Violence as a technological concept

Research Article

Violence as a technological concept

Published in: South African Journal of Philosophy
Volume 43 , issue 2 , 2024 , pages: 184–201
DOI: 10.1080/02580136.2024.2355009
Author(s): Andreas Wilmes Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary

Abstract

The main contention of this article is that, since the 20th century, violence has gradually turned into a purely technological concept. This great change amounts to a paradigm shift which can be traced back to Johan Galtung’s seminal article “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research” (1969). First, I show why the traditional view of violence revolving around the notions of force, intent and harm has been thrown into crisis by the technological evolution of the Western world. Second, I indicate how Galtung’s thorough redefinition of violence as “the cause of the difference between the potential and the actual” proves more compatible to technological societies. Finally, I suggest that this new definition of violence has become ever more appealing today in the age of artificial intelligence.

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