Philosophy of War

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how the concept of war has been discussed by philosophers. The writer begins with ancient philosopher, Plato, and then moves to historical writer and thinker, Thomas Hobbes. More modern philosophers such as Foucault and Freud are also discussed.

From the Paper:

"Hobbes felt that there were certain laws of nature by which men had to live and which also served as models for man-made laws in society. These "laws" are technically not laws in the sense of being binding but are rather accepted by man as the rational way to achieve the security that he desires. They are deductions from observed facts and theorems regarding what is necessary to achieve such security and to maintain it in the political community. What Hobbes calls natural law is a combination of man's instinct and reason. The political state arose out of the state of nature through the operation of these two motive forces. The individual's instinct for self-preservation combined with his rational understanding that achieving this required some consolidation with others into a social structure that wold protect them all (Hobbes 103-106). All of Hobbes' energies are directed in Leviathan toward providing theoretical reinforcement for this concept of the development of the state as a means of preserving order."

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