It is further claimed that such a pacifist could logically argue that violence leads to more undesirable results than non-violence. The principle is described as difficult to abide by consistently, due to violence not being available as a tool to aid a person who is being harmed or killed. Absolute pacifismĪn absolute pacifist is generally described by the British Broadcasting Corporation as one who believes that human life is so valuable, that a human should never be killed and war should never be conducted, even in self-defense. The interconnections between civil resistance and factors of force are numerous and complex. Sometimes, as with the civil rights movement’s march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, they have called for armed protection. Many leaders and participants in such movements, while recognizing the importance of using non-violent methods in particular circumstances, have not been absolute pacifists. Not all nonviolent resistance (sometimes also called civil resistance) is based on a fundamental rejection of all violence in all circumstances. Others support destruction of property in such emergencies or for conducting symbolic acts of resistance like pouring red paint to represent blood on the outside of military recruiting offices or entering air force bases and hammering on military aircraft. Some however, support physical violence for emergency defence of self or others.

Some pacifists follow principles of nonviolence, believing that nonviolent action is morally superior and/or most effective. War, for the pacifist, is always wrong.” In a sense the philosophy is based on the idea that the ends do not justify the means. Teichman’s beliefs have been summarized by Brian Orend as “… A pacifist rejects war and believes there are no moral grounds which can justify resorting to war. Philosopher Jenny Teichman defines the main form of pacifism as “anti-warism”, the rejection of all forms of warfare. Historians of pacifism Peter Brock and Thomas Paul Socknat define pacifism “in the sense generally accepted in English-speaking areas” as “an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare”. Pacifism covers a spectrum of views, including the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved, calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war, opposition to any organization of society through governmental force (anarchist or libertarian pacifism), rejection of the use of physical violence to obtain political, economic or social goals, the obliteration of force, and opposition to violence under any circumstance, even defence of self and others. Its effectiveness served as inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr., James Lawson, James Bevel, Thich Nhat Hanh and many others in the civil rights movement.Ī peace sign, which is widely associated with pacifism Definition Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) propounded the practice of steadfast nonviolent opposition which he called “satyagraha”, instrumental in its role in the Indian Independence Movement. In modern times, interest was revived by Leo Tolstoy in his late works, particularly in The Kingdom of God Is Within You. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, ancient references abound.

A related term is ahimsa (to do no harm), which is a core philosophy in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud (1864–1921) and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. Pacifism is opposition to war, militarism, or violence. Pacifism and abstention from political activity.Anti-War Literature of the 20th Century.

Pacifist definition