pacifist philosophers

[josh_down]

hello everyone... i have a question to anyone who knows anything about philosophy.

i'm currently reading a book by richard dawkins, and he's spoken several times, in passing, of pacifist philosophers. i've stickied the tag of pacifist onto myself ever since i was 15, and always known what it meant in a vague sense (we were taught at school during religious education). now however i feel like i want to be able to defend myself in a more intelligent way, and so i want to try and read some pacifist philosophies.

however, i know of no such philosophers, or philosophical movements. i was just wondering if anyone would be able to help me out with this.

i should also say, because this is a danger... i'm -not- looking for theist-pacifist philosophies. that would mean very very little to me.


i'm very sorry if i seem snobbish or offensive to people. if no one can help then i'll be happy to have this topic closed.

thanks in advance

[Sij]

Woah woah. First off I don't see how you could possibly sound any LESS snobbish!

Okay as far as pacifist philosophers. Did you try looking in to Ghandi? I can't really say. I mean I'm a deep thinker. And I find myself being pretty philosophical a lot. But I never really looked into other philosophers.

[josh_down]

you bring up a very good name... i perhaps should of thought of that myself but didn't. thanks a lot matey!

and yes, on re-reading that you're probably right about the snobbyness, but atm i don't think that particularly bothers me.

[Ares the Ram]

Ghandi is one of the best pacifist philosophers there ever was. You wouldnt go wrong reading up on him 

[josh_down]

Ghandi is one of the best pacifist philosophers there ever was. You wouldnt go wrong reading up on him 

i can...

i've done my reading and watched a biography/documentary about his life and... at the end of the day, he's a pacifist because he thinks god tells him to be a pacifist. i'm not saying that's wrong but it doesn't help me justify my own actions, me being an atheist.

[Sij]

That IS true. I didn't know much about Ghandi, I wouldn't have recommended him if I had known about that. What about Siddhartha Guatama? (A.K.A. Bhudda to many people)

[josh_down]

That IS true. I didn't know much about Ghandi, I wouldn't have recommended him if I had known about that. What about Siddhartha Guatama? (A.K.A. Bhudda to many people)

i know a bit about buddhism, and i -really- like it as a belief structure... it's so flexible and cannot be twisted into something which looses all integrity (such as what many christians, muslims and jews do to this day). it's almost perfect, however, i really don't feel that i could ever completely glue myself to a moral structure, no matter how much i agree with it. i would feel that at some point, my mind would deviate from it because i agree with the post-modernists... in that there is no right or wrong in this world.

which makes pacifism hard to justify. -hufff- see my problem?

i should probably read more about buddhism, cause i am kinda interested in it as a topic. and i'm sure it could teach me a lot about myself as i'm fairly certain i mirror most of it's core beliefs.

thanks for making me think!

i've also discovered kant, a philosopher who wrote a book called the critique of pure reason... which is supposed to be heavily about pacifist, as the author himself was a pacifist. i couldn't find any information as to how 'goddy' it is, but i fear that due to the time it was written, it very well may be. oh well.

thanks for your help

[Sij]

My question is why you feel the need to justify pacifism?

I mean are you trying to PROVE that its a better choice? Or do you just want to be able to justify yourself if somebody asks?

[josh_down]

My question is why you feel the need to justify pacifism?

I mean are you trying to PROVE that its a better choice? Or do you just want to be able to justify yourself if somebody asks?

both of these two things above me, but not so much as to justify it to myself. i think too much, basically. so i really feel that i -really- need to justify all my own opinions.

[Sij]

Ohhh I see what you mean. Hmmmm. Well shoot that's hard. I mean I don't really feel the need to justify my decisions. But I understand what you mean. You keep asking yourself why. I do that all the time. But I can't really think of any other pacifist philosophers. Or even anything to help you out. Because its up to the individual.