Understanding Peace: A Comprehensive Introduction

Abstract

This book has three main goals: to explain the fundamentals of peace in a clear and accessible manner within a secular framework; to show that peace in the world is possible; and to argue that where war is concerned, we are not using our brains effectively in the interest of survival and flourishing. Peace is not a great mystery. We know to a large extent what we need to do to realize it. But there is no simple recipe for motivating people to do what they ought to do and can do - which is essentially to choose the path of intelligence and nonviolent coexistence. By appealing to everyone's sense that peace is desirable, 'Understanding Peace: A Comprehensive Introduction' aims to stimulate greater interest in peace as well as creative thinking and action to help promote it. But it is also necessary to address a prevailing kind of skepticism that suggests peace is only an elusive dream of humankind, and this is done here by arguing that we have the resources, individually and collectively, to make peace a realistic objective that is worth working toward.