ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to clarify the relationship of pacifism to the concept of morality, and clarifies the issues dividing pacifists and warists. It also clarifies what pacifism is by showing the importance of the distinction between individuals and collectivities to the problem of war, and clarifies the concept of morality. Morality is a perspective from which to guide the conduct of individual persons and to foster the good, not of any particular nation state, or even of a collection of nation states, but of humankind the world over. Pacifism as a global perspective also contrasts with purely personal pacifism, which is a refusal to participate in war that does not necessarily extend to opposing the participation of others. The term “moral,” as others have noted, is ambiguous. It can be used to contrast with immoral, as in “that was the moral thing to do,” in which case it is roughly synonymous with morally right.
