Under Construction @ Keele 2017 Under Construction @ Keele Vol. III (3) | Page 40

examples: in fact, diamond is actually four times harder than corundum, whereas
gypsum is only three times harder than talc.
The fact that the relative distance of separation is not consistent does not
create a problem in generating an ordered sequence of increasingly extreme forms
of pacifism. For example, using the Linnaean system of biological taxonomy, 21 one
pacifist may consider it impermissible to offer resistance to another human being (the
same species) but have no such qualms in the case of a gorilla (the same kingdom,
phylum, class, order and family, but a different genus and species). The threshold at
which this pacifist would consider resistance to be acceptable would be at the level
of “different genus” if they felt that pacifism also applies to (hypothetically recreated)
Neanderthals, or at the level of “different species” if they applied pacifism only to
fellow humans. Alternatively, their “threshold of permissible response” would be set
at the level of “different phylum”, if, like Jains, they wish to avoid harming insects.
From the previous discussions of existing typologies for pacifism in general, it
is now clear what characteristics are needed in a typology for the true heterogeneity
which exists within absolute pacifism. Firstly, there must be a sound theoretical basis
for the choices of dimensions along which the different forms will lie. Secondly, the
number of dimensions must reflect the different aspects of all forms of absolute
pacifism, whether Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or secular. Thirdly, and most
importantly with regard to the next stage of my argument, the data represented on at
least one dimension must be at least ordinal in level, in order to reflect quantities
such as the degree of pacifism rather than its basis. Finally, overlapping categories
must be avoided.
My own taxonomy has three dimensions. The first dimension of the new
typology, I refer to as “biotaxonomic”. This scale represents the point on a Linnaean-
based hierarchy below which a resistant response is permitted. It thus has eight
levels: species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom and life. The least
restrictive category represents pacifism applied only to our species, whereas the
most severe form corresponds to a hypothetical extreme pacifism in which a
defensive response even to a pathogenic microorganism is disallowed. The second
dimension, “verbal-violence”, refers to the maximum allowed degree of verbal
response to an assailant. Most Christian forms of absolute pacifism do not restrict
21
Carolus Linnaeus, Systema Naturae [Facsimile of the 1st Edition], trans. Hendrik Engel and Maria
S. J. Engel-Ledeboer (Nieuwkoop: B. de Graaf, [1735] 1964).