Peace and the European Intellectual History
2020.11.25
- Author : Byung-Kon Kim
- Journal : ZdkGDS
- Publisher : Koreanisch-Deutsche Gesellschaft Fuer Sozialwissenschaften
- Volume : 34(4)
- Date : 2020.11
- Abstract : The main theme of this thesis is a historical examination of the meaning of peace in the European intellectual history. Academic research and the practical pursuit of peace have existed for a long time. However, respectively different meanings and limitations have been shown with regard to the understanding of peace in each time period. Also, perceptions of peace before modern times were progressed with clear limitations at the very least. The ancient Greeks understood people to be beings that cannot live without politics and the state and they understood issues of peaceful living to be the meaning of harmonious living among fellow citizens who belong to the same polis and they were unable to achieve true consciousness related to issues of peace with outside countries. Perceptions of universal human peace became possible after cosmopolitanism was met with the collapse of the polis and the appearance of the Roman empire. Also, Stoa’s pacifism changed through Christianity. Full-scale and active pacifism appeared with the appearance of early Christianity. As it became established as a state religion during the middle ages, active pacifism was reexamined and just wars were once again accepted. Therefore, full-scale and strong pacifism was developed after modern times and particularly after the appearance of Johan Galtung. Galtung presented issues of active peace, which transcends the passive concept of a simple absence of conflict, based on an expansive understanding of violence. Also, Senghaas expanded the issue of peace by connecting it with civilization. Senghaas viewed that a civilized conflict resolution model used within a nation can be applied to international relations as well. To him, peaceful international order can be constructed through processes in which the similar national order of diverse regions supplement each other and become stabilized. Theories of peace in the 21st century are connected to feminism and ecologism and they are developing futuristically as they embrace gender issues, environment issues, issues of sustainability, and perceptions of civilization and culture.