Study Guide
Cheyney Ryan - A Defense of Pacifism

1. How does Ryan respond to Narveson's criticism of pacifism? In particular, what does Ryan say about how far one can go to defend a right one has?
2. What does Ryan see as the point of Orwell's story of the half-dressed man?
3. According to Ryan, why is pacifism a moral position and not just a personal idiosyncrasy?
4. What motivates pacifism, according to Ryan?
5. What is Ryan's point in quoting the aesthetic fascist?
6. Ryan says that pacifists intend to acknowledge through their attitudes and actions the status others have as persons and fellow creatures. What does Ryan say to the objection to this view that sometimes killing is a means of such acknowledgment?
7. According to Ryan, in what way is the pacifist's position no worse than the non-pacifist's?  How are they both facing a difficult or perhaps even an insoluble dilemma?