Ethics versus Suppression

But outside the circle an individual has drawn around self there may be something much worse than just carelessness: sometimes there is suppression. The intentions and actions of individuals may or may not have countless facets; but we can whatever classify them with regards to the purpose of the global survival: do they add to it or make it less? Remember the previously mentioned merchant of chaos, regarded as suppressive in practical way on the basis of products regardless of motives? There is a point where the amount of the damage caused and of the intention to harm behind it are such that it is time to call things with their name: no more just an insufficient ethics level, but sheer suppression.

I have previously touched upon two basics; now I want to complete them with a third basic and invite you to observe their full scope.

First: intention is cause. The basic cause in the world is the intention of the individual. All the rest simply ensues. All the other “reasons” are but tools, subservient to the intention. Philosophies, ideologies, religions, economic theories, any circumstances, whatever is on the scene, it’s going to be handled by individuals, and at the root of the individuals there is an intention.

Second: responsibility is individual. Every individual has an intention, and even when the individual aligns it with some other intention, that alignment comes from a decision of that individual. Even under duress the individual granted the duress an effect on him. The ultimate responsibility lies in the hands of the individual. Every group is an agreement of individuals. No individual is to hide behind any group.

Third: the difference between an ethical individual and a suppressive one lies in these very basics. I discussed earlier the practically useful assumption that the intentions of an individual trace back to one basic motive, and on this basis the difference is just there, at the root.