Not at all - I simply do not accept that such a thing as evil exists
- merely the absence of good.
None of the nice folk you mention ever considered that they were
doing wrong - they were doing the right thing in terms of their own
paradigm.
Chigurh kills a number of people simply because they are irrelevant
or minor obstacles. He also seems to spare some on the grounds that
they are innocent bystanders. Thus the importance of the element of
chance which is fundamental to Stoicism and symbolised by the coin
which is always 'attached' to the assassin. Neither is he an
'avenging angel' on a mission - he has a strong sense of what is
'right'. He believes himself to be in control until the car crash at
the end when chance intervenes. He expresses the 'rightness' of that
view to the Harrelson character before killing him ("If your path is
what brought you to this point, what use was it?") He cannot
understand why Carla Jean refuses the coin toss.
The only wholly moral (and stoic) individuals are the Sheriff, his
deputy and his wife, I think. Moss acts morally and dooms himself
thereby but still takes the money - but only from those who are both
undeserving and dead.
The sheriff was retiring anyway - he does not do it to 'take control'
- he knows that he has none. The conversations with his uncle (Barry
Corbin) and his wife establish that, as well as the continuity and
inevitbility of violence in that environment. He is the stoic and the
only winner.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 06/01/2008, at 2:31 PM, Winsor Crosby wrote:
> You must have a tightly constrained definition of evil than I do. I
> never noticed that having an internal moral ethos mattered much in the
> doing of evil whether a Torquemada, Hitler, Senator McCarthy, or other
> self-serving avenging angel. Though some attention was given to his
> internal logic in rationalizing his killings I am not sure what the
> duty of Chigurh was in killing the driver of the car he wanted after
> escaping from the sheriff at the beginning.
>
> I am not very conversant with philosophical thought, but it seems a
> stretch to me considering that pursuit of a large amount of money is
> the motivation for almost all the players and the one that walks away
> does so with the least acceptance of his fate. Somehow leaving a
> trail of bodies behind to get your $10million seems hardly stoic. But
> you may be right if he accepts that he is an insane, psychopathic
> killer, but says it is good.
>
> I think that someone might argue that the sheriff who expresses dismay
> that he is not in control of his job takes control of his life and
> retires. Seems like that is the perfect stoic solution.
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