Danny and Michael recruit Peaceful Anarchism’s Danilo Cuellar to take on the infamous chapter 14 of Ethics, a portion of Rothbard’s philosophy dealing with children’s rights that has received a considerable amount of attention since its publication. Along the way, they touch upon Kinsella’s body/property ownership distinction, Child Protective Services, spanking, and animal rights.
One of the greatest dangers of any thinking person is to supplant one’s deductive reasoning capabilities for the judgment of one in a position of authority. While I certainly do recognize that some are masters in their craft and should rightly be considered authority figures in their field, this is a far cry from abdicating one’s sense of morality and reason to another who would claim to rightfully dominate and subjugate.
People are imperfect and fallible. There is never sufficient reason to forsake your powers of reason. This would betray the very kernel of what it means to be a human being. This would be transform you into the shadow of a human being. Human beings are not built to blindly and unquestioningly obey orders. That is what machines were created for. A healthy skepticism for anyone who claims the moral right to rule is requisite for a just and civilized society.
It is common practice for many Anarchists and Voluntaryists to incessantly bash feelings and belittle their importance. Is there a place for feelings in the human condition? To be entirely dominated by feeling and emotion is to become a wildly hedonistic savage beast. To become entirely dominated by logic and reason is to become a soulless calculating machine, a Spock. There must be a balance. Love, passion, beauty, wonder, and splendor are recognized and appreciated in the presence of feelings. These things cannot be logically deduced.
There is no mathematical formula to infer why I love my wife. There is no way to graph with an X and Y-axis, why nature is magnificent. Some things do not appeal to logic for explanation. Some things have no rational explanation. There is beauty in the inexplicable. It is entirely conceivable to live a fruitful life and be ignorant of many things. The caveat is to recognize one’s nescience but to simultaneously strive to conquer it, knowing full well that there is always something new to learn. We must recognize that everyone has something to teach us, if we are receptive to the lesson. When the childlike enchantment with the unknown vanishes, life descends into darkness. Life is a journey of discovery and self-actualization. Laugh until you cry! Sing until you are hoarse! Play until you are exhausted! You have life but for a moment. Do not squander it, for it is a privilege afforded to few.
We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
