THE FIRST QUESTIONS OF PHILOSOPHY, ETHICS, AND GOVERNMENT (important piece) (man

THE FIRST QUESTIONS OF PHILOSOPHY, ETHICS, AND GOVERNMENT

(important piece) (man is a rational actor)

– The first question of Philosophy: As asked by Camus: “Why do we not commit suicide?”

– The first question of Ethics: As I find it: “Why do I not kill you and take your things?”

– The first question of Government: As I find it: “Why do we not plunder, enslave, or kill you?”

THE ANSWER TO EACH QUESTION IS THE SAME

– We do not commit suicide because the greater future opportunities we buy by not doing so.

– We do not kill one another, because of the greater future opportunities we buy by not doing so.

– We do not plunder and enslave one another, because of the greater future opportunities we buy by not doing so.

BUT EACH DECISION IS REVERSIBLE

– We commit suicide when we buy no greater future opportunities by not doing so.

– We kill one another when we buy no greater future opportunities by not doing so.

– We plunder, enslave or kill one another, when we buy no greater future opportunities by not doing so.

SO MAN IS MERELY RATIONAL OR IRRATIONAL IN HIS CHOICES

Now, I am a rational man. I choose rationally. If I were a less rational man, perhaps I would choose irrationally instead. A rational man might choose suicide, murder, and war. But In this context (sense), reason is not always the best choice compared to irrationality, because we cannot reason the future given the information in the present.

SO WE CHOOSE TO MAKE THE RATIONAL CHOICE TO FAVOR THE UNKNOWN UNLESS THE KNOWS ARE INTOLERABLE

So it is always better to choose life, cooperation, and rule than it is to choose death, conflict, and war. That is, unless the certainty of suffering in the meantime is unbearable.

Curt Doolittle

The Propertarian Institute

Kiev, Ukraine