A life spent on something less valuable than itself is wasted, just as money is squandered on junk. If you want to respect the value of your life, you must spend it on something more valuable to you than you are. If you invest your life into something more valuable than you are, you are not throwing it away, you are ensuring that it is spent wisely.
People sacrifice their best years passing their genes on, knowing that the continuation of the species is more valuable than those years, and they fight in war because freeing themselves and future generations from oppression is more valuable than living a life in slavery.
Most rationalists would see that dying to continue the rational way of life is better than investing their lives into living like a Barbarian after being conquered.
Not to mention the fact that if the rationalists didn’t fight (say they left the area, or surrendered), that would encourage the Barbarians to push them around. After the Barbarians plundered their village, they’d look for a new target and, knowing that rationalists run, the rationalists would be particularly appealing, so they’d be targeted again. Make yourself an easy target and the Barbarians may plunder you so often you can’t survive in any case. Running away from that type of problem does not solve it.
A life spent on something less valuable than itself is wasted, just as money is squandered on junk. If you want to respect the value of your life, you must spend it on something more valuable to you than you are. If you invest your life into something more valuable than you are, you are not throwing it away, you are ensuring that it is spent wisely.
People sacrifice their best years passing their genes on, knowing that the continuation of the species is more valuable than those years, and they fight in war because freeing themselves and future generations from oppression is more valuable than living a life in slavery.
Most rationalists would see that dying to continue the rational way of life is better than investing their lives into living like a Barbarian after being conquered.
Not to mention the fact that if the rationalists didn’t fight (say they left the area, or surrendered), that would encourage the Barbarians to push them around. After the Barbarians plundered their village, they’d look for a new target and, knowing that rationalists run, the rationalists would be particularly appealing, so they’d be targeted again. Make yourself an easy target and the Barbarians may plunder you so often you can’t survive in any case. Running away from that type of problem does not solve it.
They might be rational egoists. They don’t think anything is more valuable than themselves, since they are all they value.