Pause for thought
Sir: From the midst of the bromides and nebulous logic of Mr Tony Blair's article (The Spectator/Allied Dunbar lecture, 25 March) one idea shines through: 'Duty is the cornerstone of a decent society. It recognises more than self.' Mr Blair treats the concepts of 'duty' and 'obligation' as interchangeable, but they are subtly yet cru- cially different, in that obligations are cho- sen discretely by individuals (for example, which promises to keep) whereas the con- cept of duty dictates that action be taken merely on the basis of obedience to some higher authority.
An endorsement of Mr Blair's views appears in the following quotation, which he will find unimpeachable: 'In the chase after their own happiness men fall from heaven into a real hell. Yes, even posteri- ty forgets the men who have only served their own advantage and praises the heroes who have renounced their own happiness . . . Our own . . . language pos- sesses a word which magnificently desig- nates this kind of activity [fulfilment of duty]; it means not to be self-sufficient but to serve the community.' The benefi- ciary of the communal sacrifices demand- ed in this case was the 'nation', the politi- cal party which emerged from the crucible of this philosophy was National Socialism, the 'decent society' was Nazi Germany and the author was Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf, Houghton Mifflin 1943, pp. 300, 298).
For all Mr Blair's disavowals of collec- tivism, his philosophical proximity to such bedfellows should give him pause for thought.
M Marcus
26 Parkman Street, Brookline, Massachussetts 02146, USA
Previous page
