A Philosophy of War : Why We Fight

€13.90

Russia's invasion of Ukraine seems to many like a throwback to another age, rattling Europe with memories of past horrors. But since the end of the Second World War there has not been a single day without armed conflict somewhere in the world.

Drawing on the great political philosophers, from Plato to Marx, via Machiavelli and Hobbes, Frédéric Gros attempts to answer the age-old questions regarding humanity's propensity to wage war: What is a just war? What moral constraints operate on the combatants? Does the state make war or does war make the state?

Finally, after exploring the meaning and the spectre of total war, he tackles the ultimate question: Why war?

Product Information

Author: Frederic Gros
Language: Angļu valoda
Year of publication: 2026
Manufacturer: Verso Books
Cover type: Soft cover
Number of pages: 112
product.Svars: 96.000 kg
ISBN code: 9781804296028

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According to one wag, war âdied in Hiroshimaâ more than half a century ago. And yet it has never gone away. Terrorist acts, Israeli-Palestinian and Middle Eastern conflicts, the implosion of Yugoslavia, countries torn apart by factions, not to mention other wars: economic, psychological, computer, gender or generational... Russia's invasion of Ukraine has reshuffled the cards. This time, they say, it's the return of real war, with its atrocities, its horrors, its violence. But what is a real war?

By calling on the great political philosophers, from Plato to Marx, via Machiavelli and Hobbes, this book attempts to answer this question, along with a series of others: what is a just war? What moral forces are involved in a conflict? Does the state make war, or does war make the state? Finally, after exploring the meanings and stakes of the spectre of âtotalâ war, he tackles the ultimate question: why war?

MEDIA REVIEWS

A brilliant essay. - Lire-Magazine littéraire

In 162 pages as clear as they are dense, Gros in the lineage of Raymond Aron, untangles this mystery of the dark side of humanity. - Le Point

Masterful. - Nice Matin

An accessible essay that asks questions as crucial as they are dizzying. - Marianne

A beautiful philosophical lesson. - Psychologies

Have history's most devastating conflicts taught us nothing? Philosopher Gros mines the writings of thinkers ancient and modern to discern the root of mankind's insatiable urge to conquer. - The Washington Independent Review of Books