Liuism
Liuism (柳學, "Liu studies" or "Liu-ology", alternatively 柳渡思想 "Liu Du Thought"), known in eastern Ochran as naturalism (自然主義), is a nationalist political and social ideology advancing the nation state as the primary if not the only constitution of all states, the unconditional dissolution of all empires and imperialistic entities, and the establishment of a virtuous society based upon the 'small community' which is built on various traditional local community organizations. The theoretical framework of Liuism is primarily attributed to late Jiang dynasty Jeou historian and philosopher Liu Du, although several other figures such as Song Xiaojin and Weng Weizhi made important contributions to the ideology as well. Liuism, formed from the collision of the eastern and western worlds of the 19th century, had very diverse philosophical inspirations, ranging from classical Confucianism to Belisarian thinking such as traditionalist conservatism and classical liberalism, though in Ochran it has usually been considered a revolutionary ideology.
Theories
Three worlds
The Liuist worldview first divides the world of human civilization into three spheres:
- Virtuous society, where the pure values of civilization (usually associated with those promoted by modern Belisarian philosophy) are upheld by principle by a network of actors and institutions that aim for and result in common good, creating a moral order, and is the most ideal;
- Realist society, where actors and institutions are not principally motivated by civilized values but still ensure a society operating on that basis through pragmatic maneuvering;
- Egoist society, where civilized values are absent in favor of uninhibited self-interest. In this sphere benefit to one comes at expense of others, thus causing unjust dominance of materially stronger actors over weaker ones.
While virtuous society is seen as the most desirable, many forces can cause it to degenerate into realist and egoist structures. However, Liuism is also not pessimistic with regards to the so-called 'involution' of society, and rather considers movement of societies to be bidirectional, with equal possibility of less virtuous societies moving to more desirable states. Liuist historiography holds that humans have, through progressive evolution, generally reached virtuous society starting from the egoist society of primitive hunting-gathering, but have also due to other factors either fell from this state or not reached ideality at all.
The 'civilized values' described in this worldview and acting as the metric for the classification of societies are universal values, equatable to natural order, and reflect a sense of providentialism. Although Liuists characterized it by the virtues described by Belisarian conservatism, they also hold its consistency with the original ideals of ancient eastern moralist philosophers, reflecting the 'natural' attribute of these values. Also influenced by hierosophy in Ochran, there were strong implications of the derivation of this ideality from the Absolute that the hierosophists called Taiheng, and links were often made with Christian ethics.
The egoist state of society, marked by its absence of high values, also was devoid of presence of the permanence that the natural order brought about. It is thus also chaotic and becoming, and identified with nothingness or void due to the absence of permanent institutions in these states. In contrast, virtuous society was identified with the permanence of being, and naturally associated with stability. Its 'present' nature was used to explain the cultural achievements supposedly only possible in the virtuous world.
This basic framework of world-analysis is very similar to traditionalists and conservatives of Belisaria; indeed, western, Christian philosophy of a more traditional variant was a significant influence on Liuism's foundations.
Small community
The small community is the basis of the virtuous society. It is principally tribalist and organicist, comprising the collaboration of willing people of a close identity and relationship in creating common good and public benefit based on civilized virtues. These manifest by natural processes, as a result of the corresponding natural order, and the presence of civilized values. Thus, small communities take form as 'original' and 'natural' relationships found in society. These include the family, the employer and employee, or the mentor and apprentice, which in their sum work to sustain the virtuous society. The small community is identified in typical analytical terms as the organizations from which all of these natural relationships emerge in, and thus can be equated to the foundation of society.
Although taking many forms across the world, small communities are all marked by their roots as the products of common identification, and a character as a successful creator of common good when working in optimal state. It is most commonly identified with extended familial organizations from zongzu clans in the Sinhai sphere to the gens of ancient Latium. Such organizations are also referred to as 'social corporations', and are evaluated as the most important link of society (rather than the individual). A significant actor of these social corporations are what are known as 'local gentry' in Liuist terminology, typically found as landed social elites; according to Liuists a sense of noblesse oblige, another manifestation of natural order and also of a kinly love for fellow small-community members, drives such gentries into socially beneficial acts, which in turn have sustained social cohesion. The small community is the optimal mode and most natural of social organizations, inevitably superior to all parallels and competitors.
Large community and the 'empire'
In opposition to the small community is the large community, which is a more expansive agglomeration of less naturally-connected people (if they share any identification at all). The large community is impersonal, and typically its subjects remain within it for reasons of interest, rather than the bonds seen in small communities. Likewise, it is mechanical as opposed to the organic properties of the small community, based on largely artificial organizations with little to do with each other, and relatively impermanent products of situations as opposed to the natural order and stability of the small community. A large community manifests as bureaucracy, use of brute force to ensure its dominance and existence, as well as egoist use of its structures by unconnected persons for personal greed. It is thus also associated with the egoist society described in the three-world thesis, while in a realist society it already begins to develop. Large communities inevitably tend towards social alienation because of their inorganicity, in response they increase force they use to remain in power, causing human welfare inside these structures to worsen as totalitarianism manifests.
Later, less hierosophy-influenced Liuist ideologues advanced the social cycle theory that civilizations begin as small communities and then decay into oppressive, mechanical large communities, and thus 'older' civilizations were more likely to be mechanical societies, as well as tend towards their collapse and destruction. However, this is not universal of Liuists, and the consensus rather seems to be at least that the occasional, random, and sophisticated process of a large community emerging is existent, and it always involves the destruction of the small community in order to empower the large. This places the large community as the ultimate antithesis of the small community.
The 'empire' in Liuist discourse is the 'peak stage of the large community' where a 'chaotic machine' expands across numerous lands and peoples, destroys their small communities, and appropriates their resources to sustain itself. This marks the point where the main actors in the large community have lost control of it. Empires are destined to collapse as they are founded upon a malignancy of an already heavily flawed form of community, but also are the most destructive of possible social organizations, inflicting upon its subjects the greatest possible oppression from all aspects. Its operation is sustained by a parasitic class of rulers who are the most temporarily powerful of this egoist society. Despite any attempts to uphold the contrary, in an empire all morality breaks down in favor of an impermanent order created by fear (from an unsustainable concentration of brute force), as that is the only way it continues to exist, and in turn the subjects of such empires become uncivilized as the environment of their society forces them into egoism.
Tenets
Nationalism and regionalism
Liuism believes in the natural division of peoples into nations based on cultural closeness and intimacy, fundamentally the same elements behind small communities. A nation is thus an assembly of small communities connected further by their culture and history, by nature still a small community (at least in the ideal state). Nationalism is thus simply the natural result of being inside such a community because it is the innate force in the individual propelling them to treat the small community cordially. It is thus optimal and natural to divide the world based on nations, and make the nation state the only constitution of any state. Nations should thus obtain a sovereign political presence with exercise of self determination, and any nation under the imperialist domination of other entities should break free unconditionally.
Accordingly, regionalism and localism also needs to be emphasized in the nation, as it is not to devolve into a large community through using national identity as a force of unification. The interests of regions and local communities must be considered and advanced to ensure the functionality of small communities and thus social cohesion. The Liuist vision of nation lies between integral nationalism and civic nationalism, believing in a cultural identity, but also self-declaredly inclusive and welcoming of aspiring nationals-to-be, though this is more in the context of such ideas being proposed in the Taizhou empire where meaningful local national identity was mostly destroyed according to Liuists.