Philosophy

Here are my notes from Philosophy today: (Bear in mind that these are notes typed directly during the conversation without any kind of editing done.)

What is violence? Need it be physical? Need it be intended?
Ooh…we have a totalist in the classroom. (Shopping at Wal-Mart, driving SUV, eating meat are all acts of violence.) Prof asks: can you accuse people of being violent if they didn’t know that they were supporting sweatshops?
Kid asks: Are sports violent? When you’re intending to harm (boxing) but doing so without intention to actually kill, etc. Another points out: The player has given up their right to not be harmed. I point out: Soldiers then have given up their right? Wars are non-violent? Girl to my left: Degree of acceptability: Sports okay, war not so much. Sports are “playing” war.
Democratic Convention: talk about war, wrong war, not against all war; didn’t get a cohesive answer; same with our attempt to define violence
Violence: action that causes harm (suffering) with some intention
Presupposing that others should not be harmed
There must be some intention; otherwise, it is difficult to assign responsibility