More than a century before Grotius wrote his famous work on international law, his
countryman Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam laid the foundations for the modern
critique of war. In several writings, especially those published in the period 1515-
1517, the "prince of humanists" brilliantly and devastatingly condemned war not
only on Christian but also on secular/rational grounds. His graphic depiction of the
miseries of war, together with his impassionate plea for its avoidance, remains
unparalleled. Erasmus argued as a moralist and educator rather than as a political
theorist or statesman. If any single individual in the modern world can be credited
with "the invention of peace", the honour belongs to Erasmus rather than Kant whose
essay on perpetual peace was published nearly three centuries later. / Published erratum on last page.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/5003 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | van den Dungen, Peter |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Published version |
| Rights | © 2009, YIJUN Institute of International Law, Seoul, Korea. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
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