Philosophy of Peace and Nonviolence: Spring 2025
Sean Martin
smartin@santarosa.edu
Course Links
Course Syllabus Download Course Syllabus
Midterm Writing Assignment Download Midterm Writing Assignment
Weekly Learning Instructions
Each week, I will be posting learning instructions that cover the present and forthcoming week of class.
Week One: 2/4-2/6 Download Week One: 2/4-2/6
Week Two: 2/11 Download Week Two: 2/11
2/13 NO CLASS PDA
Week Three: 2/18-2/20 Download Week Three: 2/18-2/20
Week Four: 2/25-2/27 Download Week Four: 2/25-2/27
Week Five: 3/4-3/6 Download Week Five: 3/4-3/6
Week Six: 3/11-3/13 Download Week Six: 3/11-3/13
3/14-3/23: NO CLASS SPRING BREAK
Week Seven: 3/25-3/27 Download Week Seven: 3/25-3/27
Week Eight: 4/1-4/3 Download Week Eight: 4/1-4/3
Week Nine: 4/8-4/10
Week Ten: 4/15-4/17
Week Eleven: 4/22-4/24
Week Twelve: 4/29-5/1
Week Thirteen: 5/6-5/8
Week Fourteen: 5/13-5/15
Week Fifteen: Final Exams
Introductory Topics and Resources
Professor Jeffrey Kaplan A Guide for Writing a Philosophy Paper
General Introduction to Nonviolence and Peace Download General Introduction to Nonviolence and Peace
What is Nonviolence:
Links to an external site.
An account by Prof. Michael Nagler of the Metta Center
Discussion Outline Download Discussion Outline What is Nonviolence?
Discussion Outline Download Discussion Outline What is Peace?
Pete Seeger Links to an external site. The Teaspoon Brigade
Unit One: Violence, War and Human Nature
Reading 1: Margaret Mead War is Only an Invention Not a Biological Necessity
An Analysis of Mead's Arguments Download An Analysis of Mead's Arguments With a Primer on Argument Assessment
Reading 2: William James The Moral Equivalent of War
Audio: William James' The Moral Equivalent of War
Links to an external site.
Reading 3: Alfie Kohn Human Nature Isn't Inherently Violent
Video: Kenneth Boulding Links to an external site. Links to an external site.Interview on Economics, War and Peace
Reading 4: UNESCO Seville Statement
Reading 5: John Horgan An End to All Wars?
Reading 6: Thomas Hayden and John Horgan The Last Word on Warfare
Reading 7: Captain Paul K. Chappell Will War Ever End
Video: Soldiers of Conscience Links to an external site. Clip from PBS POV Series (Warning: This clip contains images and descriptions of violence that may be difficult for some students.) You can find the full film Links to an external site. here.
Reading 8: James Gilligan How to Think About Violence
Reading 9: James Gilligan The Biology of Nonviolence
Video: James Gilligan
Links to an external site. On Violence
Video: James Gilligan
Links to an external site. Youth, Violence, and Education
Reading 10: Jonathan Glover Download Reading 10: Jonathan Glover Humanity
Video: Jonathan Glover
Links to an external site. Human Rights, Torture, and Terrorism
Video: Jonathan Glover
Links to an external site. Is War Too Deep in Human Nature to Eradicate?
Dr. Darren Staloff, Hume's Theory of Morality Links to an external site.With a Comparison and Contrast with Nietzsche
Profiles from My Lai: Hugh Thompson and Ron Ridenhour Links to an external site.
Reading 11: Martin Sanchez Jankowski Islands in the Street
Reading 12: Philippe Bourgois In Search of Respect
Lauren Justice, NYT: Links to an external site.Batterer Intervention
Unit Two: Philosophical Roots of Nonviolence
Reading Excerpts 13 & 14: From Plato's Apology and Crito Download Reading Excerpts 13 & 14: From Plato's Apology and Crito
Reading 13: Plato Apology
Video: Plato's Apology (Audio Book) Links to an external site.
Reading 14: Plato Crito
Video: Plato's Crito (Audio Book)
Links to an external site. Benjamin Jowett Translation
Reading 15: Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience
Discussion Outline Thoreau and an Ethic of Conscience
Video: Henry David Thoreau (Audio Book)
Links to an external site. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Thoreau: Themes and Quotes Download Thoreau: Themes and Quotes
Film: An Act of Conscience Links to an external site.
War Tax Resistance Links to an external site.: National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
Reading 16: Immanuel Kant Perpetual Peace
Video: Kant's Perpetual Peace (Audio Book)
Links to an external site.
Reading 17: Michael Shermer On Kant's Perpetual Peace
Kant's Perpetual Peace: Lecture Slides Download Kant's Perpetual Peace: Lecture Slides
Unit Three: Religious Influences on Nonviolent Theory
Reading 18: Kalama Sutta The Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry
Reading 19: Thich Nhat Hanh Feelings and Perceptions
Video: Thich Nhat Hanh
Links to an external site. What is Nirvana?
Video: Thich Nhat Hanh in discussion with Ram Das
Links to an external site. Taking Care of Anger
Reading 20: Dalai Lama Dependent Origination and the Nature of Reality
Reading 21: I.C. Sharma The Ethics of Jainism
Reading 22: Doris Hunter On the Bhagavad Gita
Reading 23: Reuven Kimelman Nonviolence in the Talmud
Reading 24: Walter Wink Jesus' Third Way
Reading 25: Maurice S. Friedman Hasidism and the Love of Enemies
Supplemental Reading: An Israeli Shot Me An Israeli Healed Me Download Supplemental Reading: An Israeli Shot Me An Israeli Healed Me
Unit Four: Major Figures in Modern Nonviolent Theory
Reading 26: Leo Tolstoy Letter to Ernest Howard Crosby
Video: Leo Tolstoy (Audio Book)
Links to an external site. What I Believe
Reading 27: Mohandas Gandhi Satyagraha
Reading 28: Mohandas Gandhi Means and Ends
Video: A Force More Powerful Part I:
Links to an external site. India, U.S., South Africa
Video: A Force More Powerful Part II:
Links to an external site. Denmark, Poland, Chile
Reading 28.5: Sean Martin: The Nature of Power
Reading 29: Albert Camus Neither Victims Nor Executioners
Reading 30: Sean Martin Kingian Nonviolence
Reading 31: Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Video: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Links to an external site. Reads his "Letter From a Birmingham Jail"
Video: Martin Luther King, Jr. Links to an external site.An Intimate Conversation with Martin Luther King and David Susskind
Video: Ella Baker Speaks, My Life in the Movement, Part 1 Links to an external site.
Video: Ella Baker Speaks, My Life in the Movement, Part 2 Links to an external site.
Video: Ella Baker Speaks, My Life in the Movement, Part 3 Links to an external site.
Unit Five: Pacifism
Reading 32: A.A. Milne Peace With Honor
Reading 33: Albert Einstein Letters on Pacifism
Reading 34: Richard Taylor Pacifism as a Way of Life
Unit Six: Methods and Strategies of Nonviolence
Reading 35: George Orwel Reflections on Gandhi
Reading 35A: Gora Download Reading 35A: Gora, An Atheist with Gandhi
Reading 36: Barbara Deming Revolution and Equalibrium
Reading 37: Lianne Ellison Norman Peace Through Strength
Reading 38: Jesse Wallace Hughan Pacifism and Invasion
Reading 39: Sean Martin Introduction to Sharp's From Dictatorship to Democracy
Reading 40: Gene Sharp From Dictatorship to Democracy
Gene Sharp
Links to an external site. From Dictatorship to Democracy (Audio Book)
Gene Sharp
Links to an external site. The Power and Potential of Nonviolent Struggle
Reading 40.5: Gene Sharp's 198 Methods of Nonviolent Struggle Download Reading 40.5: Gene Sharp's 198 Methods of Nonviolent Struggle
Reading 41: Cesar Chavez He Showed Us the Way
Reading 42: Cesar Chavez Peregrinatación, Penitencia, Revolución
Reading 43: José-Antonio Orosco César Chavez on the Pragmatics of Violence
Video: Dolores Huerta How to Overcome Apathy and Find your Power Links to an external site.
Reading 43: Sara Ruddick Maternal Nonviolence
Reading 45: Amartya Sen Identity and Violence
Video: American Experience, The Stonewall Riots Links to an external site. (Identity and Resistance)
NYT Article Rhodes and the Balanced Life
NYT Article Saudi Arabia's Dangerous Sectarian Game
NYT Article The Troubles are Back
Reading 46: Amos Oz Between Right and Right
Reading 47: Amos Oz How to Cure a Fanatic
Reading 48: Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan The Success of Nonviolent Resistance Campaigns
Reading 49: Erica Chenoweth Links to an external site. Women's Participation and the Fate of Nonviolent Campaigns
Video: Erica Chenoweth The Success of Nonviolent Resistance
Links to an external site.
Video: Peter Singer
Links to an external site. Animal Rights
A Single World, Many Identities? Links to an external site. BBC Panel Discussion on Identity
Distance Education office at Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA USA