Wow...some replies here and I've been taking my own sweet time...
...anyway.
The stuff about Ego is interesting, and probably true, but I'm not sure how helpful it is. Asking people to give up their Ego is, in my opinion, asking the impossible...Ego comes hand in hand with being a thinking, cognitive being, and the argument that Ego is the root of violence has the flipside argument the Ego is also the root of every selfless act...it really is.
Imbas's expressed thoughts on the matter closely reflect the ones that I have been developing lately while thinking on the subject (and I really have to give props to Wanduring for making me taking a deeper look at it...I tend to be slow in coming around to see his point of view when we disagree, but sometimes it happens
).
Anyway, and I hope I don't step on anyone's toes here, feel free to complain if I do and please forgive me for any introductory material, but I mean to build this up as much as possible from scratch, here is another excerpt from Vollman...this is all leading somewhere, really...
What Is the Best Way to Seek the Truth?
- In solitude. A member of any organization can hardly without visiting the darkly mysterious world of nonorganization comprehend the truth about his organization--that is, the truth of what he has done and caused. I have seen and applauded Julius Caeser's clemency to my fellow Romans, but have I taken counsel with myself to see whether the purpose in whose service he so leniently fights is equally applaudable?
- ...And in diverse company. A hermit may come to know himself, but unless he listens to others, and sees the happiness and suffering of others, he cannot know if what seems right for him will also be right for others. Moreover, a withness knows (even if he misunderstands what he knows). How could a Spaniard fairly judge the Mexican Conquest, without first enquiring of remnant Aztecs?
- ...And through history. The world was different once. Learn what today's truth has in common with yesterday's. Hitler invoked defense of homeland. So does Lycurgus the Spartan. My President invokes it today. Which of those two predecessors, if either, does he more faithfully resemble?
- ...And through service. He who helps no, cares not. He who cares not, possesses no right to guide other lives.
- ...And through the commission of error, and through patient revision. "No organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration."
- ...And by eliminating the redundant terms and categories which make it difficult to distinguish a locally valid axiom from a universal one--or from a tautology. "A war of the Soviet Union against an imperialist aggressor would be a just war" really means "a war against an aggressor would be a just war."
Experience alone, and theoretical grounding alone, falter. Context must inform the act that we judge, but it cannot predetermine the judgment.
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