Government has traditionally been evaluated in terms of their effects in promoting several principles. We have seen that one of these——justice——is appropriate to the narrower definition of government as the power to punish. It is punishment, which is administered with justice, and a government, which is successful in balancing aversive consequences, is said to 'maximize justice.' Our practical support of such a government is probably not due to any such principle, however, but rather to the fact that a just government, in comparison with other governments, is more likely to reinforce the behavior. of supporting it. Another principle commonly appealed to a freedom. That government is said to be best which governs least. The freedom, which is, maximized by a good government is not, however, the freedom, which is at issue in a science of behavior. Under a government, which controls through positive reinforcement the citizen feels free, though he is no less controlled. Freedom from government is freedom from aversive consequences. We choose a form. of government, which maximizes freedom for a very simple reason: aversive events are aversive. A government, which makes the least use of its power to punish, is most likely to reinforce our behavior. in supporting it. Another principle currently in fashion is security. Security against aversive governmental control raises the same issue as freedom. So does security from wants, which means security from aversive events which are not specifically arranged by the governing agency-from hunger, cold, or hardship in general, particularly in illness or old age. A government increases security by arranging an environment in which many common aversive consequences do not occur, in which positive consequences are easily achieved, and in which extreme states of deprivation are avoided. Such a government naturally reinforces the behavior. of supporting it. The 'fight' of a ruler was an ancient device for explaining his power to role. 'Human rights' such as justice, freedom and security are devices for explaining the counter-control exercised by the governed. A man has his rights in the sense that the governing agency is restricted in its power to control him. He asserts these rights along with other citizens when he resists control. 'Human fights' are ways of representing certain effects of governing practices——effects which are in general positively reinforcing and which we therefore call good. To 'justify' a government in such terms is simply an indirect way of pointing to the effect of the government in reinforcing the behavior. of the supporting group. It is commonly believed that justice, freedom, security, and so on refer to certain more remote consequences in terms of which a form. of government may be evaluated. We shall return to this point in section Ⅵ, where we shall see that an additional principle is needed to explain why these principles are chosen as a basis for evaluation. It is generally admitted that a government roles in order to see ______.