[lit-ideas] Re: On the prospect of World Peace
- From: "Phil Enns" <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 19:11:59 -0400
I had written:
"There may be occasions where violence is needed to stop a greater evil,
but no good comes from violence."
to which Eric Yost replied:
"Could you explain this principle a little more thoroughly? I assume you
are basing it on a belief that one cannot overcome evil with evil."
I am basing it on the belief that what is worth doing in life differs
from the absence of evil. It may be necessary to use violence to
overcome a greater evil, but the question 'What should be done?' remains
unaddressed.
Eric continues:
"Yet haven't good things resulted from violence? Didn't the Civil War
bring about an end to slavery? Haven't workers gained rights and
benefits as as result of violent strikes?"
It is certainly better that slavery came to an end and workers gained
rights, but the fighting of the Civil War did not produce the conditions
necessary for slavery to be considered immoral nor did the violent
strikes provide the conditions necessary for people to think that
workers had rights.
Eric concludes:
"Isn't it more likely that violence routinely brings forth bad things
but also allows good things to emerge? If not, why not?"
Violence may allow good things to emerge but it does not cause them.
Two reasons present themselves. The first is the most obvious, namely,
that violence necessarily restricts freedom. As I said above, in some
case this might be required, but violence necessarily involves a
constraint on freedom. Second, violence is not an activity that
involves reasoning regarding what is worth doing. Good government does
not follow from a strategy for killing a certain number of people or
certain people. Going to war and forming good government are two very
different activities, though at times they may coincide.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns
Toronto, ON
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