Nonviolence

[Page 543]Nonviolence exists on a spectrum. On one end of that spectrum are people like Gandhi who believe that nonviolence is a way of life, the only way that one can live a life of truth. This end of the spectrum can be called comprehensive nonviolence. On the other end of that spectrum are people like Machiavelli, who counsel nonviolence as a tactic worth using when it is to a sovereign’s advantage but who feel no special obligation to counsel refraining from the use of violence. This end of the spectrum can be called tactical or selective nonviolence. In the middle of that spectrum are most of the rest of the world’s people, who shun violence and prefer to behave nonviolently most of the time ...