Armed Conflict

War is often said to be rooted in multiple sources located at various levels of analysis (individual, state, or global) and compare the contributions that theories at each level have made to our understanding of the causes of war.

Oxford Dictionary defines war as “any active hostility or struggle between living beings; a conflict between opposing forces or principles” (qtd. in “Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy” para. 8). Since the etiology of war is grasped from many sub-disciplines, it is but wise to learn about it based on three groupings namely: those who seek war’s causation in man’s biology (individual), those that seek it in his culture (global), and those who seek it in his faculty of reason.

These determinants of war could give a better understanding as why it happens despite the detrimental effects it does to mankind particularly in terms of individual and global analysis.

Individually, “Some claim war to be a product of man’s inherited biology, with disagreements raging on the ensuing determinist implications” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy para. 18). According to the “International Encyclopedia of Philosophy,”

Example theories include those that claim man to be naturally aggressive or naturally territorial, more complex analyses incorporate game theory and genetic evolution to explain the occurrence of violence and war (cf. Richard Dawkins for interesting comments on this area).

Within this broad school of thought, some accept that man’s belligerent drives can be channeled into more peaceful pursuits (William James), some worry about man’s lack of inherited inhibitions to fight with increasingly dangerous weapons (Konrad Lorenz), and others claim the natural process of evolution will sustain peaceful modes of behavior over violent (Richard Dawkins) (para. 18).

Rejecting biological determinism, culturalists seek to explain war’s causation in terms of particular cultural institutions (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy para.