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...
And his other book, The Black Sheep, is a "small volume of extremely short fables." A theme? An example of one fable - The Tortoise and Achilles -
ReplyDeleteFinally, according to the cable, last week the Tortoise arrived at the finish line.
At the press conference he declared modestly that all along he had feared that he was going to lose, since his competitor was right on his heels.
As it happened, one ten thousand trillionth of a second later, like an arrow and cursing Zeno of Elea, Achilles crossed the line.
Great article! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for interesting article.
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