Tolstoy Literature & Language Essay Research Coursework (Essay Sample)

Tolstoy
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The teaching of Tolstoy referred to as nonresistance to evil and is one of the most explored ideas on nonviolence. According to him, primitive societies lived without political leaders. He therefore considers political authority a temporary thing and a passing feature in human life. Moving against political governance and authority, he perceives that people have only been accustomed to the practice governance. Using his law of love, he postulates that people can be changed without training or orientation because changes among humans are conditioned by the law of violence. “And when this law penetrates consciousness as the Supreme law of life it will, of its own accord, bring an end to that attitude, so harmful to morality, whereby the most extraordinary injustices and cruelties people perform on one another are regarded as natural, inherently human behavior” (The Dialogue). This postulates that, without the government, there would not be the problems that the government creates. Political violence is exhibited through heavy taxation and expenditure on things that do not affect the citizens. Governance to him is therefore unnecessary as it does not affect or define the future of the people.