Philosophy of War: A Brief History

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-116
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Just War ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Natural Justice ◽  
Perpetual Peace ◽  
Comparative Review ◽  
European Thought ◽  
Modern Era

The article provides a brief historical overview of the understanding of war in European thought. It provides a chronological account of the transformation in the perception of war as a socio-political phenomenon, particularly from the standpoint of ethics and political theory. The author examines the main approaches that ancient philosophy applied to the moral assessment of war. Plato and Aristotle are ambivalent toward war, maintaining that judgment of a war depends on its compatibility with natural justice. In the works of Christian authors, the basis of this uncertainty rests on the idea that God is the source of justice. The paradigm of punitive war became the core of the Christian doctrine of just war. In the modern era, the philosophical perception of war came to be secularized. Theological evaluation of armed conflicts was replaced by a legalistic appraisal. The article considers the influence of Grotius and his followers on the process of replacing the punitive paradigm of just war with a legalistic paradigm. However, by the eighteenth century renunciation of war and yearning for perpetual peace had become a popular line of thinking exemplified in Kant’s comments on that matter. The author then invokes the legacy of Clausewitz in order to explain the main features of modern views on war as a function reserved exclusively for the state. The article concludes with a comparative review of approaches to the evaluation of war by political realists and contemporary just war theorists.

Kantian Project of Perpetual Peace in the Context of Modern Ethical and Political Concepts of War

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Arseniy D. Kumankov
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Just War ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Democratic Peace Theory ◽  
Perpetual Peace

The article considers the modern meaning of Kant’s doctrine of war. The author examines the context and content of the key provisions of Kant’s concept of perpetual peace. The author also reviews the ideological affinity between Kant and previous authors who proposed to build alliances of states as a means of preventing wars. It is noted that the French revolution and the wars caused by it, the peace treaty between France and Prussia served as the historical background for the conceptualization of Kant’s project. In the second half of the 20th century, there is a growing attention to Kant’s ethical and political philosophy. Theorists of a wide variety of political and ethical schools, (cosmopolitanism, internationalism, and liberalism) pay attention to Kant’s legacy and relate their own concepts to it. Kant’s idea of war is reconsidered by Michael Doyle, Jürgen Habermas, Ulrich Beck, Mary Kaldor, Brian Orend. Thus, Doyle tracks democratic peace theory back to Kant’s idea of the spread of republicanism. According to democratic peace theory, liberal democracies do not solve conflict among themselves by non-military methods. Habermas, Beck, Kaldor appreciate Kant as a key proponent of cosmopolitanism. For them, Kant’s project is important due to notion of supranational forms of cooperation. They share an understanding that peace will be promoted by an allied authority, which will be “governing without government” and will take responsibility for the functioning of the principles of pacification of international relations. Orend’s proves that Kant should be considered as a proponent of the just war theory. In addition, Orend develops a new area in just war theory – the concept of ius post bellum – and justifies regime change as the goal of just war.

scholarly journals Scarred souls, weary warriors, and military intervention: the emergence of the subject in the just war writings of Jean Bethke Elshtain

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 859-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER LEE
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Just War ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
Military Force ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Just War Tradition ◽  
A Site

AbstractOver the past three decades Jean Bethke Elshtain has used her critique and application of just war as a means of engaging with multiple overlapping aspects of identity. Though Elshtain ostensibly writes about war and the justice, or lack of justice, therein, she also uses just war a site of analysis within which different strands of subjectivity are investigated and articulated as part of her broader political theory. This article explores the proposition that Elshtain's most important contribution to the just war tradition is not be found in her provision of codes or her analysis of ad bellum or in bello criteria, conformity to which adjudges war or military intervention to be just or otherwise. Rather, that she enriches just war debate because of the unique and sometimes provocative perspective she brings as political theorist and International Relations scholar who adopts, adapts, and deploys familiar but, for some, uncomfortable discursive artefacts from the history of the Christian West: suffused with her own Christian faith and theology. In so doing she continually reminds us that human lives, with all their attendant political, social, and religious complexities, should be the focus when military force is used, or even proposed, for political ends.

Virtues and Capabilities

2018 ◽  
pp. 586-599
Author(s):  
Steven Torrente ◽  
Harry D. Gould
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Capabilities Approach ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Ethical Systems

After a long dormancy in the modern era, virtue-based ethical thought has once again become a subject of serious consideration and debate in the field of philosophy. The normative orientation of most International Political Theory, however, still comes primarily from principles-based (deontological) or outcome-based (consequentialist) ethical systems. Virtue ethics differs from focus deontological and consequentialist ethics by emphasizing character, context, and way of life, rather than rule-governed action. This chapter reviews the emergence of contemporary virtue ethics as a challenge to overly abstract, language-based analysis of moral concepts, and its development into a broad and nuanced ethical theory. It then connects virtue ethics to the capabilities approach to human development, which is similarly focused.

scholarly journals Kristologi dalam Injil Yohanes

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Roy Martin Simanjuntak
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Local Churches ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
The Bible ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Era

The issue of Christology from time to time is one very interesting theological topics to be discussed, both in intellectual circles, even church leaders in communities grow together in a group of local churches. The spread understanding or information about Christology are numerous and easy to find, therefore believers should to select sources so as not to cause a false understanding that led to the loss of the substance of Christology. It’s inevitable that people who are in this modern era of greatly affect the issue and the development of Christology. This discussion includes the concept Christology from the Bible, and then outlines how where fathers or figures of Christian thinkers to formulate it in a Christian doctrine that Christians are ultimately used in the history of Christianity. Christology that comes from understanding the Bible is acceptable and justified by the believer. In particular, in the Gospel of John is very fullgar when talking about Christology, both His nature as well as the work of God and man and his mission for the salvation of mankind. Abstrak Persoalan Kristologi dari zaman ke zaman merupakan sala satu topik teologi yang sangat menarik untuk dibahas, baik di kalangan intelektual, pemimpin jemaat bahkan juga di komunitas-komunitas kelompok tumbuh bersama dalam sebuah gereja lokal. Pemahaman-pemahaman yang beredar atau informasi tentang Kristologi sangatlah banyak dan mudah untuk menemukannya, oleh karenanya orang percaya mestinya menyeleksi sumber tersebut sehingga tidak menimbulkan pemahaman yang keliru dan berujung pada hilangnya substansi Kristologi tersebut. Tidak bisa dipungkiri bahwa masyarakat yang berada dalam era modern ini sangat mempengaruhi isu dan perkembangan Kristologi. Pembahasan ini meliputi konsep Kristologi yang bersumber dari Alkitab, dan kemudian menguraikan bagaimana bapa-bapa gereja atau tokoh-tokoh pemikir Kristen merumuskannya dalam sebuah doktrin Kristen yang akhirnya dipakai orang Kristen dalam sepanjang sejarah kekristenan. Kristologi yang bersumber dari Alkitab merupakan pemahaman yang dapat diterima dan dibenarkan oleh orang percaya. Secara khusus Injil Yohanes sangat terbuka membahas tentang Kristologi, baik hakikatNya sebagai Allah dan manusia maupun karya dan misiNya untuk keselamatan umat manusia.

scholarly journals Aesthetization of the christian ethical ideal in o. wilde's fairy tale «The Happy Prince»

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
Vitaliia Aleksenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Dead Bird ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Precious Stones

The paper explores the problem of the relationship between the ideas of aesthetics and the Christian doctrine of active love in the famous tale written by O. Wilde. The research which emphasizes the Christian basis of the author's outlook became the methodological basis of the present study on the background of a detailed analysis of various assessments of the writer's position, interpreted as an immoral aesthete and as a supporter of socialist ideas or a recipient of ideas of ancient philosophy of spiritual beauty. The study proves this in detail, analyzing the plot and figurative solutions of the fairy tale «Happy Prince», taking into account the traditional Christian symbols. Thus, the image of the Prince-Statue, decorated with gold and precious stones, is interpreted as a symbol of Christ, who gives his splendor and power to save the poor. It is also reminiscent of the words of Christ, who tells a young rich man who seeks perfection to sell his wealth and give money to the poor. The very values of the earthly world, gold and precious stones, luxurious things made of them, are transparently interpreted in an ironically reduced tone. The confirmation of the fact that the aestheticization of being yields to the hidden spiritual greatness of Christian love and self-sacrifice is also that that the values of the earthly world, gold and precious stones are transparently interpreted in an ironic tone in the fairy tale. The swallow, being the ancient symbol of the Renaissance, this bird was lured by the perishable beauty of idols and tombs of Egypt, the biblical symbol of captivity. The swallow finds its purpose in the service of the Prince, scattering his precious clothes to the poor. And here the ethical criterion turns out to be higher than the aesthetic one. They are not rewarded on the Earth: the bird dies of the cold, and the remains of an unpresentable statue of the prince are demolished, the decisive word to belong to the professor of aesthetics. However, the angel of God brings the most precious things he has found in this city to the heavenly palaces of the Lord: the tin heart of the Prince, torn by grief, and a dead bird. By analyzing the writer's ideological system with implicit implications, Wilde's position is quite obvious: despite his apparent admiration for the aesthetics of beauty, the writer rejects ultimately the doctrine of aesthetics and exalts Christian values, setting out his concept in the style of a parable.

Why Is There No International Theory?

2021 ◽  
pp. 22-38
Author(s):  
Martin Wight
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Perpetual Peace ◽  
International Theory ◽  
Raison D’État ◽  
The Rich

In this essay Wight explained why there is no set of classic works regarding relations among states—what Wight terms ‘international theory’— analogous to the rich political theory literature concerning the state. In addition to works on international law, four categories of effort have populated the field: (a) those of ‘irenists’ advocating mechanisms to promote peace; (b) those of Machiavellians examining raison d’état; (c) incidental works by great philosophers and historians; and (d) noteworthy speeches and other writings by statesmen and officials. International theory works have been ‘marked, not only by paucity but also by intellectual and moral poverty’, because of the focus since the sixteenth century on the modern sovereign state, with the states-system neglected. Moreover, while there has been material and organizational progress within states in recent centuries, international relations have remained ‘incompatible with progressivist theory’. People who recoil from analyses implying that progress in international affairs is doubtful sometimes prefer a Kantian ‘argument from desperation’ asserting the feasibility of improvements and ‘perpetual peace’. Wight concluded that ‘historical interpretation’ is for international relations the counterpart of political theory for the state.

Senghor, Léopold Sédar (1906–2001)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phyllis Taoua
Keyword(s):  
Interwar Period ◽  
Aime Cesaire ◽  
African Culture ◽  
Black African ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Philosophy Of Culture ◽  
African Spirituality ◽  
European Thought ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Cultural Theorist

Léopold Sédar Senghor is one of the most influential African poets of the modern era. He also left his mark as a controversial cultural theorist and president of his native Senegal from 1960 until 1981. The poet and statesman participated with Aimé Césaire and Léon Gontran Damas in founding the négritude movement during the interwar period in Paris. Négritude was a cultural revolution that affirmed black African culture across geographical borders, combining a political vision of social justice for all peoples of African origin with an innovative poetic idiom. Senghor’s distinctive contribution to this avant-garde effort was a set of inter-related concepts with which he developed his theory of black African culture. The first was a notion of cross-cultural creativity entailing an interpenetration of African and European cultures. The second was a selective assimilation of certain aspects of French culture into an African conceptual framework. The third was an African version of socialism that integrated a community-centred ethics with a traditional African spirituality. Senghor believed that African culture had unique contributions to make to European thought, and worked to define a theory of culture based on dialogue, reciprocity and an inclusive humanism, which would pave the way for Africa’s integration into a civilization of the universal. His philosophy of culture is unsystematic; it appears as a collection of insights derived from various sources on the central theme of négritude.

7. St Augustine

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Bethke Elshtain
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Just War ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
The World ◽  
Moral Orientations ◽  
The Way

This chapter examines Augustine of Hippo's political thought. After providing a brief biography of St Augustine, it considers the fate of his texts within the world of academic political theory and the general suspicion of ‘religious’ thinkers within that world. It then analyses Augustine's understanding of the human person as a bundle of complex desires and emotions as well as the implications of his claim that human sociality is a given and goes all the way down. It also explores Augustine's arguments regarding the interplay of caritas and cupiditas in the moral orientations of persons and of cultures. Finally, it describes Augustine's reflections on the themes of war and peace, locating him as the father of the tradition of ‘just war’ theory.

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