Ethical Violence

Human civilization is founded on ethical principles, norms of behaviour that have accumulated over time. Perhaps the oldest of ethical principles is the rejection of violence, which includes the respect for life and for the physical and psychological integrity of others. But in some circumstances, violence itself can be regarded as ethical – for example, when it is used by states claiming to act in self-defense. In these circumstances, the need to defend oneself against an enemy can transform war from an unacceptable act into a necessary, socially shared and morally sanctioned choice. And it is when violence becomes ethical that we must begin to fear for our future.

In the wake of the pandemic, we are witnessing the growing prevalence of aggression and emotionality in social and political life. We find ourselves living in an increasingly impatient and insecure society which is skeptical of scientific thought and which takes refuge in the irrational. The decline of rationality and the growing prevalence of violence are increasingly common features of a society that has lost touch with the great Enlightenment narrative. We need, argues, Bordoni, to rediscover the rationality we have lost and recuperate the positive side of technology.

Carlo Bordoni is former Professor of Sociology at the University of Florence.

Introduction: Living in Disturbing Times


1. Do We Live in the Most Rational of All Possible Worlds?


2. The Violence of Reason


3. Avoidable Conflicts


4. The Ethics of Violence


5. The Fault of Modernity


6. Only Technology Can Save Us