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"The powerful will always exploit the weak no matter how backward or advanced a society is."

I mean this is the law of nature which apply not only to humans but to every living creature. Dogs always exploit cats but those same exploited cats also always exploit mice. Similarly this is happening among humans since pre-historic times till now and it seems that this will continue forever.

For example: Powerful countries are still exploiting weaker countries. Governments are still exploiting public. Majorities are still exploiting minorities. Rich are still exploiting poor and so on and so forth.

So how much this statement is true?

I think this is very true because it is what always happening in the world around me.

Arqam
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    "Power" is not nature : it is relative to (human) society: this is something that humans have built and not necessarily "hardwired" into human nature (DNA ?). The relationship between dogs and cats (if any) is not base on power, but on instinct and survival. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Dec 27 '18 at 18:14
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    Power is everywhere, but there are two kinds: the power that is used, and that which is abused. – Bread Dec 27 '18 at 22:44
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    You obviously seldom encountered dogs and cats. Cats are lovely, highly individual beasts that dominate all but the fiercest of dogs. And the question is so full of (further) wrong assumptions that it is not a good fit here. We look for solid, objectively answerable questions on philosophy, not for what might in a broad sense be called "philosophical" discussions. For further information about what StackExchange is about I recommend reading all contributions in the help center. – Philip Klöcking Dec 27 '18 at 23:09

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If the powerful exploit the weak, we might conclude that nature runs its course. But if humans have inalienable rights, then the natural course of things is an injustice.

Justice demands that the weak not be deprived of their inalienable rights by the strong. To the extent that the weak's rights are upheld, we might say what's happening is "human". But I would cite this as evidence that what's human is not what's natural.

elliot svensson
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  • Unless of course the powerful who exploit the weak are unnatural, even to the point of being inhuman -- and Justice is actually the natural and normal state of affairs (what I happen to believe). – Bread Dec 27 '18 at 22:54
  • @Bread, I agree with you in a sense, but epistemologically I find this hard to justify: it's contingent on the ontological existence of human value, which has been hard for folks to find within nature. – elliot svensson Dec 27 '18 at 22:56
  • Vote up the question, everybody! – elliot svensson Dec 27 '18 at 22:57
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It's not power that exploits the weak, but evil; and they most often target the weak, because why would they want to tackle those who are as strong or as powerful as they are?

The 'weak' or rather the many have a huge advantage, which is that they are many, they are the multitude, the people; the numbers are not against them, but for them.

This is why one of the most frequent strategy that evil uses to gain and keep power is to set people against each other, to sow dissension, to atomise society into individuals. For this, force is not often enough, especially in liberal democratic societies hence the many kinds of propaganda that people are subject to and 'scientifically' gathered. Chomsky called it the manufacture of consent. That is a consent that did not grow organically but is shaped and controlled.

Power, properly understood, is to enable flourishing.

Mozibur Ullah
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