thanks.. here’s a quick response to your first rebuttal..
You contend that choosing non-life.. death is illogical. Only if one were not forced to choose between life and a higher value. And only if, contrarily, there were no higher value than life.
I ask you: Would you choose to live under all conditions?
Is there anything you would sacrifice your life for?
Is it illogical to say: “Some things are worth dying for.”?
Is a father who sacrifices his life for his child, or his squad-mates, or his country, therefore committing an immorall act?
thanks for your reply.. hope to continue a reply later..
I, personally, would not wish to sacrifice my life under any circumstances - including the most extraordinary pain and the most extreme oppression.
Here is why.
Let us presume, for instance, that I were enslaved to a brutal totalitarian regime. I would prefer such enslavement to death because circumstances could always change in the future. The totalitarian regime would not be permanent and would fall eventually, as history demonstrates. I would wish to bide my time and wait for the collapse, perhaps slowly undermining the regime from within.
There are numerous circumstances where I would be willing to fight and to place my life at risk - but not to renounce it outright. If the lives of my family members were endangered or the territory of my country invaded by a large army, I would certainly endeavor an active defense. But I would not be *giving away* or *sacrificing* my life in doing so. Rather, I would be doing my best to *survive* and *destroy* the menace. In the words of George Patton, the objective in such situations is not to die for one's for one's country, but to make the enemy die for his country.
A person's loved ones or squad-mates or country would indeed all be better off if that person *lived for them* rather than died for them, and in fighting to protect them, and individual ought to seek to preserve his life in order to achieve the most effective performance in sustaining *all* his values.
I am
G. Stolyarov II