AHSEM-UA 156 - Reconstructing World Violence: A Hobbesian Approach

Institution:

New York University

Subject:

Description:

Humans are as violent as any creature, but we have something in abundance that others may lack: the ability to sustain and glorify our violence by justifying it. After attempting to develop coherent accounts of this phenomenon, students consider ways in which pacifist systems of thought have interacted with violent systems of justification, often but not always with genocidal results. It was in the midst of such a violent crisis that Hobbes initiated what remains an undeveloped approach. If one can extrapolate from Hobbes's nationalist agenda and redirect his approach in a democratic way, one can arrive (as many have) at the following claim: Only when globally sovereign conflict-resolving institutions are fully authorized will any subordinate system justifying violence lose its force and coherence, except in the case of violent revolutionary movements that challenge the global authority itself. Partly by examining various fledgling attempts to operate aspects of a future sovereign system, we ask of this claim not so much whether it is practical as whether we resist its implications or suspect its grounding.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nyu.edu

Phone Number:

(212) 998-1212

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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