Koncept spravodlivej vojny v klasickom Grécku. (Slovak)

The Concept of Just War in Classical Greece. (English)

In general, the just war tradition is portrayed as a product of Christian political theology and the majority of scholars dates its origin to the 4th century AD. This common view, however, represents a rather selective perspective on the just war tradition. It ignores the fact that the reflections on the justification of war in terms of human and divine justice precede the writings of the early Christian theologians. If we pay a more detailed attention to the historical and philosophical writings of the classical Greek period, we discover a rich and colourful world of thinking about the idea of just war. Despite the fact that we will not find there any systematic just war theory, the ideas that were in the centre of classical Greek authors' interest, notably that of Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle, constitute an important consideration for both today's understanding of the origin of this tradition and the concept of just war itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cultural History / Kultúrne Dejiny / Kulturgeschichte is the property of Verbum - Vydavatel'stvo KU and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)