| | Jason,
You raised some very interesting points in Post 119 above. I hadn't thought about WOTW from that perspective, but given Spielberg's newfound sympathies for Palestinian terrorists, it makes sense.
I have a friend who seems to hold suicide bombings and mass sacrifices on behalf of a cause or belief system to be the barometer of its validity. He boils down every discussion of ethics to, "Yes, but under that sort of ethical system, could you give up your life for a certain cause?" Obviously I've had some trouble answering this question regarding the Objectivist ethics. (Thankfully, it isn't really all that important of a question to answer, IMO. "Lifeboat ethics" and all that.)
Logically, I have trouble squaring the sacrifice of one's life with the Objectivist doctrine that life is the source of all values. Will Thomas at TOC related one possibility to me that I believe is the best solution, philosophically: Yes, one could, on occasion, egoistically risk death (say, by enlisting in the military) in order to fight for a world that better embodies one's values. But to commit some act where death was certain? That can't be justified. (Note that here I exclude cases, such as extremely painful terminal illnesses, where continued life holds no potential for value.)
However, I'm still uncomfortable ruling out the possibility of self-sacrifice. If my own death could save the world from a thousand years of Islamist rule, I'd have a hard time saying, "No." I really haven't thought about it enough to form any stronger conclusions than that.
Perhaps we should move this discussion to another thread?
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