PředmětyPředměty(verze: 964)
Předmět, akademický rok 2024/2025
   Přihlásit přes CAS
Peace, War and Justice: Introduction to International Ethics - JTB212
Anglický název: Peace, War and Justice: Introduction to International Ethics
Český název: Mír, válka a spravedlnost: uvedení do mezinárodní etiky
Zajišťuje: Katedra evropských studií (23-KZS)
Fakulta: Fakulta sociálních věd
Platnost: od 2024
Semestr: letní
E-Kredity: 6
Způsob provedení zkoušky: letní s.:
Rozsah, examinace: letní s.:1/1, Zk [HT]
Počet míst: neomezen / neurčen (20)
Minimální obsazenost: 5
4EU+: ne
Virtuální mobilita / počet míst pro virtuální mobilitu: ne
Kompetence: critical thinking
Stav předmětu: vyučován
Jazyk výuky: angličtina
Způsob výuky: prezenční
Poznámka: předmět je možno zapsat mimo plán
povolen pro zápis po webu
při zápisu přednost, je-li ve stud. plánu
Garant: prof. Pierre Allan
Zuzana Krulichová, M.A.
Vyučující: prof. Pierre Allan
Zuzana Krulichová, M.A.
Třída: Courses for incoming students
Anotace - angličtina
What are the relationships between, peace, war, and justice ? This block course will meet only six times of two periods each during the semester, not every week. It will introduce students to international ethics, based on current wars as well as historical examples, such as Jan Palach's January 1969 suicide in Prague which shook the Czechoslovak nation. That student of Charles University burned himself on Vaclavske namesti protesting the Soviet occupation of August 1968. What was his moral message ?

Stephan Lux, another Czechoslovak, shot himself at a regular League of Nations meeting in Geneva in the Summer of 1936. Dying, Lux left a farewell letter addressed to Anthony Eden, then British Foreign Secretary, pleading for integrating Italy in a front countering Nazi Germany. His act came only a few days after Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia had pleaded to the League the very opposite, denouncing the brutal occupation of his country by Benito Mussolini's fascist Italy, asking the League to punish it. Who was right ?

The central ethical themes which shall be developed are :
— Moral theories
— Just War
— Just Peace
— Pacifism and non-violence
— Human Rights, 'thin' and 'thick' morality, justice, and universal norms
— Truth and morality (ambiguity & ambivalence of moral norms and values, personal vs. nation-state morality, facts vs. 'fake news')



Poslední úprava: Krulichová Zuzana, M.A. (03.02.2025)
Cíl předmětu - angličtina
Teaching goals

Students will become familiar with concepts and theories helping them to develop their own thoughts about the realities, impediments, and challenges of international morality. They will be encouraged to think deeper about their personal moral ideals and critically evaluate philosophers' moral reasoning.



Poslední úprava: Krulichová Zuzana, M.A. (03.02.2025)
Deskriptory - angličtina



Course outline


What are the relationships between, peace, war, and justice ? This block course will meet only six times of two periods each during the semester, not every week. It will introduce students to international ethics, based on current wars as well as historical examples, such as Jan Palach's January 1969 suicide in Prague which shook the Czechoslovak nation. That student of Charles University burned himself on Vaclavske namesti protesting the Soviet occupation of August 1968. What was his moral message ?

Stephan Lux, another Czechoslovak, shot himself at a regular League of Nations meeting in Geneva in the Summer of 1936. Dying, Lux left a farewell letter addressed to Anthony Eden, then British Foreign Secretary, pleading for integrating Italy in a front countering Nazi Germany. His act came only a few days after Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia had pleaded to the League the very opposite, denouncing the brutal occupation of his country by Benito Mussolini's fascist Italy, asking the League to punish it. Who was right ?

Two years later, Gandhi wrote an open letter to the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes. Eden's boss, prime minister Chamberlain, had just signed the Munich agreement whereby Czechoslovakia ceded its Sudeten to the German Reich as demanded by Hitler who was "defending the German majority" in those lands. Chamberlain's policy of 'appeasement' was applauded then but much criticized to this day. Writing to Benes shortly after Munich, Gandhi strongly urged him to adopt the policy of non-violence. Czechoslovakia had been abandoned by Great Britain and France, but it would save its soul by renouncing violence.  

During World War Two, Heinrich Himmler, exhorting his SS commanders in their duty to exterminate the Jews, also stressed to them the difficulty of their endeavor: how can that be ? In Antiquity already, Thucydides had pictured his fellow Athenians as respectable democrats obeying their laws and their magistrates, while describing the normal butchering and enslavement of the defeated Melians as the order of the day. Such stories exemplify the complexity of moral considerations.

Through a large sweep of interpreted history, we will identify a limited number of ethical principles or precepts which have been present throughout the ages. Just War theory – the oldest principle in international relations – exhibits a crucial feature: it appears as a contradiction as such, justice and war being ethical antinomies. But its nature also reminds us that purity in principles rarely obtains. Typically, a necessary moral compromise between conflicting rules has to be made. How can one achieve justice while resorting to war's inevitable ugliness ? How can one escape making one's hands dirty when using weapons – even when our goals are good and pure, this as a soldier, a general, or a politician ?

The same can be said of another concept, that of Just Peace. Can one attain peace without neglecting justice, at least to some extent ? Is peace in itself not much more important? What about justice, is it not betrayed in the search for peace which may require making it with unsavory political and military figures and put ugly history aside ? Can power relations really be omitted when ascertaining the correct peace formula? Usually not, and compromises need to be made between these two paramount ethical goals. So, when do attempts to find a peaceful solution get to what the parties in conflict consider a Just Peace ? As with Just War, rarely clear-cut solutions offer themselves in an obvious way, no single black or white formula exists, grey remains the predominant color.

'Thin' ethical precepts which are universal do exist – though they always apply through a kaleidoscope of local, historic 'thick' moralities grounded within particular cultures and epochs. Ethical principles common to major religions constitute the pillars of a universal morality. My pragmatic argument: it is better to try to improve the world somewhat, by taking stock of historical rules for acting realistically well (a 'realist' perspective), rather than defining an ideal towards which everyone should then strive (an 'idealist' view).

The central ethical themes which shall be developed are :
— Moral theories
— Just War
— Just Peace
— Pacifism and non-violence
— Human Rights, 'thin' and 'thick' morality, justice, and universal norms
— Truth and morality (ambiguity & ambivalence of moral norms and values, personal vs. nation-state morality, facts vs. 'fake news')

Poslední úprava: Krulichová Zuzana, M.A. (03.02.2025)
Podmínky zakončení předmětu - angličtina
Student work evaluation
Class attendance and participation: attendance is mandatory, with one unexcused absence tolerated. Questions, criticisms, and class discussions will be encouraged. Evaluation: 25% of final grade (25 points maximum). 
Final exam (75 points maximum): given on Thursday 15 May 2025, depending on students’ wishes and on logistical imperatives (to be discussed in April). The form of the exam is a 15 minute individual oral exam with 15 minutes of individual preparation just before, this while another student has her/his exam. Students will be allowed to consult their course documents: ourse slides, required readings, personal notes, including on their personal computers; however the exam is strictly individual and no outside help can be used.
Grades: 100 points maximum. A: 100-91 points; B: 90-81 points; C: 80-71 points; D: 70-61 points; E: 60-51 points; F: 50-0 points.
Poslední úprava: Krulichová Zuzana, M.A. (03.02.2025)
Literatura - angličtina

Required readings

Pierre Allan (2006, 2008), "Measuring International Ethics: A Moral Scale of War, Peace, Justice, and Global Care," in Pierre Allan and Alexis Keller (eds.), What is a Just Peace ?, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 90-129.

Pierre Allan & Alexis Keller  (2012),  "Is a Just Peace Possible Without Thin and Thick Recognition ?", in Thomas Lindemann & Erik Ringmar (eds.), Struggle for Recognition in International Politics, Boulder, Col.: Paradigm Publishers, pp.71-84.

Stephen T. Asma (2013), Against Fairness, Chicago: Chicago University Press, (Chapter 1 “Even Jesus Had a Favorite”, pp. 1-20/notes 171-3; Chapter 5 “The Circle of Favors: Global Perspectives”, pp. 99-114/notes 187-90; Chapter 7 “Because You're Mine, I Walk the Line”, pp. 151-170/notes 193-6).

Michael W. Doyle (2006), "One World, Many Peoples: International Justice in John Rawls's The Law Of Peoples," Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 4/No. 1, pp. 109-120.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1938), "If I were a Czech", in Harijan, October 15.

Thomas Hobbes (1651), Leviathan, New York: Norton, 1997 (chapter 13: "Of the Natural Condition of Mankind, as concerning their Felicity, and Misery", pp. 68-72.)

Immanuel Kant (1795), On Perpetual Peace, extracts (pp. 11-24 & 29-33.)

Hans Küng (1997), A Global Ethic for Global Politics and Economics, London: SCM Press, (Chapter 4: "A Global Ethic as a Foundation for Global Society", pp. 91-113.)

Robert W. McElroy (1992), Morality and American Foreign Policy: The Role of Ethics in International Affairs, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (Chapter 1: "The Debate on Morality and International Relations", pp. 3-29.)

John Rawls (1999), The Law of Peoples, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, (Chapter 9.3 "Kazanistan: A Decent Hierarchical People", pp. 75-8.)

Michael Walzer (1994), Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, (Chapter 1: "Moral Minimalism", pp. 1-19; Chapter 4: "Justice and Tribalism: Minimal Morality In International Politics", pp. 63-83.)

Michael Walzer (2022), "Our Ukraine", Dissent Magazine, March 2nd, 2022.

Max Weber (1919), "Politics as a Vocation", in The Vocation Lectures, Indianapolis: IN: Hackett Publishing Co., pp. 22-end.

(NB: one or two supplementary readings may be given out during the semester)

Poslední úprava: Allan Pierre, prof. (23.01.2025)
Metody výuky - angličtina

Block course open to advanced Bachelor’s and Master's students

(JTB212 worth 6 ECTS) of the Summer 2025 semester

room B330 Jinonice Faculty of Social Sciences (FSV), U Krize 8, Prague 5

Only six teaching sessions during the semester, of two periods each, always on Thursdays from 17:00 to 19:50
1. Thursday 20 February 2025
2. Thursday 27 February 2025
    (3 week break)
3. Thursday 27 March 2025
4. Thursday 3 April 2025
    (one week break) 
5. Thursday 17 April 2025
6. Thursday 24 April 2025
    (2 week break)
Exam on Thursday 15 May 2025. Oral exam with precise schedule around the normal teaching hours to be fixed according to students’ preferences and logistical imperatives.

Teaching Assistance through whom all communications should go:              Ms. Terezie Trestikova

Poslední úprava: Krulichová Zuzana, M.A. (03.02.2025)
 
Univerzita Karlova | Informační systém UK