tl;dr
Making the world a better place is a choice YOU can make TODAY, and it doesn’t require anything from anyone else
“It’s Complicated”
How often have you heard someone say “it’s complicated” in response to a difficult question? What does a person typically mean when they say that?
“I can’t explain it easily.”
“I don’t know the answer, but I don’t want to admit it.”
“I don’t think you’re smart enough to understand.”
Without judging the motives of saying “it’s complicated”, what if it was possible to handle ANY situation, no matter how complex, by applying a couple simple philosophical principles?
I’m here to tell you not only is it possible, it is something you can begin to implement in your life right now.
It’s NOT Complicated
The core principles I’m referring to are the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) and Non-Violent Communication (NVC).
So what do they mean?
The Non-Aggression Principle
“Don’t Hurt People, and Don’t Take Their Stuff”, the title of a book on libertarianism by Matt Kibbe, and an excellent summary of the NAP.
More accurately, the Non-Aggression Principle is the idea that it is immoral to initiate the use of force against others.
The “use of force” is a topic that I will discuss at length over the course of many topics and articles, but can be generalized as violence, coercion, and violations of personal property.
So yeah, don’t hurt people, and don’t take their stuff.
Nonviolent Communication
“Empathizing with ourselves and others”. This is the most foundational component of what Nonviolent Communication means, in my opinion. But there is certainly a LOT more to it.
Nonviolent Communication is the logical extension of the NAP into the way we interact with people on a daily basis.
After all, if you are trying to ACT in accordance with not using force, coercion, or violence against people, doesn’t it make sense to TALK using the same principles?
I came upon both of these principles separately, and in quite unrelated ways. In fact, I don’t often see these two principles being correlated, which is a shame.
But they ARE correlated, and they SHOULD be.
The things you say and the things you do show who you truly are.
So if you say you believe in not initiating force or coercion against people, but then you speak forcefully with people and try to influence their behavior, are you truly embodying your principles?
And if you believe in using empathy with people, and not including judgemental language to try and control how they respond to you, but then advocate for strangers to use violence to tell those people how they can live and what they can do, are you actually being compassionate to your fellow man?
Scaling Philosophy is my attempt to bring clarity and understanding to concepts that will be the foundation of a truly free and peaceful world. And not by simply discussing hypothetical concepts and situations, but by bringing these two core values to every practical issue facing individuals around the world.
This is a place to CHALLENGE ideas, in pursuit of the truth. I’m not right about everything, and the only way I’ll ever learn that is by hearing every objection to what I present here.
I am not perfect, and I never will be. But that won’t stop me from TRYING to be. And in the relentless pursuit of that unattainable perfection, I intend to evaluate every idea on its merit, and leverage the collective knowledge and experience of everyone that chooses to participate in these discussions to find TRULY peaceful solutions.
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