ABSTRACT
Pacifism is usually understood as an unconditional rejection of war. The critical attitude of social pacifism toward war leads to conceptions of how a society or, on a larger scale, the world order should be organized. Emphasis on the power of conscience is the most essential aspect of personal pacifism. Analogues of Christian pacifism are found also in Buddhism, Bahaiism, and other pacifist religions. L. N. Tolstoy’s parables vividly illustrate a variety of pacifism rooted in an individualistically anarchistic ideology—a distrust of all forms of organized social action. Thoreau’s condemnation of the war was rooted in both his profound hatred of slavery and in his pacifism. The Hebrews’ turn to pacifism is understandable in view of the fact that they themselves became victims of militarily superior conquerors. The strength of the strategies of nonviolence that do not satisfy the criteria of “pure” pacifism is that they do not violate what may be a psychological imperative, the need of self-defense.
