Sparing the "Enemy" on the Battlefield

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  • なぜ「敵」を助けたのか
  • なぜ「敵」を助けたのか : 倫理的な生と不自由さの感覚
  • ナゼ 「 テキ 」 オ タスケタ ノ カ : リンリテキ ナ ナマ ト フジユウ サ ノ カンカク
  • Ethical Life and the Sense of Unfreedom
  • 倫理的な生と不自由さの感覚

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Abstract

<p>One of the prevailing trends in the anthropology of morality/ethics criticizes the Durkheimian concept of morality, which had led to "the science of unfreedom," and emphasizes that the subject who holds and exercises reflective freedoms is a presupposition for ethical life. This paper calls attention that the researcher's assumption on the ethical subject with reflective freedom is liable to make discrepancies with the sense of "unfreedom" which the actor feels when s/he reflect upon his/her previous experiences. I focus on the act of sparing the "enemy" on the battlefield among the Daasanach in East Africa. The act of sparing the enemy’s life seems to be a decisive action with strong intentions by the actor. However, there are narratives whereby the actor is unable to explain the reasoning as to why he spared the enemy. This paper analyzes the case in which the actor feels a sense of "unfreedom" in a double sense, given that the actor spared the enemy unconsciously and could not comprehend and explain the act ex-post facto. I attempt to examine what conditions make the actor feel this sense of "unfreedom."</p>

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