Philosophy of War and Peace / Danny Praet (ed.).

Preface / Danny Praet & Pascal Vanhoecke -- In Defence of War: the Bhagavad Gītā / Eva De Clercq -- ‘No country has ever benefited from a protracted war’. China and the Art of War / Bart Dessein -- Buddhism on War and Peace. Some Thoughts and Examples / Ann Heirman -- Greek and Roman Philosophers on War and Peace / Danny Praet -- Iustum Bellum and Jihad in Medieval Philosophy / Danny Praet -- Niccolo Machiavelli. The Logic of Conflict, against the Logic of War / Sonja Lavaert -- Michel de Montaigne. Philosophy as Inner Struggle / Alexander Roose -- While Reading Kant’s ‘Perpetual Peace’ / Emiliano Acosta & Gertrudis Van de Vijver -- Kant’s Conditions For Peace. A Critical Approach / Tomas Baum -- Marxism and the Question of War and Peace / Jan Dumolyn -- On War and Warriors: Friedrich Nietzsche / Benjamin Biebuyck -- State Terror / Gie van den Berghe -- The Memory of Peace / Maarten Van Alstein -- Commemoration / Gie van den Berghe -- Truth Commissions. A Philosophical Approach / Dietlinde Wouters.

This exhaustive collection of essays addresses the historical, cultural, and political views on war and peace worldwide. It gives modern readings of ancient philosophers like Heraclitus, Renaissance writers like Niccolò Machiavelli and Michel de Montaigne, and more contemporary thinkers like Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche. Its cultural analysis spans from ancient China to the middle ages to the present day. By demonstrating that some of our interpretations of famous texts are inherently flawed, this work challenges the roots of our most fundamental ideas about conflict and justice. In addition to the cultural and religious beliefs that underlie a call to arms, these essays consider our contemporary political view of war and peace.