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Rediscovering the Augustinian Link Between Justice and Peace
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Rediscovering the Augustinian Link between Justice and Peace
Peter Busch Villanova University As citizens of a liberal democracy, we often say that our government is dedicated to promoting peace, a peace to be enjoyed among our own people and ultimately with those of all nations. But this justification, though common, is also questionable, and the most basic question arises when we take our professed goal seriously enough to examine it. What is the peace that we say we want? It is unclear that we have an explanation that satisfies even ourselves, let alone people from other political, cultural, or religious traditions.
In this paper I will argue for the following three propositions. First, our default
notions of peace still follow the lead of Thomas Hobbes, the modern political philosopher who teaches us to uphold the civil peace as the platform for our private pursuit of power in this life. Second, if we are dissatisfied with Hobbes yet still serious about peace, we need to reconsider Saint Augustine, who identifies peace as the summum bonum that sets the standard for political life. And third, although Augustine hopes for eternal peace because of his Christian faith, his account of peace is not based primarily on an appeal to divine authority; it is an argument intended for believers and unbelievers alike, and especially for readers who are serious about justice. 1. Our Hobbesian Predicament In Leviathan (1651), Hobbes defines peace negatively as the absence of war. Peace is not the supreme good that everyone loves – there is no such summum bonum, Hobbes asserts – but the means of avoiding the greatest evil, namely, death at the hands of other human beings. Hobbes thinks there is every reason to preserve the peace, thus understood, and scarcely any to disturb it. It is true that human beings are restless, but their restlessness should be understood as a never-ending quest for power that will help assure their future felicity, or the way of their desire from one object to the next. This quest can only make progress when it is conducted through the channels of a peaceful commonwealth. Among the “laws of nature” that show us how to seek peace is “complaisance,” or accommodating oneself to others. Nothing could be more irrational, for Hobbes, than to disturb the civil peace in the name of some allegedly higher standard of justice. The only good reason for disturbing the peace is an imminent and otherwise unavoidable threat to one’s personal safety; only then does one have the right to secure oneself by making war – again, without giving any thought to justice. For as Hobbes would have us admit, where there is no peace, there can be no justice, either.
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No serious student of the Leviathan can fail to notice the book’s remarkable
power to explain how we tend to pursue peace, individually and collectively, as citizens
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See Hobbes 1996 [1651], 69-70, 91-2, 106, 123-4, 128-9.
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1
Rediscovering the Augustinian Link between Justice and Peace
Peter Busch
Villanova University
As citizens of a liberal democracy, we often say that our government is dedicated to
promoting peace, a peace to be enjoyed among our own people and ultimately with those
of all nations. But this justification, though common, is also questionable, and the most
basic question arises when we take our professed goal seriously enough to examine it.
What is the peace that we say we want? It is unclear that we have an explanation that
satisfies even ourselves, let alone people from other political, cultural, or religious
traditions.
In this paper I will argue for the following three propositions. First, our default
notions of peace still follow the lead of Thomas Hobbes, the modern political philosopher
who teaches us to uphold the civil peace as the platform for our private pursuit of power
in this life. Second, if we are dissatisfied with Hobbes yet still serious about peace, we
need to reconsider Saint Augustine, who identifies peace as the summum bonum that sets
the standard for political life. And third, although Augustine hopes for eternal peace
because of his Christian faith, his account of peace is not based primarily on an appeal to
divine authority; it is an argument intended for believers and unbelievers alike, and
especially for readers who are serious about justice.
1. Our Hobbesian Predicament
In Leviathan (1651), Hobbes defines peace negatively as the absence of war. Peace is not
the supreme good that everyone loves – there is no such summum bonum, Hobbes asserts
– but the means of avoiding the greatest evil, namely, death at the hands of other human
beings. Hobbes thinks there is every reason to preserve the peace, thus understood, and
scarcely any to disturb it. It is true that human beings are restless, but their restlessness
should be understood as a never-ending quest for power that will help assure their future
felicity, or the way of their desire from one object to the next. This quest can only make
progress when it is conducted through the channels of a peaceful commonwealth.
Among the “laws of nature” that show us how to seek peace is “complaisance,” or
accommodating oneself to others. Nothing could be more irrational, for Hobbes, than to
disturb the civil peace in the name of some allegedly higher standard of justice. The only
good reason for disturbing the peace is an imminent and otherwise unavoidable threat to
one’s personal safety; only then does one have the right to secure oneself by making war
– again, without giving any thought to justice. For as Hobbes would have us admit,
where there is no peace, there can be no justice, either.
1
No serious student of the Leviathan can fail to notice the book’s remarkable
power to explain how we tend to pursue peace, individually and collectively, as citizens
1
See Hobbes 1996 [1651], 69-70, 91-2, 106, 123-4, 128-9.
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