New publication by Walther Ch. Zimmerli, EURIAS 2017-2018

'Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum! On the Indispensable Pitfalls in the Piecemeal Engineering of Peace'

Walther Ch. Zimmerli, Collegium Helveticum, Switzerland; Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Germany

SAGE, Studies in Christian Ethics, First Published 31 Dec 2017

Abstract

The relation between peace-oriented politics and theology will be discussed from a philosophical point of view by approaching the problem in five steps. In a first step, I will focus on logic as one of the most powerful and simultaneously misleading forces in our thinking. Utilising the results of this step will, secondly, enable a clarification of the misunderstanding implied in an idea such as eternal peace. Thirdly, the article will unveil the paradoxical character of violence inherent in the notion of political power as well as the antinomy of war and peace. This will open the space for accepting second-best solutions. In so doing at least some of the problems implied in any philosophical contribution to a political theology of pacifism may be solved.

Keywords

Kant, eternal peace, parasitic pacifism, pragmatic pacifism, violence, deterrence