Five Fundamental Principles of PROUT: Difference between revisions

Law maintains social integrity. Without it, society, to the extent that it survives, is reduced to tyranny.<ref>''Where law ends, tyranny begins.'' [[:wikipedia:William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]], Earl of Chatham (1770). "In reply to Lord Mansfield, in relation to the case of John Wilkes". [http://www.classicpersuasion.org/cbo/chatham/chat09.htm The Speeches of Lord Chatham].</ref> Without law, not just our social existence but also our social identity is in jeopardy.<ref>''We live in and by the law. It makes us what we are: citizens and employees and doctors and spouses and people who own things.'' Ronald Dworkin (1986). Preface to ''Law's Empire''. Harvard university Press. ISBN 978-0674518360.</ref> And fundamental to law is the notion of [[#Property rights|property rights]]. This applies regardless of whether a society is capitalist<ref>''One of the most fundamental requirements of a capitalist economic system—and one of the most misunderstood concepts—is a strong system of property rights. For decades social critics in the United States and throughout the Western world have complained that "property" rights too often take precedence over "human" rights, with the result that people are treated unequally and have unequal opportunities. Inequality exists in any society. But the purported conflict between property rights and human rights is a mirage. Property rights are human rights.'' [[:wikipedia:Armen Alchian|Armen Alchian]] (1993). "[http://www.econlib.org/library/enc/PropertyRights.html Property Rights]" in ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics", Liberty Fund.</ref> or communist.<ref>''The establishment of property rights is important not only because it affects the distributions of wealth and income, and control, but also because it affects economic behavior. Often it makes a difference whether there is an owner. New hotels in China, regardless of whether they are government-owned or privately owned, are all beautiful when they open. However, five years later, the government-owned ones typically look more than ten years old. And the privately owned ones often still look new.'' [[:wikipedia:Lawrence Lau|Lawrence Lau]] (2006). [http://policydialogue.org/files/events/Lau_Property_Rights.pdf Role of property rights]</ref>

In PROUT, the [[#fp1|first fundamental principle]] is the primary guideline in respect to law and the practical foundation on which the other four principles are constructed. However, the manner in which the first fundamental principle is implemented – the nuances in respect to [[#Social justice|social justice]] – are determined by the theoretical impact of the higher four principles.