2. War and Peace before Sociology: Social Theorizing on Violence from Thomas Hobbes to the napoleonic Wars

War and Peace before Sociology

War in Social Thought ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691150840.003.0002 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Hans Joas ◽

Wolfgang Knöbl

Keyword(s):

Immanuel Kant ◽

Thomas Hobbes ◽

Napoleonic Wars ◽

Jeremy Bentham ◽

War And Peace ◽

Liberal Conception ◽

Realist Position ◽

The Ideal

This chapter provides an overview of the key arguments in the debate on war and peace carried on from the time of Thomas Hobbes up to the Napoleonic Wars between philosophers, political economists, and political thinkers. This era, which was bookended by the names of Hobbes and Carl von Clausewitz, reveals four highly disparate theoretical standpoints from which authors explored these topics. There is the power-political realist position, associated with the name of Hobbes; the utilitarian-liberal conception, directly linked with the name of Jeremy Bentham, but which undoubtedly has roots in the work of Montesquieu as well; the republican-universalist stance that goes back to Immanuel Kant, though certain arguments can be found in the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau; and finally the position linked with the “neo-Roman understanding of history” and the associated emphasis on the ideal of virtue.

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Grotius and the Origin of the Ruler's Right to Punish

Grotiana ◽

10.1163/187607508x366535 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 396-415 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gustaaf van Nifterik

Keyword(s):

Constitutional Law ◽

John Locke ◽

Thomas Hobbes ◽

The State ◽

Constitutional Theory ◽

War And Peace ◽

The Law ◽

The One ◽

The Right

AbstractAn important aspect of any constitutional theory is the state's power to punish transgressions of the law, or the ius gladii. Although Grotius never formulated a complete, comprehensive constitutional theory, traces of such a theory can be found in many of his writings not explicitly devoted to constitutional law. Punishment even plays an important role in his books on war (and peace), since to punish transgressions of the law is ranked among the just causes of war.Given the fact that a state may punish transgressions of the law – transgressions by individuals within and even outside the state, but also transgressions of the law by other states – the question may arise concerning the origin of such a right to punish. It will be shown that Grotius did not give the same answer to this question in his various works. As the right to punish is concerned, we find a theory that seems to be akin to the one of John Locke in the De iure praedae (around 1605), one akin to the theories of the Spanish late-scholastics in De satisfactione and De imperio (around 1615), and a theory coming close to what Thomas Hobbes had said on the ruler's right to punish in the De iure belli ac pacis (around 1625).Of course, Grotius can only have been familiar with the theory of the Spanish late-scholastics, since those of Locke and Hobbes were still to be written by the time Grotius had passed away.

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War and Peace

10.1093/owc/9780199232765.001.0001 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Leo Tolstoy ◽

Amy Mandelker

Keyword(s):

Free Will ◽

Napoleonic Wars ◽

The Novel ◽

War And Peace ◽

National History ◽

Marital Relations ◽

Isaac Babel ◽

Private And Public ◽

As If

If life could write, it would write like Tolstoy.’ Isaac Babel Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirées alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. The prodigious cast of characters, both great and small, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence. Yet Tolstoy’s portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticity is as truthful and poignant as the grand themes that underlie them. In this revised and updated version of the definitive and highly acclaimed Maude translation, Tolstoy’s genius and the power of his prose are made newly available to the contemporary reader.

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Narratives of nation-building

10.1093/oso/9780199663941.003.0029 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew Kahn ◽

Mark Lipovetsky ◽

Irina Reyfman ◽

Stephanie Sandler

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Historical Fiction ◽

Nation Building ◽

Historical Narratives ◽

Napoleonic Wars ◽

National Consciousness ◽

The Novel ◽

War And Peace ◽

National Significance ◽

Generational Conflicts

This chapter focuses on two related subjects: the sharpening of historical awareness and the formation of Russian national consciousness. Mature historical narratives inspired historical fiction and drama. Tolstoy’s War and Peace offered a powerful nationalistic view of the Napoleonic Wars. Russians of all political persuasions attempted to articulate a view of Russia as a multinational empire and to define specifically Russian historical path. These attempts caused sharp generational conflicts reflected in literature, particularly the novel. Pushkin, neglected by the mid-nineteenth-century radicals, by the end of the century emerged as the poet of national significance, the incarnation of Russian national spirit.

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Hobbes’s Theory of State

Forum Philosophicum ◽

10.35765/forphil.2010.1501.12 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 191-203

Author(s):

Jarosław Charchuła

Keyword(s):

Political Theory ◽

Social Contract ◽

Thomas Hobbes ◽

The State ◽

Comprehensive System ◽

War And Peace ◽

Human Motivation ◽

Political Situation ◽

State Of Nature ◽

The Social

Thomas Hobbes bequeathed to us a comprehensive system, the interpretation of which remains a matter of disagreement even today. In his political theory, he pays most attention to the state community. He deliberates over the reasons for its origin, its decline and fall. Among the more detailed issues dealt within his reflections, the more important ones are the following: the concept of the state of nature, human motivation, the state of war and peace, as well as considerations concerning the social contract. In order to be consistent in his argument, Hobbes also deals with the analysis of the structures of the state, the division of power and with the functions a state should perform. Due to these deliberations, he finally arrives at the secret of the state’s durability. Though it is certainly the case that, since his times, the socio-political situation and circumstances have changed, many of the solutions postulated by Hobbes have not lost their value.

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