You know the saying, "One should throw out a pet hypothesis before breakfast every morning."? A couple days ago I got to thinking in this vein and questioned the following two statements that I take for granted:
- Why must ethical theories must universally applicable?
- Why are we justified in acting in self-defense? To be more specific, why aren't the pacifists correct in that _all_ violent actions, _even_ in self-defense is morally wrong?
I believe I came up to my own resolutions to these questions, but I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
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"Even when leftists talk about discrimination and sexism, they're damn well talking about the results of the economic system" ~Neodoxy
Fephisto:Why must ethical theories must universally applicable
Practicality. Say you run into a murder, should the right to protect yourself be subject to the area you inhabit? Should your right to property come and go if you pass from one state to the next? Now I believe this to be the basis of ethical systems. That is what should be apart of the legal system. If you want to be nice or mean to your mother, then that is your decision. You just can't hit her or take her wallet.
Fephisto:Why are we justified in acting in self-defense? To be more specific, why aren't the pacifists correct in that _all_ violent actions, _even_ in self-defense is morally wrong?
I believe we are if there is to be a concept of rights and property. Robert LeFarve was a great libertarian theorist, but a pacifist. Pacifism implies that there are no rights to property or life since the ability to enforce a right or exclude another individual is greatly reduced under pacifism. You would have to rely on the premise that all will be respectful and passive. I think a pacifist world is not a great horror but I don't think it practical.
'Men do not change, they unmask themselves' - Germaine de Stael
Fephisto:- Why are we justified in acting in self-defense? To be more specific, why aren't the pacifists correct in that _all_ violent actions, _even_ in self-defense is morally wrong?
A right is a legitimately enforceable claim. If pacifism is true, then we must deny that anyone has any rights. Ergo, pacifism is absurd.
Fephisto:- Why must ethical theories must universally applicable?
I recall Long has a discussion of this in his lecture "The Moral Standpoint."
AnalyticalAnarchism.net - The Positive Political Economy of Anarchism
I understand pacifism as being based not on justice but on goodness and speaking for nonresistance as a way to maximize good, rather than as the only just course of action.
They mustn't.
Fephisto: - Why are we justified in acting in self-defense? To be more specific, why aren't the pacifists correct in that _all_ violent actions, _even_ in self-defense is morally wrong?
Easy, see above, morals aren't universal.
Fephisto: - Why must ethical theories must universally applicable?
In order to be fair to each and every individual. To avoid the fallacy of special pleading and thus be logical when trying to settle scarcity conflicts.
To stop special pleaders, those that don't believe in universal ethics yet plead they can appropriate property (via murder, stealing, rape, etc...) and thereby are hypocrites and enact performative contradictions. Since there are ways to handle scarcity conflicts peacefully, then for others to freely choose to violently settle disputes they can only provide arbitrary excuses for such perverted actions. Even a hungry man can pay back their dues. Could a pacifist society develop? possibly. It is their liberty to try. They are not harming anybody and pacifists obviously don't special plead and initiate force upon everybody else to follow their way.
Each individual has an opportunity to discover this world, in a society that recognizes universal ethics.