Philosophy Faculty Work
Title
Military Families Speak Out: Challenging the Epistemology of War
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2007
Publication Title
BRIDGES
Volume Number
14
Issue Number
2018-01-02
Abstract
Public debate on war has long been dominated by “experts” who accept war’s rationality, while radical critics of militarism have been relegated to the margins of public discourse. This paper argues that the narrow character of war debate is due, in part, to conceptions of epistemic authority that systematically favor war-oriented thinking and that, therefore, genuinely radical, anti-war perspectives can gain ground only if we challenge, not only the content, but the basic epistemic premises of public discourse. I investigate how one group of anti-war activists—mothers and wives of soldiers—have begun to present such a challenge. In light of their practice of alternative forms of authority, I sketch the kind of rethinking of authority that peace activists must pursue in order to bring human concerns and nonviolent perspectives to the center of public debates about war.
ISSN
1042-2234
First Page
83
Last Page
103
Recommended Citation
Stone-Mediatore, Shari, "Military Families Speak Out: Challenging the Epistemology of War" (2007). Philosophy Faculty Work. 3.
https://digitalcommons.owu.edu/phil_pubs/3
Link Out URL
http://www.bridges23.com/currentissue.html#shari