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Is reasoning worth debating?
Parliamentary debates under the Westminster System have evolved into adversarial politics. An alternative is to adopt dialectical materialism, which was proposed by Hegel (1770-1831). According to Hegel, the fundamental principle of the understanding mind is the commitment to the falsehood of contradictions. When an idea is found to involve a contradiction, a new stage in the development of thought must occur. Hegel called this process dialectic.Hegelian dialectic begins with a thesis, initially taken to be true. Reflection reveals that there is a contradictory point of view to the thesis, which Hegel calls the antithesis, which has an equal claim of legitimacy. A new and third position becomes apparent, which Hegel calls the synthesis. Another antithesis will sooner or later become apparent and another synthesis, and so the process continues.
This gradual, and in Hegel’s view, necessary unfolding of thought is a progression towards absolute truth, indeed towards an absolute universal mind, spirit or Geist.
The Hegelian system is a method of logical reasoning. The current adversarial method is based on tribal counting and other reasoning is seldom applied.
The novel Presumed Dead is crime fiction set in a context of parliamentary debating, warts and all.
Is a hung parliament democratic?
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no particular political party or pre-existing coalition has an absolute majority of members or seats.
Many Australians believe they bring huge problems to their country because in order to secure a majority coalition the major parties always have to do deals with small parties which involve agreeing to their inappropriate policies which most Australians don’t want. From the Australian perspective, coalitions are impractical and dangerous rather than a democratic dreamworld come true.
Hung parliaments are democratic. They reflect the breadth of views of the population. First past the post produces easy government, it is by no means democratic. The Party system is great for back seat passengers with nothing to offer. The answer might be to do away with the Party system all together and have individuals put up as independents.
The crime novel ‘Presumed Dead’ is set in a fictional hung parliament. https://wp.me/P1z4yo-n
