Furthermore, if we were to aggress against others, we would thereby undermine the ethical basis of a peaceful society, setting a moral precedent for further future aggression in which our own personal values would be exposed to likely expropriation. Most obviously, we would risk retribution by the immediate victims of our aggressive behavior. More importantly, we would subvert the operation throughout our social environment of the very principle that protects our independence and hence the realization of all of our values. The full elucidation of this social principle will be one of our major tasks in Section 5. Most people, however, are already at least dimly aware of the causal process by which aggression propagates further aggression. While the full implications are seldom recognized, they acknowledge that "violence merely begets more violence." By initiating force, we invite everyone to follow our precedent and to ignore the principle that upholds our peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship with others.