Philosophy of war: essence, definition, concept, history and modernity

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Scholars say one of the least developed topics in philosophy is war.

In most works devoted to this problem, the authors, as a rule, do not go beyond the moral assessment of this phenomenon. The article will consider the history of the study of the philosophy of war.

Relevance of the topic

Even ancient philosophers talked about the fact that humanity has been in a state of military conflict for most of its existence. In the 19th century, researchers published statistics confirming the sayings of the ancient sages. The period from the first millennium BC to the nineteenth century from the birth of Christ was chosen as a time period for study.

Researchers have come to the conclusion that in the three millennia of history, only more than three hundred years are in peacetime. More precisely, for every calm year there are twelve years of armed conflict. Thus, we can conclude that about 90% of human history passed in an atmosphere of emergency.

Positive and negativevision of the problem

War in the history of philosophy has been evaluated both positively and negatively by various thinkers. So, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Nicholas Roerich and many others spoke of this phenomenon as the greatest vice of mankind. These thinkers argued that war is one of the most senseless and tragic events in people's lives.

Some of them even built utopian concepts of how to overcome this social disease and live in eternal peace and harmony. Other thinkers, such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Vladimir Solovyov, have argued that since the war has been going on almost continuously since the emergence of statehood until today, then there is certainly some sense in it.

Two different points of view

The prominent 20th-century Italian philosopher Julius Evola tended to view war in a somewhat romanticized light. He built his teaching on the idea that since during armed conflicts a person is constantly on the verge of life and death, he is in contact with the spiritual, non-material world. According to this author, it is at such moments that people are able to realize the meaning of their earthly existence.

Russian philosopher and religious writer Vladimir Solovyov also considered the essence of war and its philosophy through the prism of religion. However, his opinion was fundamentally different from that of his Italian counterpart.

He argued that war, in itself, is a negative event. Its cause is the nature of man, corrupted as a result of the fall of the firstof people. However, it happens, like everything that happens, by the will of God. According to this point of view, the meaning of armed conflicts is to show humanity how deeply it is mired in sins. After such a realization, everyone has the opportunity to repent. Therefore, even such a terrible phenomenon can benefit sincerely believing people.

Tolstoy's philosophy of war

Leo Tolstoy did not adhere to the opinion that the Russian Orthodox Church had. The philosophy of war in War and Peace can be expressed as follows. It is well known that the author adhered to pacifist views, which means that in this work he preaches the rejection of any violence.

It is interesting that in the last years of his life the great Russian writer was keenly interested in Indian religions and philosophical thought. Lev Nikolaevich was in correspondence with the famous thinker and public figure Mahatma Gandhi. This man became famous for his concept of non-violent resistance. It was in this way that he managed to achieve the independence of his country from the colonial policy of England. The philosophy of war in the novel of the great Russian classic is in many ways similar to these beliefs. But Lev Nikolaevich outlined in this work the foundations of his vision not only of interethnic conflicts and their causes. In the novel "War and Peace" the philosophy of history appears before the reader from a point of view unknown until then.

The author says that, in his opinion, the meaning that thinkers put intosome events are visible and contrived. In fact, the true essence of things always remains hidden from human consciousness. And only the heavenly powers are given to see and know the real interconnection of events and phenomena in the history of mankind.

He holds a similar opinion regarding the role of individuals in the course of world history. According to Leo Tolstoy, the influence on the fate, which is rewritten by an individual political figure, is in fact a pure invention of scientists and politicians, who thus try to find the meaning of some events and justify the fact of their existence.

In the philosophy of the war of 1812, the main criterion for everything that happens for Tolstoy is the people. It was thanks to him that the enemies were expelled from Russia with the help of the "Cudgel" of the general militia. In "War and Peace" the philosophy of history appears before the reader in an unprecedented form, since Lev Nikolayevich describes the events as they were seen by the participants in the war. His storytelling is emotional because he seeks to convey the thoughts and feelings of people. Such a "democratic" approach to the philosophy of the war of 1812 was an indisputable innovation in Russian and world literature.

New military theorist

The war of 1812 in philosophy inspired another thinker to create quite a capital work on armed conflicts and how to conduct them. This author was the Austrian officer Von Clausewitz, who fought on the side of Russia.

Thisa participant in legendary events, two decades after the victory, published his book containing a new methodology for conducting military operations. This work is distinguished by its simple and accessible language.

For example, Von Clausewitz interprets the goal of a country's entry into an armed conflict in this way: the main thing is to subjugate the enemy to one's will. The writer proposes to fight until the moment when the enemy is completely destroyed, that is, the state - the enemy will be completely wiped off the face of the earth. Von Clausewitz says that the fight must be waged not only on the battlefield, it is also necessary to destroy the cultural values that exist on enemy territory. In his opinion, such actions will lead to the complete demoralization of the enemy troops.

Followers of the theory

The year 1812 became a landmark for the philosophy of war, because this armed conflict inspired one of the most famous theorists of army management to create labor, which guided many European military leaders, and which became a program in many universities of the corresponding profile around the world.

This is exactly the ruthless strategy pursued by the German generals in the First and Second World Wars. This philosophy of war was new to European thought.

To a large extent it is for this reason that many Western states were unable to resist the inhuman aggression of the German troops.

Philosophy of war before Clausewitz

To understand what radical new ideas were contained in the book of an Austrian officer, one should trace the development of the philosophy of war withancient times to modern times.

So, the very first power clashes that happened in the history of mankind occurred due to the fact that one people, experiencing a food crisis, sought to plunder the we alth accumulated by neighboring countries. As can be seen from this thesis, this campaign did not contain any political background. Therefore, as soon as the soldiers of the aggressor army captured a sufficient amount of material we alth, they immediately left a foreign country, leaving its people alone.

Division of spheres of influence

As powerful highly civilized states emerge and develop more and more, war ceased to be a tool for obtaining food and acquired new, political goals. Stronger countries sought to subordinate the smaller and weaker ones to their influence. The winners generally wanted nothing more than to collect tribute from the losers.

Such armed conflicts usually did not end with the complete destruction of the defeated state. The commanders also did not want to destroy any valuables that belonged to the enemy. On the contrary, the winning side often tried to prove itself highly developed in terms of the spiritual life and aesthetic education of its citizens. Therefore, in ancient Europe, as in many countries of the East, there was a tradition to respect the customs of other peoples. It is known that the great Mongol commander and ruler Genghis Khan, who conquered most of the world's known states at that time, had great respect for religion andculture of the conquered territories. Many historians wrote that he often celebrated the holidays that existed in those countries that had to pay tribute to him. The descendants of the outstanding ruler also adhered to a similar foreign policy. Chronicles testify that the khans of the Golden Horde almost never gave orders to destroy Russian Orthodox churches. The Mongols had great respect for all kinds of artisans who skillfully mastered their profession.

Code of honor of Russian soldiers

Thus, it can be argued that the method of influencing the enemy in all possible ways, up to its final destruction, was completely contrary to the European military culture that had developed by the 19th century. Von Clausewitz's recommendations did not receive a response among the domestic military either. Despite the fact that this book was written by a man who fought on the side of Russia, the thoughts expressed in it were in sharp conflict with Christian Orthodox morality and therefore were not approved by the Russian top command staff.

The charter, which was used until the end of the 19th century, said that one should fight not in order to kill, but with the sole purpose of winning. The high moral qualities of Russian officers and soldiers were especially evident when our army entered Paris during the Patriotic War of 1812.

Unlike the French, who, on the way to the capital of the Russian state, robbed the population, the officers of the Russian army behaved with due dignity even on the territory of the enemy captured by them. knowncases when, celebrating their victory in French restaurants, they paid their bills in full, and when the money ran out, they took a loan from the establishments. The French have long remembered the generosity and generosity of the Russian people.

Whoever enters with a sword will die from the sword

Unlike some Western confessions, primarily Protestantism, as well as a number of Eastern religions, such as Buddhism, the Russian Orthodox Church has never preached absolute pacifism. Many outstanding warriors in Russia are glorified as saints. Among them are such outstanding commanders as Alexander Nevsky, Mikhail Ushakov, and many others.

The first of these was revered not only in tsarist Russia among believers, but also after the Great October Revolution. The famous words of this statesman and commander, which served as the title of this chapter, became a kind of motto for the entire national army. From this we can conclude that defenders of their native land have always been highly valued in Russia.

Influence of Orthodoxy

The philosophy of war, characteristic of the Russian people, has always been based on the principles of Orthodoxy. This can be easily explained by the fact that it is this faith that is culture-forming in our state. Almost all Russian classical literature is imbued with this spirit. And the state language of the Russian Federation itself would be completely different without this influence. Confirmation can be found by considering the origin of words such as "thank you", which, as you know, means nothing more than a wish.companion to be saved by the Lord God.

And this, in turn, indicates the Orthodox religion. It is this denomination that preaches the need for repentance for sins in order to earn mercy from the Almighty.

Therefore, it can be argued that the philosophy of war in our country is based on the same principles. It is no coincidence that George the Victorious has always been among the most revered saints in Russia.

This righteous warrior is also depicted on Russian metal banknotes - kopecks.

Information war

Currently, the importance of information technology has reached unprecedented strength. Sociologists and political scientists argue that at this stage of its development, society has entered a new era. It, in turn, replaced the so-called industrial society. The most important area of human activity in this period is the storage and processing of information.

This circumstance affected all aspects of life. It is no coincidence that the new educational standard of the Russian Federation speaks of the need to educate the next generation, taking into account the constantly accelerating pace of technological progress. Therefore, the army, from the point of view of the philosophy of the modern period, should have in its arsenal and actively use all the achievements of science and technology.

Battles on another level

The philosophy of war and its significance at the present time is best illustrated by the example of those reforms that are being carried out in the defense sector of the United States of America.

Term"information war" first appeared in this country in the early nineties of the XX century.

In 1998, it acquired a clear, generally accepted definition. According to him, the information war is the impact on the enemy through various channels through which he receives new information about various aspects of life.

Following such a military philosophy, it is necessary to influence the public consciousness of the population of the enemy country not only at the time of hostilities, but also in peacetime. Thus, the citizens of the enemy country, without knowing it, will gradually acquire a worldview, assimilate ideas that are beneficial to the aggressor state.

Also, the armed forces can influence the mood prevailing in their own territory. In some cases, this is required to raise the morale of the population, instill patriotic feelings, and solidarity with the policies that are being pursued at the moment. An example would be American operations in the mountains of Afghanistan, with the aim of destroying Osama bin Laden and his associates.

It is known that these actions were carried out exclusively at night. From the point of view of military science, this cannot be given a logical explanation. Such operations would be much more convenient to carry out during daylight hours. In this case, the reason lies not in the special strategy of conducting air strikes on points where militants are supposedly located. The fact is that the geographical location of the United States and Afghanistan is such that when it is night in an Asian country, it is day in America. Respectively,live television broadcasts from the scene can be seen by many more viewers if they are broadcast when the vast majority of people are awake.

In the American literature on the philosophy of war and modern principles of its conduct, the term "battlefield" has now changed somewhat. Now the content of this concept has expanded significantly. Therefore, the very name of this phenomenon now sounds like “combat space”. This implies that the war in its modern sense is no longer taking place only in the form of military battles, but also at the informational, psychological, economic and many other levels.

This largely corresponds to the philosophy of the book "On War", written almost two centuries ago by a veteran of the Patriotic War of 1812, Von Clausewitz.

Causes of war

This chapter will examine the causes of war as seen by various thinkers from the adherents of the pagan religion of antiquity to Tolstoy's theory of war. The most ancient Greek and Roman ideas about the essence of interethnic conflicts were based on the mythological worldview of a person of that time. The Olympic gods, worshiped by the inhabitants of these countries, seemed to people to be creatures no different from themselves in anything except their omnipotence.

All the passions and sins inherent in an ordinary mortal were not alien to the celestials either. The gods of Olympus often quarreled with each other, and this enmity, according to religious teaching, led to a clash of different peoples. There were also separate gods, the purpose of which was to create conflict situations betweendifferent countries and fueling conflicts. One of these higher beings, who patronized the people of the military class and arranged numerous battles, was Artemis.

Later ancient philosophers on war held more realistic views. Socrates and Plato talked about its causes based on economic and political considerations. Therefore, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels went the same way. In their opinion, most of the armed conflicts in the history of mankind occurred because of disagreements between the classes of society.

In addition to the philosophy of war in the novel "War and Peace", there were other concepts within which attempts were made to find causes for interstate conflicts other than economic and political.

For example, the famous Russian philosopher, artist and public figure Nicholas Roerich argued that the root of evil that gives rise to armed clashes is cruelty.

And she, in turn, is nothing but materialized ignorance. This quality of the human personality can be described as the sum of ignorance, lack of culture and foul language. And accordingly, in order to establish eternal peace on earth, it is necessary to overcome all the vices of mankind listed below. An ignorant person, from Roerich's point of view, does not have the ability to be creative. Therefore, in order to realize his potential energy, he does not create, but seeks to destroy.

Mystical Approach

In the history of the philosophy of war, along with others, there were concepts that differed in theirexcessive mysticism. One of the authors of this doctrine was the writer, thinker and ethnographer Carlos Castaneda.

His philosophy in The Way of War is based on a religious practice called nagualism. In this work, the author claims that overcoming the delusions that reign in human society is the only true way of life.

Christian point of view

Religious teaching based on the commandments given to humanity by the Son of God, considering the issue of the causes of wars, says that all the bloody events in the history of mankind occurred because of people's propensity to sin, or rather, because of their corrupted nature and inability to deal with it on their own.

Here, unlike Roerich's philosophy, it is not about individual atrocities, but about sinfulness as such.

A person cannot get rid of many atrocities without God's help, including envy, condemnation of neighbors, foul language, greed and so on. It is this property of the soul that underlies small and large conflicts between people.

It should be added that the same reason is behind the emergence of laws, states and so on. Even in ancient times, realizing their sinfulness, people began to fear each other, and often themselves. Therefore, they invented a tool to protect against the unseemly deeds of their fellows.

However, as already mentioned in this article, the protection of one's own country and oneself from enemies in Orthodoxy has always been considered a blessing, since in this case such use of force is perceived asfight against evil. Failure to act in such situations can be equated with sin.

However, Orthodoxy is not inclined to overly idealize the profession of the military. So, one holy father in a letter to his spiritual student reproaches the latter for the fact that his son, having the ability to exact sciences and the humanities, chose army service for himself.

Also, in the Orthodox religion, priests are forbidden to combine their church service with a military career.

Orthodox soldiers and generals were recommended by many holy fathers to pray before the start of the battle, as well as at its end.

Also, those believers who, by the will of circumstances, need to serve in the army, should do their best to fulfill what is indicated in the military regulations with the words “endure all hardships and hardships with dignity.”

Conclusion

This article was devoted to the topic of war from the point of view of philosophy.

It presents the history of addressing this problem, from ancient times to the present day. The points of view of such thinkers as Nicholas Roerich, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy and others are considered. A significant part of the material is occupied by the theme of the novel "War and Peace" and the philosophy of the war of 1812.