Peace in Iraq

Hot Topics > Iraq Wars
Philosophy > Metaphysics
Political Science > U.S.

Peace in Iraq

An exploration of the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Immanuel Kant in relationship to the possibility of peace in Iraq.

2,475 words () | 8 sources | MLA | 2009 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the possibilities of peace in Iraq by briefly touching on Immanuel Kant's "Metaphysics of Morals" and comparing the more authoritarian social contract of Hobbes' "Leviathan" to the more liberal social contract found in John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government". The paper highlights how Iraq's civil war presents an obstacle to these visions of peaceful government. The paper contends that, in light of these philosphers' beliefs, the United States must withdraw from Iraq to relieve Iraq from its own war of the foreign insurgents that have now invaded the country.

From the Paper:

"Interestingly, the English were in the midst of a civil war when Thomas Hobbes wrote his famous treatise Leviathan whereby he defended the absolute rule of Oliver Cromwell's military rule. Understandably, Hobbes was searching for a solution to the conditions of anarchy and violence: an answer to end the war between the king's royalists and parliamentarians. Though the treatise considers the aspects of absolute rule, the ruling power is actually obligated to the protect those who submit to this authority in what Hobbes termed as the social contract. Hobbes believed that the most important factor involved was to squelch the chaotic conditions of the civil war that he defined as "a mere war of all against all" (qtd. in Gaskin, xviii)."

Sample of Sources Used:

Gaskin, J.C.A., ed. "Introduction." Thomas Hobbes Leviathan. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. xi-xliii.
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Ed. C.B. MacPherson. London: Penguin, 1985.
Kant, Immanuel. "The Metaphysics of Morals." Kant: Political Writings. Ed. HansReiss. Oxford: Oxford UP. 1991.S
Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. Ed. Peter Laslett. New York: Cambridge UP, 1988.
Lubienski, Z. "Hobbes' Philosophy and Its Historical Background." Thomas Hobbes Critical Assessments. Ed. Preston King. New York: Routledge, 1993. 1-16.