Quote:
Originally Posted by SpM
No. The Cause and the means of upholding it are separate. The West's Cause was to prevent Sauron's victory, which would have gone against the Will of Eru. That is a just Cause and a right one to pursue. But the means by which they seek to realise it may be right or it may be wrong.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuruharan
...the idea of Gandalf or Aragorn going out and hiring Ugluk and crew to help fight the war seems dangerously close to seizing the great weapon of the enemy and using it against him.
There is another aspect of this and it hinges around the word "breeding." I think that if the opponents of Sauron, in an attempt to defeat him, engaged in this breeding are engaging in the same type of perversion of life that Melkor engaged in at the very beginning. In view of the phrase "most hateful to Ilúvatar" I think this might in some way be worse than seizing the Ring.
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There are two rights here, two responses equally agreeable. SpM is perfectly right in terms of the logic behind what Tolkien said, as he did indeed state that it was a justifiable cause. But Kuruharan is also right in terms of the moral questions this might raise, of whether any means are justified in order to achieve a 'greater good'. This is an interesting dilemma, one which can be applied to events in history such as the bombings of Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Without raising any arguments about those particular events here, in terms of moral complexity they are comparable to the situation in which the forces of the West might have hired or bred Orcs. The cause might be right, but would the means?
What really is interesting about this is to consider it in relation to Tolkien's own stance on technology and how it can corrupt. Surely this would go against what he held to be right? And what would be done with these Orcs once 'used' to fight the war? They are sentient beings after all, and could not be 'decommissioned'. And is Tolkien here saying that Orcs were not necessarily evil by nature? That they could be 'turned' to good?
Worms...