Social Cosmology and the Concept of Peace

Johan Galtung
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Johan Galtung: Goals, Process, and Indicators of Development Project, UNU International Peace Research Institute, Oslo

Journal of Peace Research, 1981, vol. 18, issue 2, 183-199

Abstract: An important task in peace research has always been and will always be the exploration of the concept of peace. The approach taken to this in the present article is to see the concept of peace in the light of the social cosmology of various civilizations, roughly spanning the classical Occident-Orient spectrum. Methodologically, the terms explored are those that usually are translated, however superficially, into 'peace' in English — and that leads to the Hebrew shalom, the Arabic sala'am, the Roman pax, the Greek eirene, the Indian shanti and ahimsa, the Chinese ho p'ing and p'ing ho, the Japanese heiwa and chowa. Some of the basic differences between these concepts are explored and efforts are made to relate these differences to less ideational, more structural aspects of the peace policies of these civilizations. The general hypothesis is that as one moves eastward from the Occident the peace concepts — and with them, the peace policies — become more and more introvert, inner-directed, away from global architectonics and towards concepts of inner harmony. In conclusion it is pointed out how humankind has been shortshifted by these concepts, having too external concepts in the Occident and too internal concepts in the Orient — leading to the obvious need for a dialogue among civilizations as to concepts of peace with the goal of arriving at richer peace concepts. In this dialogue, needless to say, the civilizations not located on the Occident-Orient spectrum would also participate even if they are not included in this particular article.

Date: 1981
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