Peace Ethics in Western Intellectual History

Der Hei­li­ge lernt auch aus dem, was ihm ein Teu­fel dar­bie­tet. –  Der Kir­chen­va­ter Augus­ti­nus in einer Dar­stel­lung von Micha­el Pacher, um 1480.

Sin­ce its con­cep­ti­on, the Insti­tu­te for Theo­lo­gy and Peace has rese­ar­ched the tra­di­ti­on of the Christian-theological and phi­lo­so­phi­cal thin­king about ques­ti­ons on the legi­ti­ma­ti­on of vio­lence and of peace.

The­se efforts are still indis­pen­si­ble today. Becau­se ethics in its­elf is a phi­lo­so­phi­cal­ly refle­xi­ve pro­cess, the­re is a demand for ethi­cal con­side­ra­ti­on of the form and requi­re­ments of one’s own cognition.

Enga­ging with the clas­sics of peace theo­lo­gi­cal work and peace in phi­lo­so­phy does not only illu­mi­na­te the limits of our con­tem­po­ra­ry argu­men­ta­ti­on pat­terns but helps us bet­ter under­stand why we think in a cer­tain way about a par­ti­cu­lar ques­ti­on. Through this under­stan­ding we simul­ta­neous­ly sur­pass the scope of the­se assumptions.

Over the years important pie­ces of rese­arch have emer­ged from the Insti­tu­te on, for exam­p­le, St. Augus­tin, Tho­mas Aqui­nas, Fran­cis­co de Vito­ria, Fran­cis­co Suá­rez or Bar­to­lo­me de las Cases, which have been published as mono­graphs. Addi­tio­nal­ly, various con­fe­ren­ces on, for exam­p­le, the ear­ly Midd­le Ages or the Ear­ly Modern Age have been published as edi­ted works. Text edi­ti­ons, par­ti­cu­lar­ly from the late scho­la­s­tic peri­od, com­ple­te this valuable branch of research.

Cont­act: PD Dr. Bern­hard Koch