Aristotle's and the Catholic Church's Opinions on War - Essay Example

Aristotle and the Catholic Church's opinion on War

Thesis Statement

War has become a major concern in today’s world, having different interpretation from the Catholic Church and secular philosophers such as Aristotle. Despite both of them agreeing on the negative and destructive nature of war, they also disagree on issues such as the justification and the need for war.

Introduction

War is the conflict between two or more parties. War is the act of violence when parties involved failed to come to an agreement and engage in physical, verbal or cyber retaliation. Since the beginning of time, men have always been at war with each other. It begins with Abel and Cain, where one of the other killed the other. Since then they have been numerous conflicts that have caused great destruction and loss of lives. There have been two great wars, which involved or affect every country in the world. They are the first and the second world wars. Today there are still, wars and rumours are going on. Nations invest heavily in a military to ensure they have the current modern technology for war.

There are many opinions about war today. The ideas try to understand the dynamics of war. Various schools of thought consider war as a natural occurrence and have to occur. While there are other schools of thoughts that consider the war to be needless and just the lack of understanding between the parties involved. War is a subject that should be debated and analysis to prevent it from occurring. It causes a lot of damage and loss of lives. During the Great War, millions of people died and others displaced. A lot of property and investments were lost. War is an act that causes a lot of suffering to everyone involved. Moreover, a lot of innocent blood is shed such as the bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki where many children lost their lives and many chemicals was dumped into the atmosphere.

Aristotle and the Catholic Church Background

Aristotle was a great thinker who was born in 384 BC in the north of Greece. He was a great philosopher who is considered on the first geniuses in history. He contributed a lot to a modern philosopher in the western culture. He also did many studies in philosophy, biology, physics, art, and logic. He studied at Plato's Academy and went on to tutor Alexander the great. He had many thoughts and did many experiments to quench his curiosity. He was interested to determine what made one live a good life. He tried to answer the question what was the greater good. Wealth, food, and honour were not enough for one to life a happy life. He suggested that one need character and intelligent to live a sufficient and pleasing life. Live to him was not only about laws, but he wanted to understand the man and what caused the man to behave in certain ways and behaviours.

The Catholic Church is a Christian church that starts from the time of Jesus Christ. It is a congregation of believers, who believe that Jesus is the son of God. A pope heads it, and the first pope is Saint Peter, who was appointed by Jesus Christ himself. Since that time, there have been many popes and the church has grown large in numbers. Its main headquarters is the Vatican City in Europe. The Catholic Church has the most significant number of believers. It follows the word of God. All the believers value teachings from the holy bible. Believers today follow the Bible as the inspired and spoken words of God. It acts as a guide to how Christian is expected to live their lives on a daily routine. It also has teachings and commandments that structure the way the church thinks and the actions it should take is different situations. Their views of the war in this research will be based on the teachings of the Bible and the Catholic Church.

Ethical Responses

Aristotle greatly believed in the well-being of humankind. He was mostly interested in the ‘higher good’. Most human beings are mostly interested in the pleasures of food, honour and wealth, but Aristotle was not convinced by this ideology. His idea was for man to live a balanced life he needed virtues. He taught that there was a balance between traits. For example, there was a problem of being arrogant and being too shy. The right balance was being confidence. For peace to prevail, humankind had to enjoy a balanced life. Peace was essential for development because it meant stability among people.

Moreover, he claimed that peace was a result of habituation. A man should strive everyday to perform virtuous acts that will help him live in harmony with his neighbour. To achieve this, it meant that there had to be practice. One had to perform virtuous acts until they become pleasant to him. He understood that it was man’s nature to rebel and choose the path was easiest to him. This always resulted in arguments, which eventually lead to war because of misunderstanding. For peace to live among the people there had to be a struggle and desire to live a morally upright live. Furthermore, a character was not enough. One had to be educated to acquire intelligence. Intelligence is important because it educates the public on the repercussions of their actions. It may be through the study of history were leaders learnt how behaving in a certain lead to wars. Wars lead to destruction, poverty and slavery. This knowledge could help a leader to weigh his options before acting carelessly and causing his nation to suffer out of negligence. Aristotle explained that performing this acts was not an act of pleasure and being virtuous meant that one had to deny himself the pleasures that this world had to offer.

Assumptions of Aristotle’s Ideology

There are various assumptions that are found in Aristotle arguments. The first assumption is that the ethics’ goals are practical which in reality is not. The truth is that not everyone will act in a morally upright way. The man has free will and, therefore, he is acting according to his will. This undermines the peace because everyone will act according to his wishes. It is also impossible to control the actions and the thoughts of other people. The nation may choose not to be educated and enlightened therefore it may not be possible for people to avoid war. Another assumption is that war is an important part of the human life that cannot be avoided. During Aristotle time, there were a lot of politics, wars and rumours of war, which influenced his opinion. He also believed there to be peace there had to be war. It was easier to win a war than to affect peace across the different region because of greed, religious believers and lack of understanding. This is an assumption that is not necessarily true because there a lot of nations that live in peace and have not been to war.

Theological Response

The Catholic Church response is that men on earth are commanded by God to live in peace with each other. They are commanded to love each other as they love themselves. The church believes that there is no purpose for war and that it is not the intention of God that man should suffer. The Catholic Church believes that everyone has equal rights and that human life is precious.

It is important that human life is preserved, and no one should take the life of another human being. It is considered a sin to kill another person, and it is one of the commandments that God gave Moses to the people of Israel.

However, the church allows one to defend him when he is in trouble and to defend other people who may need his help. The Church allows Christians to join the military because self-defence is allowed. The Catholic Church bases its opinion of war based on the Bible. They believe that man should live in harmony with each other. They strongly believe in loving God, loving one's neighbour and loving oneself. The Bible has numerous stories of how God lead the Israelites into war and how He helped them conquer their enemies. However, in the New Testament, Jesus came along and taught rules that his beliefs should follow. He said that believers should turn their other chick. He insisted that Christians should do good to their enemies and love them unconditionally. Jesus was a humble and peaceful man who never engaged in disputes or fight even when one of his disciples betrayed him. The Catholic Church teaches that human beings should follow Jesus' example and be peaceful.

Assumptions of the Catholic Church Ideology

There are certain assumptions based on this ideology that everyone follows the teaching of the Bible. There are many religions in the world, and everyone believes in a different supernatural being. This undermines the teachings against the war because most people will not follow these teachings. There is also the assumption that man can live with each other without war, but this does not happen. There are many nations today and in the past that has gone to war for them to enjoy peace. An example is France and Germany who have been at war with each other in the past nevertheless; today they enjoy peace with each other as neighbours

Differences between Aristotle and the Catholic view on War

The first difference between ideologies is that war has to occur. Aristotle believed that war had to happen while the Catholic Church believed that man should live in peace with each other. The other difference between Aristotle and the Catholic Church opinion is the relationship between war and peace. Aristotle believed that for there to be peace there had to be war. He is quoted saying that peace can only prevail after the war. This is true to some extent because there is usually peace after a long period of war. However, the Church believes that man was created to live in love with each other. In the gospel of the Bible, Jesus tells his followers to stay away from all forms of greed because it leads men to discussions. He clearly told those who would follow him not to store up riches on earth. Another difference between the Catholic Church and Aristotle is the belief that war had to occur. Aristotle believed that war was a part of man's destiny, and it had to happen to take place in the course of time. Man's nature is destructive and since the beginning of time, disputes have always been there. This is clearly shown by Cain murdering his brother. Their story is a demonstration that man would fight his kind. The Catholic Church bears another opinion; it believes that their Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ can to bring peace to the world. Jesus said that he came to give life. The church believes all men on earth can enjoy the peace of God and that there is no need for war. There have to be two parties for there to be war. The church teaching is that when a person strikes you, one should not strike back but turn the other cheek. If men of Earth loved each other, there would be no need for war.

Aristotle believed that there was a justified reason for war. War was meant to define the hierarchy of power and to bring peace to everyone knowing his or her place and their position. However, the Catholic Church believed that there was no justified reason for war expects self-defence. It encourages it follows to treat others fairly and kindly and to think that all men are equal before God. The Bible teaches that the only battle that should take place is the spiritual battle. To Christians, the only enemy is the devil who is a spiritual being. They should not fight man because they are their brother's keeper and both of them are made in the image of God. Therefore, the only one to fight is the devil and the demons that have rejected God. Christians are told that their battleground is prayer because their battle is a spiritual one and not physical. They are commanded to wear spiritual armour and a physical that causes harm to the flesh

Similarities between Aristotle and the Catholic Church Opinion on War

One of the main similarities between these two ideologies is the importance of peace. They both appreciate the usefulness of peace to the human race. Aristotle was a philosopher who was interested to know what makes people happy. He tried to figure out the differences between a life well lived and one that was not. The Catholic Church also praises the importance of peace. They believe in their savoir Jesus Christ, who is also known as the prince of peace. The Catholic Church believes in the Holy Spirit, who is one part of the holy trinity. The Bible teaches that one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is peace. Christians who believe in Jesus Christ have the Holy Spirit in their heart. He offers peace to them. Christians who follow the word of God do not engage in fights and love each other.

The Catholic Church and Aristotle both agree that war is destructive. The world wars that occurred at the beginning of the twentieth century caused a lot of damage. Countries were millions of dollars in debt after buildings, factories and farms were destroyed. There were also millions of people who were killed, and others were displaced as a cause of the war. The other similarities between Aristotle and the Catholic opinion on the war are the justification of self-defence. The Catholic Church allows Christians to join the military. It is because everyone starts not all wars. There are wars where nations provoke other countries. Aristotle also saw that self-defence was a necessary trait of a human being to survive. He advocated for certain features that were important during combat. Courage was one of the traits that he felt was important for one to live a happy life. During an invasion, one had to courageous and brave enough to stand against its oppressors and defend his loved ones and his property.

These two schools of thought, Aristotle, and the Catholic Church, find it important for people to gain knowledge to avoid war. The Bible states in its Scriptures, which God told his people they die because of lack of knowledge. Many wars have been caused because of lack of understanding of each other. There are wars that have lasted for years because leaders of different countries could not sit together and settle their disputes without using force or physical action. Moreover, the Bible tells its believers that they must be slow to anger and avoid all kinds of greed. Through reading the Bible, one can understand the world and the instructions of God that will make him a kinder human being. Through reading the Bible, it is possible for one to read examples of tragic war stories in the Bible and the negative impact it had in the world.

Aristotle also emphasized the importance of knowledge to live a happy and fulfilled life. Knowledge is powerful because it can transform the way people think. One important subject is history. History is important because it helps people to learn from their mistakes. By studying wars in schools and understanding the effects they have on the economy and population, it is easier to make a well-informed decision

Conclusion

Despite Aristotle and the Catholic Church having different opinions, it is evident to see that war is harmful to human life. Wars have been fought in the various regions and times, and they all cause bloodshed and destruction of property. Today, weapons that are more sophisticated are capable of wiping out the human race. It is important that different people from different regions, religions, race, gender and ages come together to find better alternatives to solving disputes .

Finally, it is crucial to note that peace is fundamental for the survival of the human race. People of different backgrounds believe and social classes should respect each other regardless of their status and ideology. Everyone has equal rights.