Law of Aggression
The Law of Aggression - (LoA) is an observable, independently verifiable and logically consistent law of social causality which states that the least amount of personal benefit is achieved by the smallest number of people in a society which maximizes aggression and the greatest amount of personal benefit is achieved by the largest number of people in a society which minimizes aggression. The LoA is a scientific law of causality and therefore not to be confused with the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP). While the LoA and NAP are related they differ fundamentally in that the LoA is a natural law objectively derived by observation and verification, while the NAP is a philosophical axiom subjectively deduced from the LoA.
Jay Stewart Snelson - (1936-2011)[1] - The causality described was first identified by the esteemed epistemologist Jay Stewart Snelson and explored in great detail in his book Taming The Violence of Faith (ISBN: 145371720X).[2]
Semantic clarification and more:
To eliminate semantic disputes, we begin by referring to the Oxford English Dictionary which defines the scientific method as "A method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.” [3]
The same dictionary defines philosophy as “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. A theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behavior.”[4]
Finally, the Oxford defines metaphysics as “the branch of philosophy [!] that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, identity, time, and space. Abstract theory with no basis in reality.”[5]
While philosophy and science may both be characterized as “academic disciplines”, it is patently wrong to claim that philosophy is science or science is philosophy. One can speak of having a “personal philosophy”. To speak of having a “personal science” would be clearly absurd. Science is by definition impersonal.
One might be entirely correct in rejecting empiricism as a guiding principle in philosophy. Philosophy, by its very nature, is speculative and imaginative. In science however there is no place for speculation or imagination, empiricism is the sine-qua-non. The Law of Aggression (LoA) is a description of observable, verifiable causality in accordance with the scientific method. The LoA does NOT provide any theory or guiding principle for behavior, nor is it a metaphysical principle.
To falsify a scientific claim, one must produce appropriate and verifiable evidence proving the stated observations themselves to be wrong. Anyone’s agreement with, i.e. personal opinions of, the semantics applied to describing any particular set of observations or their perceived moral implications may have value as philosophy, but these are of little consequence in the scientific scheme of things.
As a matter of scientific (not philosophical) absolutes, there are only two possible forms of social organization, win-win or win-lose. The decision as to which of these two is preferable can legitimately be considered to be a philosophical one; a question by the way which is in no way (attempted to be) addressed by the LoA which simply states scientific social causality, i.e. how either choice might be achieved without any philosophical value judgment one way or the other.
By way of analogy, the (yes/no) decision whether to plan and execute a manned expedition to Mars is a philosophical (and political) one. Just as above, the various laws of physical causality (gravity, ballistics etc.) do not address this question either way.
References[edit]
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Jay-Stuart-Snelson/e/B008MT54WU
- ↑ http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/145371720X
- ↑ http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/scientific-method
- ↑ http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/philosophy
- ↑ http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/metaphysics
This article "Law of Aggression" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
