I decided to move some discussion from this post up to the top level here. Specifically, Watoosh wrote: "Well, if violence is defined as initiation of force (which, of course, presupposes certain property rights), then I think Rockwell is correct..." Well, if we define cats as elephants, then many people keep elephants in their house. More seriously, firstly, violence is not usually defined that way. It's defined as, you know, violence, so that, say, someone may respond violently or non-violently to someone who aggresses against them. Otherwise, it would make no sense to say, for instance, "He punched me, but I did not stoop to violence in response." And, secondly, the libertarian usage of "initiation of force" is very offbeat. If I wander onto someone's meadow, most people would not say I had "initiated force" -- I mean, sure, I used "force" against the earth to push off walking, but that's not force directed against...
That reminds me of the great french Constitutional Lawer, Léon Duguit. His motto and basis of his work was just that, doing away with metaphysics.
ReplyDeleteWilling to found Law on facts, he ended up with the necessity of Social Solidarity. His thought is very interesting, and we could say, but Duguit wouldn't aknowledgethat, that he rebuilt traditional Natural Law, only his social order would be without God.
But I still don't understand why his fact of social solidarity should oblige the conscience.
By the way, his only disciple, Roger Bonnard, supported Pétain and his Révolution nationale (which is not meant to discredit neither Duguit) after 1940.