Summary |
How should we define peace philosophically? In its most obvious manifestation, peace is an absence of war or violence (terms which themselves may be contested.) Jane Addams made a famous distinction between negative peace and positive peace, where negative peace denotes the absence of war or violence, but positive peace calls attention to a need to organize nurturing relationships and institutions. Johan Galtung also invites inquiry into deeper levels of analysis when he distinguishes between direct violence, structural violence, and cultural violence, terms which can be converted into inquiries that seek direct peace, structural peace, or cultural peace. Some companion terms to peace philosophy would be love, justice, compassion, forgiveness, dignity, or care. |