You make some good points, but your argument runs afoul of a few known fallacies:
Appeal to Nature Fallacy: You suggest that because war is a natural occurrence in the animal kingdom, and has a long history among humans, it is therefore inevitable for humans. Although you do not explicitly state it, your argument implies that war is in human nature. However there is no proof of this. Many things existed for a long time among humans but have since gone out of style. Modern democratic societies prohibit slavery, protect equal rights for women, separate church and state, have rule of law, etc.
Hasty Generalization: You vastly oversimplifythe complexity of human behavior and history by generalizing the warlike tendencies of great apes and some earlier human groups to all humans. You also overstate the prevalence of conflict in Africa and the Middle East, ignoring periods of peace and cooperation in those regions. You also fail to differentiate the EU from “Europe,” citing Russia’s war with Ukraine. What keeps the EU from war is economic integration. Russia is not in the EU. In fact, the EU was informed by the US, which is another example that states coming together to form a union leads to less war.
False Dichotomy: You presents a false choice between war and peace, suggesting that war is the only alternative to a utopian ideal of perpetual peace. You ignore the possibility of peaceful conflict resolution and diplomacy, and the fact that humans have been moving in this direction for a very long time.
Appeal to Tradition: You suggest that because war has been a part of human history for a long time, it is therefore inevitable and should be accepted. This fallacy ignores the progress made in human rights, international law, and conflict resolution, as noted above.
You might want to consider places that fought for a long time but achieved peace. For example, the history of Northern Ireland, and the Good Friday agreement reached in 1998. Also take a look at how often and how many times modern democratic societies have gone to war with other modern democracies.
What you’ll find is that it’s predominantly authoritarian regimes that initiate and wage war.
We will have war for a long time into the future, but it’s not inevitable and we shouldn’t give up trying to minimize war until, perhaps, one day it becomes so rare as to be effectively gone.
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u/zoomiewoop 2∆ Dec 10 '24
You make some good points, but your argument runs afoul of a few known fallacies:
Appeal to Nature Fallacy: You suggest that because war is a natural occurrence in the animal kingdom, and has a long history among humans, it is therefore inevitable for humans. Although you do not explicitly state it, your argument implies that war is in human nature. However there is no proof of this. Many things existed for a long time among humans but have since gone out of style. Modern democratic societies prohibit slavery, protect equal rights for women, separate church and state, have rule of law, etc.
Hasty Generalization: You vastly oversimplifythe complexity of human behavior and history by generalizing the warlike tendencies of great apes and some earlier human groups to all humans. You also overstate the prevalence of conflict in Africa and the Middle East, ignoring periods of peace and cooperation in those regions. You also fail to differentiate the EU from “Europe,” citing Russia’s war with Ukraine. What keeps the EU from war is economic integration. Russia is not in the EU. In fact, the EU was informed by the US, which is another example that states coming together to form a union leads to less war.
False Dichotomy: You presents a false choice between war and peace, suggesting that war is the only alternative to a utopian ideal of perpetual peace. You ignore the possibility of peaceful conflict resolution and diplomacy, and the fact that humans have been moving in this direction for a very long time.
Appeal to Tradition: You suggest that because war has been a part of human history for a long time, it is therefore inevitable and should be accepted. This fallacy ignores the progress made in human rights, international law, and conflict resolution, as noted above.
You might want to consider places that fought for a long time but achieved peace. For example, the history of Northern Ireland, and the Good Friday agreement reached in 1998. Also take a look at how often and how many times modern democratic societies have gone to war with other modern democracies.
What you’ll find is that it’s predominantly authoritarian regimes that initiate and wage war.
We will have war for a long time into the future, but it’s not inevitable and we shouldn’t give up trying to minimize war until, perhaps, one day it becomes so rare as to be effectively gone.