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Old 04-18-2006, 09:00 AM   #37
Erick Mead
 
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Dojo: Big Green Drum (W. Florida Aikikai)
Location: West Florida
Join Date: Jun 2005
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Re: "Self-defense" or Something Else?

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote:
is there really any such thing as "good" and "evil". they are certainly concepts...but what is good for one person, might not be good for the other and vice versus. I think it depends on your perspective.
No -- it doesn't. You are describing the "ego-centered" version of utilitarian ethics, and it is wrong (or at least woefully limited in application.) What is bad for my child does not depend on his or her subjective appreciation of it. My life is a tremendous good, but not the highest good. The lives of my children are more important.
Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote:
I like to look at the terrorist attacks on 9-11. ...
How does the otherside see it?
How did the Aztec priests feel about the last re-dedication of their temple in Tenochtitlan, in 1457 versus the contrary ethical postulates of the twenty plus thousand who had their hearts cut from their living chests for that joyous celebration? I really don't much care how the priests felt about it. Their ethical perspective is simply not admissible in reasoned debate. Puts the "evil" conquistadores in a different light, though.

So, likewise with four planeloads of innocent "burnt offerings" immolated to some perverse, delusional notion of a personal warrant from God. In one day a band of deranged lunatics prompted by a bigger lunatic did more to demean and debase a system of profound theology and ethical thought than two hundred years of foreign colonial rule could manage. 'Nuff said.
Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote:
I believe it to be a very complex issue.
And -- again -- no it isn't. Killing for killing's sake is always wrong, at every time and in every place.
Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote:
... Aikido as an allegory .. understanding behavior, ... discern conflict ... make more informed decisions about defense, attacks, pre-emptive behaviors etc. ...
Aikido is not an allegory, nor is it an aid to conscious decision making, it is training in ethical action, which requires an intuitive grasp of the whole of a conflict, but not acquiescence to the subjective justness of the other side of it. If my enemy subjectively decides that his right requires that I die or be injured, he has not grasped the whole of the situation, objectively. I too am a subject worthy of inclusion in the dynamic of action. If he does not have the grace to accommodate me on his own initiative, I will act as host on his behalf, and accommodate me for him. Only my action, not my thoughts or misgivings, will instruct him otherwise.

Cordially,
Erick Mead
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