Revolutionary Thinkers

¶ … revolutionary thinkers held widely disparate viewpoints regarding war. Charles Darwin's viewpoint was based on the assumption that war was a manifestation of humans' "struggle for existence." In his book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1882) Darwin explained that natural selection was behind the development of certain human social qualities, namely sympathy, courage, and fidelity. Thus in a fight between two primitive human tribes, the tribe that had the most sympathetic, courageous, and secure warriors was most likely to succeed.

War was thus seen as being essential towards the diffusion of such noble qualities throughout the world. Karl Marx's view towards war was that it was an essential aspect of the Communist revolution. In the Communist Manifesto (1848) he laid out the steps that would lead towards this revolution. The first step was that an inevitable "class struggle" would occur between workers and capitalists. This would naturally come about as workers organized to protest against their severe working conditions. Communists, therefore, did not need to foment rebellion according to Marx.

The second step was that Communists were to lead the rebellion towards the complete overthrow of capitalism; war might then become necessary for accomplishing this feat. Of the three, Sigmund Freud held the most pessimistic view towards war. In his book Civilization and Its Discontents (1930), Freud stated his belief that despite the immense social and technological progress of modern civilization, mankind was still capable of destroying itself through war due to its primitive and unconscious aggressive tendencies.

Man therefore had to learn of ways to control his aggressive passions for the greater benefit of human society. These three interesting viewpoints regarding war have been highly influential in shaping the viewpoints of others, especially during the last century. Works Cited Darwin, Charles. The descent of.