberate choice. Althusius' point of emphasis is, in fact, not far removed from the concept of mutual aid.

All this becomes clearer as Althusius goes on to describe the development of the commonwealth or state (respublica):

God has distributed his gifts in diverse ways among men. He did not give one person everything, but different things to different people, so that I should need what you have, and you should need what I have; thus arose the necessity, as it were, of sharing (communicandorum) what was needful and useful, and this intercourse (communicatio) could only take place in socio-political life (politica vita sociali). Therefore God willed that one person should need the labour and aid of another, so that friendship (amicitia) might overwhelm each and all. ... For if one person did not require another's aid, what society, reverence, order, reason, humanity would there be? ... These were the reasons why villages were built, cities constructed, academies founded, and why many farmers, craftsmen, smiths, architects, soldiers, merchants, the educated and the uneducated, were joined together (copularunt) through their diversity in civil unity and society, as so many members of the same body; so that, as people supplied each other's needs, and took from others what they required, all alike should be gathered together into a kind of public body — which we call a commonwealth (respublica) — and by mutual aid (mutuis auxiliis) should attend to the general good and safety of that body.

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