ABSTRACT
Hume has shown us the inescapable gap between fact and value, and we all recognize that ultimate value judgments involve some leap of faith. But the pacifist, I believe, displays a curious eagerness to leap into darkness at the earliest opportunity rather than as a last resort. A longing for absolute solutions is integral to the pacifist ethos. Consider the recurrent pacifist complaint that every war has "failed" and that hence we must abandon war as a method of solving disputes. The simplemindedness of this line of reasoning is staggering.
