Peikoff - Virtue - The Initiation Of Physical Force As Evil Flashcards
(14 cards)
Having covered the major virtues, I want to complete the present discussion by turning to a widespread vice:
The initiation of physical force against other men.
This vice represents the …
Antithesis and destruction of the virtue of RATIONALITY — and therefore of every other virtue and every (nonautomatic) value as well.
To refrain from force is not necessarily a mark of good character.
One can be thoroughly evil, yet recoil from wielding a fist or club oneself (eg the coward who tries to destroy others by psychological or ideological, not physical, means).
==> But to initiate force is to commit a MAJOR EVIL.
==> In the long run, this evil IS AN INEVITABLE RESULT OF IRRATIONALITY.
Physical force is coercion exercised by …
PHYSICAL AGENCY (punch, incarceration, shooting, seizing property).
“Initiation” means …
STARTING the use of force against an innocent individual(s), one who has not himself started its use against others.
Since men do not automatically come to the same conclusions, no code of ethics can escape the present issue:
The moralist has to tell men how to act when they disagree.
(assuming they do not simply go their separate ways).
In essence, there are only 2 viewpoints on this issue, because there are only 2 basic methods by which one can deal with a dispute:
REASON OR FORCE:
==> Seeking to persuade others to share one’s ideas voluntarily — or coercing others into doing what one wishes regardless of their ideas.
Not all persuaders are honest men:
Many are manipulators, even destroyers, who bypass logic and seek to get what they want from others by playing on their feelings.
But these creatures, if they abstain from force, leave their victims free not to fall for the racket — …
Free to THINK LOGICALLY in solitude, to decide the question for themselves, and to act accordingly.
The man of force, however, in attacking a person’s body (or seizing his property, thereby …
NEGATES AND PARALYZES HIS VICTIM’S MIND.
The mind is a cognitive faculty.
Its function is to perceive reality by performing a process of identification, a process of gathering evidence and integrating it into a context in accordance with the rules of an objective methodology.
As we have seen, this process presupposes …
A SOVEREIGN, VOLITIONAL consciousness and must be performed EGOISTICALLY, INDIVIDUALISTICALLY, INDEPENDENTLY.
It cannot, therefore, be forced.
“A rational mind,” writes AR does not work under compulsion:
It does NOT subordinate its grasp of reality to anyone’s orders, directives, or controles.
==> It does NOT sacrifice its knowledge, its view of the truth, to anyone’s opinions, threats, wishes, plans, or “welfare”.
==> Such a mind may be hampered by others, it may be silenced, proscribed, imprisoned, or destroyed.
==> It CANNOT BE FORCED.
*** A GUN IS NOT AN ARGUMENT.
To order a man to accept a conclusion against his own judgement is to order him to …
Accept as true something that, according to everything he knows, IS NOT TRUE.
==> This amounts to ordering him to believe a CONTRADICTION.
==> One can torture an individual, force him to mouth any words one says, even drive him insane, BUT ONE CANNOT MAKE HIM BELIEVE SUCH MOUTHINGS.
Volition pertains to the act of initiation and sustaining the process of thought.
If a man does choose to think, however, …
He has NOT CHOICE IN REGARD TO THE CONCLUSIONS HE REACHES.
==> No matter what the bribes dangled before him or the threats — A THINKER HAS TO FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE WHEREVER IT LEADS.
==> Even if he tries, HE CANNOT WILL HIMSELF TO ACCEPT AS TRUE that which he sees to be baseless or mistaken.
