Sober Philosophy: A Farewell to Kings (Bradley presents)

About this event

**Living as we do in the United States, the dominant political view in our society is that monarchy is an outmoded form of government. However, in the United Kingdom, for example, the monarchy continues to enjoy overwhelming public support. Here is an interview with a royal reporter with his thoughts on the subject.** **[https://youtu.be/geRkugo8Yn8](https://youtu.be/geRkugo8Yn8)** **He points out that half of the countries with the twenty highest scores on the Human Development Index are constitutional monarchies, which is remarkable since there are only 33 constitutional monarchies.** **A farewell to kings is the abandonment of the idea that hereditary monarchy is a legitimate form of government. Without this legitimizing factor political positions are typically filled by elected officials or by dictators who hold power by force. Seen this way a farewell to kings could lead to either good or bad results.** **It is currently fashionable to describe monarchies as being absolute or constitutional with semi-constitutional monarchies occupying a space in between the two. However, it is possible for a king or emperor to have limited power while real power is held by a dictatorship as was the case in Japan under the Shoguns.** **The doctrine of the divine right of kings originated in the early modern era, although it had ancient and medieval precedents. Both Constantine and Dante held that the office of emperor was instituted by God, but this was to be one emperor for the entire civilized world as opposed to separate monarchs for each nation. However, support for constitutionalism dates back at least as far at Thomas Aquinas in the middle ages, and this was probably due in part to the influence of Aristotle. Absolutism was often supported by the middle class as a way of eliminating the power of the nobles.** **In the seventeenth century Britain went in the direction of constitutionalism while France moved toward absolutism. Both had notable regicides followed by…