მარადიული მშვიდობის ეთიკური ჭრილი – (უტილიტარიზმის დისკურსი). ETHICAL DIMENSION OF PERPETUAL PEACE – (DISCOURSE OF UTILITARIANISM)

Abstract

The philosophical understanding of “ Perpetual peace” is based on the idea of peace as an indestructible ideal, as a state of eternal goodness in which war has no place. According to this view, “ Perpetual peace” has a somewhat utopian content. Consequently, political theories based on this idea are fatally unrealizable and remain an unattainable ideal. However, with the birth of an essentially new discourse in the pre-modern era, a different possibility of understanding this concept emerged. Namely, the British philosopher Jeremiah Bentham introduces utilitarianism as a “principle of utility”, which has a leading role in the field of morality (Bentham: 2021). Later John Stuart Mill finally established the understanding of goodness as benefit, or happiness, in utilitarianism (Mill: 2004). The idea of utility has taken a leading place in philosophical considerations on the subject of European political-legal union. Bentham, the founder of the theory of utilitarianism, created works of a purely practical nature, aimed to demonstrate his theoretically substantiated utilitarian principles in an essay “A Plan for an Universal and Perpetual Peace”, worked out in 1786-1789 (Bentham: 2022). Theses on utility as the goal of human activity allowed Bentham to raise the issue of foreign policy objectives in line with the nation’s interests, as well as the urgent measures to be taken against war as an evil. Bentham starts from quite expected practical positions, addressing the current state of Europe: ” The following plan has for its basis two fundamental propositions:---1.The reduction and fixation of the force of the several nations that compose the European system;---2. The emancipation of the distant dependencies of each state. Each of these propositions has its distinct advantages; but neither of them, it will appear, would completely answer the purpose without the other.” (Bentham: 2022,, Essay 4). The detailed concrete approach by which Bentham approaches the understanding of the ideal of eternal peace helps a European citizen to see more clearly the personal benefits of this project.” “The end in view is to recommend three grand objects, -simplicity of government national frugality, and peace” (Bentham: 2022, Essay 4). Bentham demonstrates the universal benefits and benefits of establishing peace in Europe, outlining the specific paths of a unified European policy that are needed to achieve peaceful coexistence. Two decades after Bentham announced his “Plan ...” the German philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krausepublishes his essay “Outline of the European Union project as a basis for universial peace and a legal means to prevent any violation of Europe’s internal and external freedoms”.1 Ideas expressed in this paper are imbued with the utilitarian spirit of benefit to the peoples of Europe that has become the driving force behind Bentham’s reflections and arguments on the subject. Philosophers of utilitarianism, within their discourse, argue the importance of European unity. For them, this is the desired state of happiness, the actualization of the principle of utility for every inhabitant of Europe. Thanks to the utilitarian vision, the concept of eternal peace has shifted from theoretical considerations to practice, opening up the possibility of its actualization.