Scott Martens at Fistfull of Euros has a nice post about the relationship between means and ends. Via Explananda, where Chris has written his own post on means-ends relationships.
I have always felt that one of the strongest arguments for pacifism is that, while the end of “peace” is used to justify most modern wars, history has shown us that the end result of war is usually more war. I believe that war should be thought of not simply as a “means” to an end, but as complex institution in its own right. Like other complex institutions, such as democracy, both war and peace take practice. If a society spends all its time practicing war, war is what society becomes good at.
