class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 fmXrkB”>
New year, new law – new rules have been in effect in Switzerland for a good week now: the AHV age for women has increased and is now 65 years old, the same as for men; To finance the first level of pension provision, the VAT interest rate is slightly higher – 8.1 instead of 7.7 percent; Maximum levels of critical ingredients in tattoo inks have been reduced due to EU legislation; and the federal government wants to combat food waste by introducing new rules for retailers.
“We are all constantly and everywhere integrated into a network of rules that offers us support and imposes restrictions,” writes American science historian Lorraine Daston (72) in her book, recently published in German. The former director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin traces the “short history” of rules and shows when, where and how they accompany and define humanity.
Laws, recipes, principles, instructions, recommendations, regulations, norms, maxims, aphorisms and algorithms: “Forms belong to a long list of species that make up the genus of rules,” writes Daston. Diversity leads us to the hidden history of what a rule is and what it does. “Although laws show the most dignified and exalted face of rules,” Daston continued, “rules are, so to speak, rules with their sleeves rolled up.”
In the long history of rules, the former professor identifies three pairs of opposites: they can be complete or subtle in their formulation, flexible or rigid in their application, general or specific in their scope. “No rule on paper was so comprehensive that it alone could teach art,” she writes of instructions for 16th- and 17th-century masters. “She could organize and imitate the experience, but not replace it.”
This speaks to what rules are: about people who can and want to follow them. Daston gives two different examples from Paris and Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries: in the French capital, police authorities wanted to ban the emptying of chamber pots on the streets and only allow those over 17 to drive carriages; In the Netherlands, authorities completely banned traffic from the city and required residents to install lead sewer pipes.
“The municipal authorities of Amsterdam took far more drastic measures than the all-powerful police lieutenant in Paris or the absolutist monarchs dared even consider,” writes Daston. She concludes: “The most effective enforcement of rules occurs when the rules are formulated by a city government that is both republican and authoritarian—then acceptance among the population is clearly higher.”
Source: Blick
I am David Miller, a highly experienced news reporter and author for 24 Instant News. I specialize in opinion pieces and have written extensively on current events, politics, social issues, and more. My writing has been featured in major publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and BBC News. I strive to be fair-minded while also producing thought-provoking content that encourages readers to engage with the topics I discuss.
