the class went well on this monday. i like it as usual. as alex said, philosophy is fun. but sometimes i was lost myself on it. i agree with those thinking but i also feel weird to agree with them. i think it depends on how you think of it, doesn’t it?

we talked about authority and anarchy then. i’m not the one who enjoy this kind of topic related to something about policy or government. um, but i do interested in two famous philosophers, hobbed and locke. two of them supported authority but with different ideas.

hobbes thought that people have desires. when the desire gets strong enough, people will try to get it no matter how “weak” they are. for example, do you believe a small guy can defeat a huge guy. yes, i do. we know a small guy can’t defeat a huge one by strength easily. but how about to use intelligence? he can put some poison into the huge ones cup so the small one doesn’t really have to spend any strength. and then he can easily get what he wants from the huge one. hobbes said, everyone is enemy no matter who they are or how they are. that’s why people need “authority.”

Locke believes people are good and he says that human beings have certain natural rights, the rights to life, liberity and property. though he says that, he disagree about how people would actually behave if there is no state. in another word, people need “authority.”

to me, i think they are right and i’m with them. we can’t avoid every bad things happen to us with an authoritative environment but i’m sure if we don’t have it, the society will be chaos, won’t it?

I have had a class tonight.  The topic was about life and death, and there were two sections that we discussed.  In the first section we talked about murder.  We started by defining what murder is, and then the instructor introduced some interesting questions for us to discuss.

The instructor asked four questions, but I’m only absorbed in two:

1. Does one have the right to kill in self defense?

I think it depends on the situation.  If someone is hurting you and you think you will die, then you should protect yourself even if that means killing someone.  On the other hand, if a person is trying to kill you with a gun and you pretend to pass out — making that person walk away so you can wake up — it is not OK to surprise that person and kill them.  There is a right to kill for self defense only if your foe is purposefully trying to kill you.  Otherwise, I don’t think people have the right to kill.  Do you agree?

2. Is there a right, or even a duty, to rescue others from homicidal attacks by killing their attackers?

Again, it depends.  In the case when my family or someone I knew was being attacked, I think I would kill the attacker if necessary.  However, if the attacker is attacking someone I don’t know, I don’t think I have the right to kill the attacker.  I will try to help someone I don’t know, but I definitely won’t kill to save them.

I wonder if you would do the same as me?

This photo was taken in Zhou Lan.  It was taken four months ago while I was with my brother’s girlfriend.