Introduction

Pacifism is a complex topic comprising a variety of arguments, commitments, and applications. Nonviolence is a closely related and similarly complex idea. Pacifism is typically used in a narrow sense to mean opposition to war, while nonviolence typically describes a method and means, and in some cases a virtue or even a way of life. Many of the greatest proponents of pacifism and nonviolence have been religious: Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., for example. But opposition to war can also be grounded in nonreligious moral argument. Significant secular pacifists and critics of war include William James, Jane Addams, Bertrand Russell, and Albert Einstein. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the ideas of pacifists and proponents of nonviolence in many traditions, while also providing examples of how these ideas can be applied in various cases.