Non-Violence A History Beyond the Myth [Paperback]

This book embraces two centuries of the history of non-violence, reconstructing the great historical crises that this movement has faced. In this book the historical reconstruction is intertwined with the philosophical and psychological analysis of the moral dilemmas that great historical crises inevitably imply.We know of the blood and tears provoked by the projects of transformation of the world through war or revolution. Starting from the essay published in 1921 by Walter Benjamin, twentieth century philosophy has been committed to the criticism of violence, even when it has claimed to follow noble ends. But what do we know of the dilemmas, of the betrayals, of the disappointments and tragedies which the movement of non-violence has suffered? This book tells a fascinating history: from the American Christian organizations in the first decades of the nineteenth century who wanted to eliminate slavery and war in a non-violent way, to the protagonists of movementsThoreau, Tolstoy, Gandhi, Capitini, M. L. King, the Dalai Lamawho either for idealism or for political calculation flew the flag of non-violence, up to the leaders of todays color revolutions.Introduction: From the Broken Promises of Perpetual Peace to Non-Violence1. Christian Abolitionism and Pacifism in the USA2. From Pacifist Abolitionism to Gandhi and Tolstoy3. Gandhi and the Socialist Movement: Violence as Discrimination?4. The Anti-Colonialist Movement, Lenins Party, and Gandhis Party5. Non-Violence in the Face of Fascism and the Second World War6. Martin Luther King as the Black Gandhi and Afro-American Radicalism7. Gandhis Global Reputation and the Construction of the Non-Violent Pantheon8. From Gandhi to the Dalai Lama?9. Non-Violence, the Color Revolutions, and the Great Game10. A Realistic Non-Violence in a World Prey to Nuclear CatastropheDomenico Losurdo is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Urbino.