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Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 26:313 316 Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN 1040-2659 print; 1469-9982 online DOI: 10.1080/10402659.2014.937986 Introduction ALEXANDRE GUILHERME AND W. JOHN MORGAN Philosophy has a special relationship with other disciplines because of the many ways it connects with their subject matter. By this we do not mean simply that philosophical methodology and theories are used by other disciplines; we mean also that when others consider problems of specific interest to their field, fresh philosophical issues begin to emerge. Philosophy may be seen as a forum for other disciplines, a place where they find a unifying language for discussion of problems of common concern. Arguably, this applies across all disciplines, from the arts and humanities to the hard sciences and, not least, to what concerns us here: the study of peace and war. This is why we believe this symposium, focusing on Philosophies of War and Peace, is both important and timely. It provides fresh philosophical perspectives on historical, sociological, anthropological, and educational studies, which help us realize a deeper understanding of fundamental issues. Many philosophers have written essays on peace and war. One of the most important is Immanuel Kant s Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1795), an early manifesto for the idea of federalism with the fundamental aim of establishing peace in Europe. As Kant says: It can be shown that this idea of federalism, extending gradually to encompass all states and thus leading to perpetual peace, is practicable and has objective reality. For if by good fortune one powerful and enlightened nation can form a republic (which is by nature inclined to seek perpetual peace), this will provide a focal point for federal association among other states. These will join up with the first one, thus securing the freedom of each state in accordance with the idea of international right, and the whole will gradually spread further and further by a series of alliances of this kind. The essay was written as France and Prussia signed the Peace of Basel, establishing French sovereignty over the West Bank of the Rhine, but allowing Prussia, Russia, and Austria to divide Poland. Kant s motivation was 313
314 ALEXANDRE GUILHERME AND W. JOHN MORGAN indignation at what he saw as the absurdity of state foreign policy with its pursuit of peace through inadequate, selfish, and (often) deceptive means. Kant prescribed six principles and three articles for a program of perpetual peace among sovereign states, which resemble many of the foundational principles of the later European Union. The six principles are: i. No Treaty of Peace Shall be Held Valid in which There is Tacitly Reserved Matter for a Future War ii. No Independent States, Large or Small, Shall Come Under the Dominion of Another State by Inheritance, Exchange, Purchase, or Donation iii. Standing Armies (miles perpetuus) Shall in Time be Totally Abolished iv. National Debts Shall Not be Contracted with a View to the External Friction of States v. No State Shall by Force Interfere with the Constitution or Government of Another State vi. No State Shall, During War, Permit Such Acts of Hostility which Would Make Mutual Confidence in the Subsequent Peace Impossible: Such are the Employment of Assassins (percussores), Poisoners (venefici), Breach of Capitulation, and Incitement to Treason (perduellio) in the Opposing State And the three fundamental articles are: 1. The Civil Constitution of Every State Should be Republican 2. The Law of Nations Shall be Founded on a Federation of Free States 3. The Law of World Citizenship Shall be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality The crux is that no sovereign state, whether large or small, should come under the dominion of another state and that national armies should be abolished. The fundamental articles are concerned with the relations among individuals, founded on republicanism, on a federation of free states, and on a humanity derived from the virtue of universal hospitality. Others, such as Thomas Hobbes, however, developed philosophies of war and confrontation. In Leviathan (1651), written toward the end of the English Civil War, Hobbes takes the dreadful power of the sea-monster as a metaphor for the absolute power of the State (the title being a reference to the Book of Job, verse 41). He argues that: Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man. For, warre, consisteth not in Battell onely, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the Will to contend by Battell is sufficiently known and therefore the notion of time, is to be considered
INTRODUCTION 315 in the nature of Warre;... So the nature of War, consistenth not in actuall fighting; but in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is Peace. Hobbes believed that humankind is, naturally, in a constant state of conflict, which led him to advocate strong government, specifically absolutist monarchy, to keep this natural state of war in bounds. Hobbes Leviathan provides a complete contrast to the republicanism and pacifism of Kant s Perpetual Peace. Given the terrible impact of war on humanity and the seeming impossibility of establishing a perpetual peace among the nations, the guidance of philosophical reflection is fundamentally important if we are to make progress toward it. It was in the hope of this that Johan Galtung, the Norwegian founder of peace studies, established the Peace Research Institute in Oslo in 1959. Galtung s chief theoretical contributions include his contrasting definitions of negative (such as the absence of violent conflict) and positive peace (such as that founded on collaborative relationships), as well as his winwin approach to peace mediation (that is, where both sides feel that they have won ). Some have also focused directly on war studies, such as Julien Freund, the French sociologist who established the Institute of Polemology (Greek Polemos, war ) at Strasbourg in 1970. The continuing relevance of philosophy to the study of peace and war is explained also by Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian philosopher and theologian, and one of the founders of Liberation Theology. In Fundamentalism, Terrorism and the Future of Humanity (2006), he argued that: The prevalent global culture is presently structured around the desire for power. This is a desire that is fulfilled through the domination of nature, of the other, of people and of markets. This is a rationale of dinosaurs; it is a rationale that creates a culture of fear and of war. Of the 3,400 years of human history that we can document, 3,166 years have been of wars. The remaining 234 years were certainly not years of peace; they were years of preparation for wars. The essays in this symposium offer a variety of philosophical perspectives on this human condition, presented according to an intellectual chronology. We hope they will encourage readers to re-discover or to engage with for the first time some of the important contributions that philosophy and philosophers offer to the study of Peace and War. RECOMMENDED READINGS Boff, Leonardo. 2006. Fundamentalism, Terrorism and the Future of Humanity. London, UK: SPCK.
316 ALEXANDRE GUILHERME AND W. JOHN MORGAN Hobbes, Thomas. 1651/1928. Leviathan. London, UK and Toronto, Canada: J. M. Dent, Everyman Edition. Kant, Immanuel. 1795/1917. Perpetual Peace. London, UK: George Allen & Unwin. Dr. Alexandre Guilherme is Director of the Paulo Freire Centre for the Study of Critical Pedagogy and Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at Liverpool Hope University in the United Kingdom. E-mail: guilhea@hope.ac.uk W. John Morgan is UNESCO Chair of Political Economy and Education, Distinguished Professor as recognized by the International Institute of Adult and Lifelong Education, a Senior Fellow for the China Policy Institute, and is affiliated with the School of Education at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. E-mail: john.morgan@nottingham.ac.uk