Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

21.Fighting Injustice- Bakunin, Russell, Hobbes, Hegel, Marx

                                                                      A Modern Imperative

        The role of psychology and ethics also serves a vital interrelationship in societies in transition, particularly in the information age. Today the rapid dissemination of data compels disparate cultures to recognize different faiths, customs, and lifestyles. More than ever, technological change induces man to define himself socially and determine the moral standards for his treatment of others. Man has long extolled virtue as a sustaining principle of society, particularly during periods of social upheaval. As Hobbes says in Leviathan, "The first and fundamental law of Nature, which is , to seek peace and and follow it," but  "in the nature of man," says Hobbes, "we find three principal causes of quarrel: First, Competition; Secondly, Dissidence; and Thirdly, Glory. The first maketh men invade for Gain; the second, for Safety; and the third. for Reputation. The first use Violence, to make themselves Masters of other men's persons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and anyother kind of undervalue, either direct in their Persons, or by reflection in their Kindred, their Friends, their Nature, their Profession, or their Name." In the Jena Lectures of 1805-1806, Hegel says, "The universal is a people, a group of individuals in general, an existent whole, the universal force. It is of insurmountable strength against the individual, and in his necessity and the power of oppressing him." Marx says in "On the Thefts of Wood," in Rheinische Zeitung (1842), "The representation of private interests . . . abolishes all natural and spiritual distinctions by enthroning in their stead the immoral, irrational and soulless abstraction of a particular material object and a particular consciousness which is slavishly subordinated to this object." Mikhail Bakunin says, "To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worn turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to revolt."  In his book Why Men Fight, Bertrand Russell, for instance, calls for a greater understanding and sympathy for the actions of one's enemies. Russell reasons that all men possess the innate propensity for aggression, the energy of which must be redirected into productive channels. Otherwise, man's natural proclivity for power will overshadow his desire for mercy and tolerance. Russell also argues that a person's ethical conduct must transcend the vested interest of the individual and the state in order to ensure the survival of all races. The philosopher, in essence, pits man's moral behavior against the inherent forces of his hostile nature. In one respect, this metaphysical conflict closely parallels the struggle between the spirit and the flesh, a common theme found in literature, religion, and psychology.