Paper's abstract

Michel Dion, The Ideal of Peace and the Concept of a Just War : between meta-norm, dialectic and the pursuit of humanist solutions
We could believe that every ideal of peace is culturally and religiously induced throughout its elaboration and transformation processes. However, when looking closely to the evolution of every ideal of peace in Western history, we could observe that for world religions, an ideal of peace functions as a meta-norm that tries to establish a rationalized hierarchy between religious values and the cultures in which they are imbedded. From this viewpoint, the ideal of peace has adopted various models in world religions : (a) a dialogal model, where the primacy is put on the « I-Thou relationship » (Judaism) ; (b) a holistic model, that transforms all cultures out of this ideal, although it has to be constantly reinterpreted (Islam) ; (c) a transpersonal model that tends to uproot individual from their cultures and to focus on the inner transformation (Buddhism), or on collective well-being (Hinduism). In this article, we will give a brief presentation of the ideal of peace in the main world religions and their convergence. But above all, we intend to identity various models of interaction between the ideal of peace and the concept of a just war.

Key Words : Peace, religion, just war
t. 47, 2003 : p. 263-282