From Warism To Pacifism

Duane Cady views warism and pacifism as polar extremes on a continuum that embraces a full spectrum of ethical positions on the morality of war and peace. Realizing that he could not intellectually defend the notions of just-war theory, he found that he was a reluctant pacifist, a discovery that spurred this exploration of a position that is simultaneously admired and discounted as naive. From Warism to Pacifism exposes the pervasive, subconscious warism that is the dominant ideology in modern Western culture. Like racism and sexism, this uncritical presumption that war is morally justifiable, even morally required, misguides our attitudes and institutions. In its place, Cady proposes the development of a positive concept of peace, a vision that is distinct from the mere absence of war.Citing common objections to pacifist values, he describes peace as something more than the mere absence of war and demonstrates that pacifism is a defensible position. The major difficulty of the peace movement, he suggests, is the absence of a positive peace vision. The peace movement will continue to fail if its sole focus is anti-war. A challenge is issued: to transform our national "insecurity policy" into a civilian-based nonviolent defense. Author note: Duane L. Cady is Professor of Philosophy and Department Chair at Hamline University.

Illuminating the moral views on violence, from the moral restraint of the just-war tradition through pragmatic nonviolence to principled variations of pacifism.

Interest in pacifism—an idea with a long history in philosophical thought and in several religious traditions—is growing. The Routledge Handbook of Pacifism and Nonviolence is the first comprehensive reference designed to introduce newcomers and researchers to the many varieties of pacifism and nonviolence, to their history and philosophy, and to pacifism’s most serious critiques. The volume offers 32 brand new chapters from the world’s leading experts across a diverse range of fields, who together provide a broad discussion of pacifism and nonviolence in connection with virtue ethics, capital punishment, animal ethics, ecology, queer theory, and feminism, among other areas. This Handbook is divided into four sections: (1) Historical and Tradition-Specific Considerations, (2) Conceptual and Moral Considerations, (3) Social and Political Considerations, and (4) Applications. It concludes with an Afterword by James Lawson, one of the icons of the nonviolent American Civil Rights movement. The text will be invaluable to scholars and students, as well as to activists and general readers interested in peace, nonviolence, and critical perspectives on war and violence.

Defending pacifism against the charge that it is naïvely utopian, Transformative Pacifism offers a critical theory of the existing world order, and points in the direction of concrete ethical and political action. Pacifism is a transformative philosophy with wide ranging implications. It aims to transform political, social, and psychological structures. Its focus is deep and wide. It is similar to other transformative social theories: feminism, ecology, animal welfare, cosmopolitanism, human rights theory. Indeed, behind those theories is often the pacifist idea that violence, power, and domination are wrong. Pacifist theory raises consciousness about unjustifiable violence. This in turn leads to transformations in practical life. Many other books defend nonviolence and pacifism by focusing on failed justifications of war, as well as on the strategic value of nonviolence. This book begins by reviewing and accepting those sort of arguments. It then focuses on what a commitment to pacifism and nonviolence means in terms of a variety of practical issues. Pacifists reject the violent presuppositions of a society based upon power, strength, nationalism, and the system of militarized nation-states. Pacifism transforms psychological, social, political, and economic life. This book will be of interest to those who are disenchanted with ongoing violence, violent rhetoric, terrorism, wars, and the war industry. It gives anyone with pacifist sympathies reassurance: pacifists are not wrong to think that violence and war are immoral, irrational, and insane and that there is always an alternative.

This volume examines the possibility – or need – of a revitalization of pacifism as a world-political practice. It takes as its point of departure the observation that although ‘just war thinking’ has long been dominant in Western debates about war and peace, recent events have served to temper enthusiasm about the doctrine. Pacifism has been much less prominent a stance in recent decades, but there is the impression that it may be staging a return. Just war thinking has to a large extent failed. Outright bellicism remains as undesirable as ever. Pacifism presents itself again as a possible alternative. Once upon a time the peace movement was popular, and pacifism with it. Pacifism appealed to people. It stirred hearts and minds. It inspired political action and institutional designs. This volume examines whether pacifism can claim its ground again and how it should be redefined in light of today’s world-political circumstances.

A moral philosopher discuses the rights and wrongs of specific military campaigns from 1914 on, including the war in Vietnam, the Six Day War, the British bombing campaign against Germany, the American bombing of Japan, the Korean War, the Indo-Pakastani War of 1971, the 1976 raid on Entebbe, and the 1986 attack against Libya.

"This collection of works is ambitious, well documented, thoroughly--though not turgidly--referenced, and comprehensively indexed. It is deeply disturbing and deeply engaging... " --Australian Feminist Studies Contributors discuss the subtle and complex relationships between various notions of "feminism" and "peace." Feminist peace issues are explored along a wide spectrum of personal and political issues--from the personal violations of rape, incest, and domestic abuse, to the violence of racism, sexism, economic exploitation, war, and genocide.

The idea of Peace Linguistics (PL) has been around for decades. However, the practice of PL has only occurred much more recently, only within the last few years, since the first creditbearing, university-level PL course was taught at Brigham Young University-Hawaii in 2017. Since then, the field of NPL has grown beyond its original goals, of using peaceful language and language that avoids or de-escalates conflict. The New Peace Linguistics (NPL) focuses on in-depth, systematic analyses of the spoken and written language of some of the most powerful people in the world, such as presidents of the USA, as it is they who have the power to start wars or to bring peace. As the first book to be published on PL and on NPL, this work represents a ground-breaking study of the power of language to hurt and harm or to help and give hope. The first four chapters of the book, which provide the foundation on which the rest of the book is built, introduce the concept of Peace Linguistics and the New Peace Linguistics, starting with the origins of PL and coming to the present day. The remaining Part Two and Part Three chapters present in-depth, systematic NPL analyses of George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Barack H. Obama, Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden. The concluding chapter reiterates the most important distinguishing and recurring features of NPL, and looks at where the field may be headed in the future.