Showing posts with label Terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terrorism. Show all posts

May 6, 2014

On power and violence

This was a book summary we found on http://www.fsmitha.com/review/arendt.html and we believe it is a good starting point on the discussion of how social organization leads to power, from coexistence with other powers will come conflict, and how can conflict be managed so power is not lost at the stage where coexistence of powers is impossible.  Also under what conditions can there be no conflicting powers and therefore avoidance of conflict and violence.  Could comments here start an open and public discussion?  In political circles this subject is systematically overseen and avoided.
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On Violence

Author: Hannah Arendt
A Harvest Book, 1970
In Arendt's own words:



The end of human action, as distinct from the end products of fabrication, can never be reliably predicted.  The means used to achieve political goals are more often than not of greater relevance to the future world than the intended goals.
There are, indeed, few things that are more frightening than the steadily increasing prestige of scientifically minded brain trusters in the councils of government during the last decades [the 1950s and '60s] ... they reckon with the consequences of certain hypothetically assumed constellations without, however, being able to test their hypotheses against actual occurrences.