A Philosophy of War

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seems to many like a throwback to another age, rattling Europe with memories of past horrors. But since the end of the Second World War there has not been a single day without armed conflict somewhere in the world. Drawing on the great political philosophers, from Plato to Marx, via Machiavelli and Hobbes, Frédéric Gros attempts to answer the age-old questions regarding humanity’s propensity to wage war: What is a just war? What moral constraints operate on the combatants? Does the state make war or does war make the state? Finally, after exploring the meaning and the spectre of total war, he tackles the ultimate question: Why war?

Frédéric Gros is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris XII and the Institute of Political Studies, Paris. He was the editor of the last lectures of Michel Foucault at the Collège de France. He has written books on psychiatry, law, and war as well as the best-selling Philosophy of Walking. He lives in Paris.

Introduction: This Time, It Really is War 1 Really a ‘Return’ of War? 2 Heroism and Barbarism 3 What is a ‘Just’ War? 4 The State Makes War and War Makes the State 5 The Idea of Total War 6 Why War? Conclusion: And War for the Sake of What Peace… Index