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Pacifisim vs. Realism Essays

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Pacifisim vs. Realism

In this paper I will be analyzing and critiquing the theory of pacifism. This theory is the belief that war is never an option under any circumstance. Even if a nation is being attacked a pacifist will believe that retaliating is morally wrong for a number of reasons. Such reasons behind pacifism are supported by issues of morality and what the pacifist themselves feel to be morality. I will provide three arguments to the pacifist way of thinking.

It is an inevitability that with war lives will be lost, but that also innocents not officially involved in a war will lose their lives. There is simply no way around the loss of innocent lives amidst war in this age of advanced weaponry, which is specifically …show more content…

Even if the importance of saving all innocents from harm was ignored then war can still be seen as unjustifiable for various other reasons. Wars have been known to hurt economies, damage the environment, and end up causing the harm of more innocents over time than are saved immediately. Take, for example, World War I or The Great War. The end of said war left Germany in a devastating state. Its economy was low and they were essentially blamed for the entirety of World War I. Such a depressing state for the country allowed Adolf Hitler to wrap the German people around his finger and rise to power. Hitler's rule of Germany brought about World War II. Hitler killed thousands of Jews in concentration camps and that's not to mention all the allied soldiers who lost their lives fighting to stop the Axis powers and the innocents who lost their lives amidst the many bombings. A war which does not affect those outside of the immediate conflict cannot happen. History has given us the experience we need to know this. War does major damage and this is unacceptable.

For my third argument I stress that pacifism is a viable solution to times of conflict. The world will try to deny it, but it works and has worked in the past. I present the civil rights movement as an example. The civil rights movement in America was a trying time for African Americans. They were segregated from whites and had a difficult time succeeding this

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