Introduction: Why Pacifism?

Abstract

Pacifism has intuitive appeal. It is built around a moral intuition. Most people do not enjoy the actual exercise or direct experience of violence. Hence one would expect that pacifism would have wide popular support. For most of its history, however, pacifism has been a minority position. At the same, we appear to be witnessing a comeback of pacifism. The purpose of this book is to examine the appeal of pacifism. What are the chances of its renewed appeal being more successful today?