The problem here is that locking up mages against their will is by its very nature, and apart from whatever power they may wield, a violation of the non-aggression principle that we all intrinsically live by (for example, if I punched you or took something of yours, you would view that as wrong and something that needs to be redressed). The non-aggression principle is the fundamental axiom around which law must be built. If you want to know why the non-aggression principle is so important, go look at
Argumentation Ethics or one of the many many MANY philosophies that attempt to justify that principle. It is not the purpose of this thread to debate such matters and I will continue under the assumption the rest of you have accepted it.
Locking up a mage or otherwise confining them to a tower or any place against their will is a violation of their prior property rights of their own body (as they "homesteaded" their own body prior to you, they have use-rights over that body whereas you do not). One cannot logically deny a mage use of his property rights in his body, so long as he too does not violate the non-aggression principle, and still hold that property rights should be enforced for you yourself. If you lock up mages, you open yourself to justifiably be stolen from, as you have relinquished your property claims to both your physical property and your body. Again, I know I'm being tautologous, but the non-aggression principle either is or is not a valid moral law. Any other viewpoint is by its very nature self-contradictory and therefore invalid.
But the question arises, then, what shall we do about the mages? Shall we simply let them roam free? What if they set fire to all our houses or get themselves possessed by demons? These are all valid questions and must be addressed. Let us say that the OP, hating mages as he does, gets together his fellow villagers and says "You know what?
F*** mages. Always going around and starting sh**. Stupid sparklefingers. I say we don't let any damn mages in our town!" and the town thereafter begins to ostracize all mages. This is a legitimate course of action, though some of us may see it as bigoted, as they are simply exercising their property rights over their roads and land. This is the process that those in the Old American West called "blackballing"--basically, ostracism. It's the first thing that pops into my head if one is worried about mages. Simply do not let them enter your town. Road owners can simply deny them access to their property and other such things.
The templars, of course, would very likely still be of use in fighting mages who have broken the law. The Circle of Magi could likely also exist as a voluntary place of training and a getaway for mages who wished it. If they're truly so concerned that rogue mages will accidentally get possessed by demons, they can perhaps have some of their own travel about and attempt to convince them to join the Circle/teach them there? I admit not possessing entire knowledge of the Dragon Age world, so of course there are some solutions to these problems that could escape me. The point is, just because it might be a tad difficult to find solutions to the mage problem that do not violate the non-aggression principle, doesn't mean we should abandon the principle altogether. The current abuses of the Circle and Chantry only breed more people like Anders who go to extreme lengths to fight the injustice, thus causing more problems, thus causing more deaths, thus creating more people who hate mages, thus increasing the cracking down on mages, etc. etc. in a vicious cycle. It is a sober fact of life that violence only begets more violence. The current method causes more problems than it creates.
Modifié par Taiyama, 11 février 2011 - 03:57 .
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