Lysander Spooner, Natural Law; or, The Science of Justice, Section I, page 5 (1882).
The science of mine and thine — the science of justice — is the science of all human rights; of all a man’s rights of person and property; of all his rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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Lysander Spooner
2 replies on “Lysander Spooner”
Science, things that were scientific and ways of thinking that were scientistic were all the rage in 1882. Darwin’s theory had been published 23 years earlier but the fundamentals had not arrived. That wouldn’t happen until 1910 at which point science again had its fabled opposition, Fables. And so it is that the gentleman Would Imagine a science of Justice. As if the humanities hadn’t happened. As for mine and thine, what better example of Western dichotomization could there be?
Switching from the lexicon used by the speaker or writer to some other lexicon is a rather great sin. The popularity of the term “science” long predated Darwin, but just what it has most often meant has evolved with time.
If you would call the distinction between mine and thine a dichotomy, Western or not, true or not, you should be prepared to answer the question of just what is supposedly divided. A universe of discourse could exhaustively concern that which allegedly belongs to no one, that which allegedly belongs to one party, that which allegedly belongs to another, and that which allegedly somehow belongs to everyone. But all conflict involves contradicting claims of what belongs to one party or to another. Any who attempts to resolve this conflict is addressing a question of mine or thine, even if the person is asserting that neither has the right or the responsibility.
If you’ll undertake a proper review of the term “science”, then you’ll find that nearly your every comment to this ‘blog performatively contradicts a professed belief that any sense that Spooner might have intended for “science” has no reasonable application.