[lit-ideas] Re: On the prospect of World Peace
- From: "Phil Enns" <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2006 13:58:59 -0400
Lawrence Helm wrote:
"Would wars that kept us on a path that led to world peace be
supportable? If not, why not?"
I don't think that there can be such a thing as 'world peace'. I have
two separate kinds of reasons for this belief. As I said, my pacifism
is theological in nature, so I have a theological objections to the idea
that we can attain something called 'world peace' through wars. I don't
think this is the forum for laying out these objections.
I also have philosophical objections. Whatever 'world peace' is, it is
an ideal that must include, at some point, an account of the good.
However, politics is not the place for settling the good but rather the
means for accommodating incommensurable accounts of the good. Politics
aims, then, to provide the conditions for a freedom that allows people
to pursue the good. The use of violence is antithetical to this freedom
since it aims to restrict the conditions under which people are free to
pursue the good. One cannot create more freedom by restricting the
conditions under which people are free. When freedom is excessively
constrained, war may bring about more freedom, but war cannot be a path
to the free pursuit of the good.
There are no examples for philosophical arguments, but it might be
helpful to think of the claims given before the invasion of Iraq. Some
of the planners envisioned dancing and flowers as they liberated Iraq
from Saddam. However, this use of violence was unable to create
conditions for peace because it could not create the conditions under
which the multiple and incommensurable accounts of the good found in
Iraq were able to accommodate each other. Those conditions can only be
created through political activity, and war is antithetical to this
activity. So while removing Saddam allowed for more freedom, war did
not bring peace to Iraq and it cannot create peace in Iraq. When
politics takes the place of violence, then peace is possible in Iraq.
Finally, I find the term 'world peace' vacuous. What would the world
look like for everyone to agree that there is peace?
Sincerely,
Phil Enns
Toronto, ON
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
