A Philosophy of War

The best-selling author of A Philosophy of Walking returns to address the eternal subject of human conflict

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seems to many like a throwback to another age, rattling Europe with memories of past horrors. But since the end of the Second World War there has not been a single day without armed conflict somewhere in the world. Drawing on the great political philosophers, from Plato to Marx, via Machiavelli and Hobbes, Frédéric Gros attempts to answer the age-old questions regarding humanity’s propensity to wage war: What is a just war? What moral constraints operate on the combatants? Does the state make war or does war make the state? Finally, after exploring the meaning and the spectre of total war, he tackles the ultimate question: Why war?Introduction: This Time, It Really is War
1 Really a ‘Return’ of War?
2 Heroism and Barbarism
3 What is a ‘Just’ War?
4 The State Makes War and War Makes the State
5 The Idea of Total War
6 Why War?
Conclusion: And War for the Sake of What Peace…
Index"A brilliant essay."
—Lire-Magazine littéraire

"In 162 pages as clear as they are dense, Gros in the lineage of Raymond Aron, untangles this mystery of the dark side of humanity."
—Le Point

"Masterful."
—Nice Matin

"An accessible essay that asks questions as crucial as they are dizzying."
—Marianne

"A beautiful philosophical lesson."
—Psychologies

"Have history’s most devastating conflicts taught us nothing? Philosopher Gros mines the writings of thinkers ancient and modern to discern the root of mankind’s insatiable urge to conquer."
—The Washington Independent Review of BooksFrédéric Gros is both philosopher and writer. In France, he was the leading editor of Michel Foucault's works and lectures. He teaches political humanities at Sciences-po Paris. His first major success was a book on walking (A Philosophy of Walking), translated into some twenty languages.