Si può davvero essere pacifisti?

Abstract

In this essay, I start by observing that the war in Ukraine has challenged a pacifist attitude that the main European countries, including Italy, have promoted in recent decades. The armed resistance against Russia seems, in fact, a legitimate defensive war or a “just war”. Therefore, I seek a plausible definition of pacifism despite the diversity of forms it takes, some of which are instrumental, arguing that the only coherent form of pacifism is the “heroic” one that renounces the use of violence. Finally, I develop the thesis that pacifism, understood as a moral doctrine, is inconsistent but that the personal choice not to resist evil is consistent within the limits and conditions of religious ethics.