The Concept of Violence

217 Pages·2016·1.92 MB·English

by  Mark Vorobej

The Concept of Violence
“This is a masterful analysis of the debate over how violence should
be understood, along with the author’s justification of a far more
precise and logical definition of the concept. A persuasive analysis of
exceptional skill and elegance, the book should be read by everyone
concerned about limiting the tragic effects of violence in our lives.”
—Robert Paul Churchill,
George Washington University, US
This book focuses on conceptual questions that arise when we explore the
fundamental aspects of violence. Mark Vorobej teases apart what is meant
by the term “violence,” showing that it is a surprisingly complex, unwieldy
and highly contested concept. Rather than attempting to develop a fixed
definition of violence, Vorobej explores the varied dimensions of the phe-
nomenon of violence and the questions they raise, addressing the criteria of
harm, agency, victimhood, instrumentality and normativity. Vorobej uses
this multifaceted understanding of violence to engage with and compli-
cate existing approaches to the essential nature of violence: first, Vorobej
explores the liberal tradition that ties violence to the intentional infliction
of harm, and that grows out of a concern for protecting individual liberty
or autonomy. He goes on to explore a more progressive tradition—one that
is usually associated with the political left—that ties violence to the bare
occurrence of harm, and that is more concerned with an equitable promo-
tion of human welfare than with the protection of individual liberty. Finally,
the book turns to a tradition that operates with a more robust normative
characterization of violence as a morally flawed (or forbidden) response to
the ontological fact of (human) vulnerability. This nuanced and in-depth
study of the nature of violence will be especially relevant to researchers in
applied ethics, peace studies and political philosophy.
Mark Vorobej is a former associate professor in the Department of Philosophy,
and a former director of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University.
He is the author of A Theory of Argument (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
and numerous articles in the areas of logical theory and moral philosophy.
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Livingston Mark Vorobej
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The Concept of Violence
Mark Vorobej
First published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
© 2016 Taylor & Francis
The right of Mark Vorobej to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by
him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vorobej, Mark, 1957– author.
Title: The concept of violence / By Mark Vorobej.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2016. | Series: Routledge studies in contemporary
philosophy ; 78 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015041944 | ISBN 9781138187016 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Violence.
Classification: LCC B105.V5 V67 2016 | DDC 179.7—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041944
ISBN: 978-1-138-18701-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64344-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Preface ix
1 Interpersonal Violence 1
1.1 Semantics 2
1.2 HAVIN 4
1.3 OED 6
1.4 Normative Neutrality 10
1.5 Social Harmony 12
1.6 Foreseeability 16
1.7 Prima Facie Wrongness 18
1.8 Intentionality 22
1.9 Harm 24
1.10 Instrumentality 33
1.11 Psychological Harm 39
1.12 Collective Violence 47
1.13 Avoiding Violence 49
2 Structural Violence 63
2.1 Actual and Potential Realizations 63
2.2 Human Flourishing 69
2.3 Reflective Equilibrium 74
2.4 A Metaphysical Reading 81
2.5 An Epistemological Reading 88
2.6 Avoidable Harm 94
2.7 Structural Causality 101
2.8 Ignorance 106
2.9 The Moral Point of View 111
2.10 Inequality 116
2.11 Progressive Consequentialism 122
viii Contents
3 A Hybrid Account 145
3.1 Agents of Structural Violence 145
3.2 Hybridity 153
3.3 Self-Defeating Behaviour 158
3.4 Means and Ends 163
3.5 Morality and Vulnerability 169
3.6 Physical Violence 174
3.7 Psychological Violence 179
3.8 Cultural Violence 182
3.9 A Homework Exercise 191
Bibliography 200
Index 205
Preface
The literature on the topic of violence is vast and overwhelming. The essay
that follows engages with and attempts to advance the discussion that occurs
within only a tiny fraction of that enormous body of literature.
The Concept of Violence is primarily a philosophical study in the sense
that it focuses on conceptual questions that arise when we explore the essen-
tial nature, or the most fundamental aspects of violence. In other words,
the questions that I tackle tend to be theoretical (rather than concrete and
empirical) in nature. Chapter one explores the liberal philosophical tradi-
tion that identifies violence with an agent’s exercise of physical force with
the intention to inflict harm. Chapter two explores a broader Galtungian
notion that identifies violence with the bare occurrence of harm, regard-
less of how that harm may have been caused or whether its occurrence
was motivated by any particular kind of intention. Chapter three presents a
novel account of violence that emerges from a philosophical tradition that
sees violence as a violation of the moral order.
In the third and final chapter I defend the claim that we all lead lives that
are, to an extraordinary extent, mired in violence. This is a claim that liber-
als have a difficult time accepting. It’s also a claim that Galtungians have a
difficult time articulating in a consistent and rigorous fashion. Ultimately,
however, in this text I’m less interested in getting anyone to agree with me
on any definitive claims about the nature of violence, than in exploring the
conceptual limits of the three intellectual traditions under consideration. By
explaining how each tradition still faces major unresolved challenges, I am
implicitly arguing for the optimistic thesis that each tradition is in fact con-
ceptually richer than has previously been thought. This thesis is optimistic
since it says, in effect, that within each tradition, there is more work to be
done, there are more choices to be made, and more options to explore. So
no tradition can be rejected out of hand—not just yet, at any rate.
All three chapters operate within a broadly analytic framework that seeks
to understand the concept of violence by articulating conditions that are
necessary and sufficient for its application. This essay, therefore, focuses on
definitions, and on the project of defining violence along fairly traditional
lines. I believe that this project, when executed carefully, bears substantial