Social Cosmology and the Concept of Peace

Bibliographic Data

ID3918241
AuthorsJohan Galtung (Goals, Process, and Indicators of Development Project, UNU International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume18
Issue2
Pages183-199
Publication date1981-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Peace Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3433 • E-ISSN: 1460-3578
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/002234338101800207
OpenAlexW2147244522
LanguageEN
Citations received30
References cited7

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

Epistemology · Harmony (color) · Linguistics · Orient · Physics · Political science · Shalom · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence