To a world assaulted by private interests, this book argues that peace must be a public thing. Distinguished philosophers of peace have always worked publicly for public results. Opposing nuclear proliferation, organizing communities of the disinherited, challenging violence within status quo establishments, such are the legacies of truly engaged philosophers of peace. This volume remembers those legacies, reviews the promise of critical thinking for crises today, and expands the free range of thinking needed to create more mindful and peaceful relations. With essays by committed peace philosophers, this volume shows how public engagement has been a significant feature of peace philosophers such as Camus, Sartre, Dewey, and Dorothy Day. Today we also confront historical opportunities to transform practices for immigration, police interrogation, and mental health, as we seek to sustain democracies of increasing multicultural diversity. In such cases our authors consider points of view developed by renowned thinkers such as Weil, Mouffe, Conway, and MartÃn-Baró. This volume also presents critical analysis of concepts for thinking about violence, reconsiders Platoâs philosophy of justice, and examines the role of ethical theory for liberation struggles such as Occupy!
Danielle Poe: Editorial Foreword
David Swanson: Guest Foreword
Gail Presbey: Preface
Greg Moses: Introduction Part One: Introducing Peace in Public Life
William C. Gay: How Philosophers Advance Peace in the Public Sphere
Gail M. Presbey: Dorothy Dayâs Pursuit of Public Peace through Word and Action
Tom H. Hastings: Peace Voice: Getting Peace Professionals to Go Public Part Two: Current Events and Peace Theory
Anna J. Brown: Anti-Immigration Initiatives and Weilâs Theory of Affliction
Nick Braune: Interrogation, False Confessions, and the Intuitions of Jurors
Adrianne Aron: Ignacio MartÃn-Baró and the 99%: from El Salvador to Occupy
Fuat Gürsözlü: Pluralism, Identity, and Violence Part Three: Peace Theory in Depth
Richard T. Peterson: Violence as the Conflictual Denial of Social Being: A Relational Approach
Wendy Hamblet: On the Nature of Public Life in Plato and Rancière
Peter Amato: Radical Protest and Dialectical Ethics
Works Cited
About the Authors
Index