All posts by Argo

“A is A”…as opposed to what?: Why “A is A” is a woefully insufficient metaphysical assertion

General Philosophy, Metaphysics, Objective Relativity, ,

A is A only because it is not B.

This would be the rational way of rendering the famous metaphysical claim.

Remove B, and A cannot be defined as A. Because A, in a vacuum of itself, has no comparative attributes…it is not relative to anything else, which means that A has no distinct location…for it is infinite. Its left is its right, its inside is its outside, its top is its bottom.  And thus if A cannot be said to exist somewhere, it cannot be said to exist at all. Further, if A is A, and infinitely so, then it cannot be valued. It is…to an infinitely exclusive degree. It has exceeded the possibility of its own “existence”, again, to an infinite degree.

All of this is simply to say that is impossible to say what something (like A) is unless you know what it is not.

Therefore, A always and necessarily and absolutely implies B. A cannot exist, because it cannot be known or relevant, without a comparative and relative distinction from B.

This means that the claim that A is A is incomplete at best. At worst, it is a lie which ruins Truth.

Voluntarism: A brief series of arguments for why government for man’s good is a contradiction in terms

Authority, government, Metaphysics, Violence, Voluntarism, , , , ,

The presumption behind all government is that men, absent the “fail safe” of forced compliance to moral behavior (which is a contradiction in terms, because force nullifies choice; and without choice there is no moral act) must necessarily act to exploit others because man’s–that is, the individual’s–root nature is base and mendacious. This assumption has many problems, not the least of which is that it does not explain how those in government get a moral pass on their own inherent depravity.

Further, it also implies and then forces a collective identity because all governments must exist for a “collective” or “common good”, which, being outside the natural context of the individual, must fundamentally be defined as an esoteric standard, available fully only to those in authority (governing officers, who are really a sort of a political priesthood) who claim to represent this Common Good as its messengers and ministers.  However, the very fact that the collective good as a moral standard must elude the individual because of his inexorably and self-evidentiary singular existential and metaphysical context, means that the “common good”cannot possibly be manifest. Because of the singular nature of human existence, each person must decide for himself what is good or not, based upon a rational Standard of Good, which is the Individual, which means each person’s inexorable and absolute right to their ownership of Self. “Common good” must be forced upon the individual in object violation of their individuality, destroying them in favor of the new statist metaphysic: collectivism, as a function of the power (violence) of the State. This in turn undermines and eventually crumbles these governments which exist in service to “common good” because whether collectivists want to acknowledge it or not, without the individual, there is no public; there is no “common” society. Which means that there is no “common good”. Thus, all States founded upon such a moral standard are rooted in a contradiction which, beyond its label, can have absolutely no substance.

And there is no government which is not a function of collective identity, and thus “collective” or “common good”. Because such a government could only act and exist to serve the specific individual at any given moment. And there is nothing which can do that except the individual himself. In which case, it’s not a government, it’s free will; its cooperation; it’s voluntarism.

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The root problem of government is that it necessarily implies that men, absent force, cannot be expected to make moral choices; and therefore there is no moral standard that doesn’t ultimately rest upon violent coercion. This destroys man at his root metaphysic. It means that man must be compelled to morality, which is the corollary of Truth, in spite of himself. That is, in spite of his nature. That is, in spite of his existence. Meaning man cannot successfully exist unless the very  substance of that existence, his nature, is destroyed. Man must cease to exist in order that he may exist.

And it is upon this terrible contradiction that all governments are built.

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The use of force to compel moral actions is an object contradiction in terms. Absent choice, morality is a nullified concept. And an outcome not based upon a free act of the will of the moral and self-aware agent is not a moral outcome. That which denies the individual his individuality–that is, his free agency–cannot be said to ultimately benefit any individual.

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On the one hand, those who argue the necessity and efficacy of government will assert that men are by nature lacking virtue–“ineptitude and vices of men”, as von Mises once said–and therefore cannot be trusted to engage voluntarily into a moral sociopolitical system. And yet government, which is a collection of those very same men men, is somehow not naturally lacking virtue.

How does one square this circle?  How do we resolve the contradiction that says that men need government because they lack fundamental virtue; and yet government is comprised of men? How is it mere paradox instead of rank fallacy that individuals won’t naturally choose good, but collections (the governors and the governed) of individuals will?

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If it’s true that men, left to themselves, will necessarily dissolve into all manner of vice (murder, theft, deceit, and your basic general exploitation) then the last thing I would think makes sense is to give a minority of men the majority of violent, coercive power. You’d have to assume that those men could wield it righteously in order for good to be the rational outcome.

But of course as soon as you assume this you’ve undermined the fundamental moral (and metaphysical) argument for government in the first place:

That man left to himself, by nature (man qua man), will not act righteously.

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Absent the foundational and absolute right to violence to compel behavior, there is no government in any capacity. This being the case, force against man is not really minimized, as some minarchists argue is the benefit of government, it is absolute.

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I think we confuse the right of collective self-defense with the right to compel behavior by violence or threats of violence before any actual offense occurs.

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The idea that there is no free market absent the ever-present threat of violence, which I submit is itself a form of violence, seems a contradiction in terms. How is man either free or moral if he acts out of fear of violating the State and not because he understands it is wrong to violate another man? The State is not the moral standard, the individual is.

And I’m not saying the state is evil. I’m saying that forced morality is a contradiction in terms. Which means the state is neither evil nor good. It’s impossible because it is a contradiction.

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The moral do not need to be governed, for they are moral. The immoral will not, or cannot, recognize the State’s moral authority. This means that the only way for the State to “work” is if it threatens the first and neutralizes the second. And neither action equals freedom by any legitimate definition. So you merely get a State which exists for the sake of its own power; its own legal “right” to violence for the sake of violence.

 

 

Truth and Punishment are Entirely Different Messages and thus are Born by Entirely Different Messengers

Ethics, Violence, Voluntarism, ,

I submit that it is impossible to be the bringer of Truth and the Bringer of punishment, because these two things are mutually exclusive.

If your concern yourself with Truth, then you cannot concern yourself with FORCE, which is contrary to Truth. Speaking Truth to people is to accept that individuals possess their own Will, Moral Agency, and Self. Therefore, you can only seek to convince them, not to force them.

Punishment, forced coercion, threats, violence, destruction, death, hell…these things are the vestiges and vagaries of falsehood. Of lies, deception, manipulation, artifice, and deceit. Therefore, let evil liars employ these things to their own damnation.

You, as a rational being, as a messenger of Truth and Goodness, honesty and reason, should concern yourself with dialog, discussion, and categorical voluntarism.

Existence is Relative Because Location is Relative

Metaphysics, Time and Space, , ,

Existence must have a location…that is, if something exists, it must exist somewhere. And somewhere must be relative. Otherwise, there is no distinction between the thing said to exist and where it exists. It simply exists where it is itself.

But to say something exists at the place of itself is nonsensical. “Itself” is not an answer to the question: “Where does a thing exists?” In fact, such an answer really translates to nowhere. In other words, if a thing doesn’t have a specific location other than itself, it doesn’t have a location at all, because “itself” isn’t a location, it’s a definition. And if a thing does not exist in a location then it doesn’t exist anywhere. And if it doesn’t exist anywhere then it cannot be said to exist at all.

Therefore, everything said to exist must exist in a location relative to something else. This makes any given object’s existence co-dependent upon the existence of another object (or other objects). Which means that existence cannot be the metaphysical primary. Because it is not singular.

Dictated Good is Not Morality, it is Legality

Authority, government, Violence, Voluntarism, , , , , ,

Dictated good does not equal morality, it equals legality. And if there is legality there can be no morality because they are at categorical odds with each other. Legality is “right” behavior compelled by violence–by the explicit “right” of violence possessed by the Authority, most often the State, to complete by force behavior to an abstract standard called “The Law”.  Thus, legality nullifies choice because violence to compel outcomes makes human will irrelevant.

“Obey or else” is not a choice; it is the antithesis of choice because punishment (the “or else”) is not something that can SERVE the individual; rather, it is the removal of his ownership of self, which is commensurate with the removal of his existence–which is literal when death is the punishment (and the ability to legally put to death is the very irreducible thing which underwrites all of governing authority; without which, there is no government). And if choice is nullified then moral agency is moot. That is, if one is not choosing to do good then there is no good being done, period. Which means that under the auspices of “dictated good”, or “right behavior” made manifest by violence (or the threat of violence, or punishment, which is the same thing) of the Authority which has been established specifically to govern human social interaction (which includes economic value exchange), there can be no moral act. For I submit that when morality is said to be a function of, or even a corollary or partner to law-keeping, then morality is impossible. Force, which necessarily and utterly underwrites the law, in any measure contradicts choice in absolute measure because the two are mutually exclusive. They cannot be integrated.

The Law Cannot be Moral, it Can Only Be Legal

Authority, government, individualism vs collectivism, Violence, Voluntarism,

Dictated good–that is, the establishment of “law” under the auspices (and given absolute efficacy and purpose by the State–centralized, consolidated violence) of Governing Authority (power) to subjective and abstract ends, like “common good”, or the “people’s mandate”–is not morality. It is legality. And the two are completely antipodal. For if the law, not the individual, is the standard of morality to which men may be forced then choice is irrelevant. And if choice is irrelevant, moral agency is irrelevant. And if moral agency is irrelevant then there is no morality.