Philosophic Branch

This thread is dedicated to the discussion of the Philosophic branch and its internal workings.

The Philosophic branch exists to interpret the constitution, resolve citizen disputes, and to moderate user forums and events. It is a meritocracy which hand-selects members based on demonstrated skill and desire to uphold the constitution without bias.

Internally, all members will be equal with each other. An artificial hierarchy will be used to facilitate division of labor and duties. This hierarchy will change from time to time to give members the ability to experience all services and roles required of the branch. Decisions will be made by vote which includes all members. All votes must pass by 2/3 or be held over for further discussion and additional votes.

~Ulrika~

When you were calling for the Philosophic Branch to be more like a University, where you talking about Meritocracy? (which I assure you no U.S. University actually is) If there are other ways this is similar to a University, could you explain?

It will be like a collection of Professors (not students) who are selected based on skill. I'd like to get a breadth of expertise from backgrounds such as physics, political science, philosophy, mathematics, sociology, and so on. Members will have to be flexible and comfortable with their skills and limitations so they will be able defer to experts in the branch if a topic is out of their field. Further, this branch will be responsible for teaching and disseminating information on the project, constitution, and laws.

Plus our pay will be terrible.

~Ulrika~

I would like to apply for a place at the Philosophic branch. Fortunately, I do not have any skills whatsoever in any of the areas your mentioned (or rather any area at all...), but, if modesty permits me to say so, I'm quite good at pretending to have some

So I could handle all the incoming questions, filter them out, and send them to the experts Hmm. Can I be Assistant Secretary to the Dean?

Seriously, now... Ulrika, how do you envision the workings of the Philosophical branch? Something like the Athens Academy or more like a modern University? This actually is just important for the cool titles on the Philosophic branch We could either have "Philosophers" meet at the Academy, or Deans and Professors meeting at the Scientific Council (or the University Senate?)

BTW the "Thinker" title is unfortunately already taken

I'll start work on tweed jackets ---ya want elbow patches or no?

Congratulations! You are the second member of the Philosophic branch.

Ha ha. You're too talented for that. Given that you've been in on this project since the beginning, you'll enter at the highest level. Whatever that unnamed level might be.

I don't really know to be honest. The only thing that comes to my mind that embodies the kind of philosophic diversity I'm looking for (and coincidentally is in theme with the project) is Johann Wilhelm von Goethe. I'm not sure how to wrap him into a university theme though. Perhaps we could work on this together, taking turns tossing out ideas until we converge upon something.

~Ulrika~

Ha ha! The tweed jackets will go perfect with the Neualtenburg Christmas pipe.

~Ulrika~

Ok, so here goes some brainstorming...

Let's copy Kendra and see if we can list all "duties" that the Philosophical Branch needs to perform...

1. Monitor Events
   
2. Pronounce inconstitutionality of bills of law
   
3. Admit new citizens
   
4. Work as an "election commitee" by appointing election dates, approving parties, verity the vote count, officially publish the results.
   
5. Approve new members of the Philosophical Branch
   
6. Legal trials
   

I think I have missed a few ones here...

Now, for the sake of argument, let's adopt the Silly University Theme as a groundwork.

The Philosophical Branch calls itself "The Univeristy" (Die Universitaet), and all its members are named "Professors". Professors elect among themselves a Dean, which is the official representative of the University outside of the Philosophical Branch. The Dean cannot be elected/nominated for any official position at any of the other three Branches (but could be nominated as Burgermeister).

The collective of all Professors is named the University Senate (if this name is not good, the alternative is to call it the Scientific Council instead). It's a democratic assembly where all decisions are passed with simple majority (the Dean will have a double vote). Expulsion of a member has to be decided by a 2/3 majority of all members.

The Dean will also be elected by its peers by simple majority, and hold a mandate for the same time of the Representative Branch own term of office, but elections will be held at different times. This will allow a degree of overlapping, so that "power manipulations" between the Assembly and the University will be harder to handle. Ie. if we agree on Assembly elections every 4 months, the Dean will be elected for 4 months, starting at half-term (elected on the beginning of the third month).

The University Senate further delegates its duties or attributions to Chairs. This will mean there will be a Chair of Event Monitoring, a Chair for Inconstituicionality, a Chair for Citizenship, etc. The Chairs will be nominated by the Dean, and approved by simple majority vote by the University Senate (if there is disagreement, the Dean will have to pick another Chair).

Chairs will be able to nominate further delegates to assist their work (only Professors are allowed), however, they remain fully responsable for whatever their delegates are doing. This means that if one Chair delegates his/her tasks to one Professor, and this Professor is handling it badly, the Chair will be subjected to University Senate inquiry. Sanctions can include destitution of the Chair "office" or even expulsion from University (or legal action against that Professor which may result in banning or expulsion fro Neualtenburg).
All these actions beyond Chair destitution will need 2/3 voting by all members; Chair destitution will need a simple majority vote. When the Chair is destituted, all his/her delegate Professors will lose their role as well, and eventually subject to further sanctions just like the Chair itself.

Under this proposal, neither Deans, Chairs or delegate Professors should hold office on any of the other Branches. However, they are allowed to be Guild members or party members, of course. Just "holding office" is out of bounds.

Chairs can accumulate duties, as well as the Dean. This means that the Dean could also be he Chair of Events and Chair of Legal Actions, and all the rest of the functions delegated on another Chair. This is totally at the Dean's own whim, but of course the Chair nomination is still subject to simple majority approval.

Ok, I think that will do for starters

I would like the Philosophic Branch to keep Phineas Clio in mind as a possible future Philosopher. Phineas has been coming to the city since before all the leakage to the General Forums and has always had insightful things to say. And even though he's not a fellow Neualtenburg Communist, he did read my platform and respectfully discuss it with me over a beer.

I could not agree more Phineas, are you reading this? Would you like to be part of the Philosophical branch?

The philosophical branch should pick its members but I think they should be confirmed by the senate as a check. This arm of the government is quite powerful and needs to be hel in check at some level.

I agree totally. I think during the provisional stage of the government we should let people collect into each branch freely to try things out. When we kick-start the real government we'll have the Artisanal branch in place, we'll then hold elections for the Representative branch, and finally we'll fill the Philosophic.

~Ulrika~

Works for me

"Aye" on that.

roger dodger

ayep!

BTW, any comments & suggestions on the proposed structure of the Philosophical Branch, besides the need of confirmation of their members by the Representative branch (with which we all agree)?

I'll have some more input in a couple of days. I'm trying to finish some in-world work that's been backing up on me a bit, while I still have a little time left in the U.S. Thanksgiving Day Holiday weekend. As soon as I get it done, I'll be right back here.

~Ulrika~

Oh sure, Ulrika, no hurries As you well remember, I was myself "away" from Neualtenburg for several weeks, because of RL work ...

The great thing about groups in SL is that we can "fill in each other's shoes" wherever RL grabs our limited time and still keep the project going!

Ulrika,

I recieved your invitation to be a (what I assume is provisional) member of the Philisophical Branch. I’ll accept the invitation but, before you accept my acceptance, I do want to reiterate a point I’ve discussed with you in the past.

My usual role in relation to governments is the same as my relationship to technology. I am the person who helps the user deal with the parts of the system that aren't intuitive, or aren't skillfully done. This, over the years, has made me quite dedicated to the principle of user-empowerment, and quite fickle when it comes to loyalty to a particular brand or approach. If something doesn't work to the users' benefit - regardless of the commercial benefits - I will reject it thoroughly.

This necessarily means I am more than likely to turn against a poorly executed governmental model. Especially one that settles itself and stops trying to improve. I am also likely to abandon any particular “brand” of government that stops serving the people. While I prefer democracy to most other forms, I’m willing to consider other forms that serve the people better.

At any rate, my usefulness is probably most manifest in my universal lack of respect for self-serving institutions and rituals. If you have a need for someone who evaluates everything in the light of truth and compassion, then I may prove handy.

If you have any hope of depending on my loyalty, or even a high level of involvement in the more laborious official tasks you’ve set for this branch, then I will likely disappoint.

Again, placing me in a position of governmental responsibility is like promoting a thief to bank manager. He’s only trustworthy if you follow his advice.

Let me know if you can use me.

It is these qualities, your ability to articulate them, and your adherence to them that I think makes you eminently qualified to be a participant in this branch. Welcome aboard.

~Ulrika~

Welcome aboard, Kathy!

I would like to bring another topic for discussion inside this thread... how will the law system be based? Anglo-saxon system (ie. like on the US and UK, based on precedents) or Roman system (based on a complex Code of Laws)?

While there weren't any comments earlier, I would assume that a precendent-based system would make more sense. First, it's much simpler to set up - no need to agree on a common Code of Laws first, we can start directly on passing laws and base them only on the Constitution. Second, there is no "previous system" in place, so we can start from scratch (which is always easier). And third, I would expect that there are much more people in the group right now with experience in working under a precedent-based system than under Roman Law

The precedent system sounds great to me for both reasons you mentioned, simplicity and familiarity.

In my mind I imagine setting the boundaries of law with the constitution and bill of rights and then allowing the laws to form organically based on pressures and needs in world.


Also, I thought I would mention to those who don't know, Jacqueline Richelieu, SL's foremost legal authority, has recently joined the Philosophic branch of our project!

~Ulrika~

Gwyneth, I read your proposal on how to organize the branch in the theme of a university. I think it's smashing! I also really enjoyed the idea of creating chairs with different responsibilities. Already, I can see us with our particular specialties.

Would we be able to change this as we progress, if there are new ideas or would something like this have to be codified in the constitution and only an amendment could change it?

~Ulrika~