London 1 Daniel London December 25 2008 Philosophy of History Final Paper Thucydides, Augustine, and Hegel on Morality and War An insult is noted, a declaration is drawn, armies are formed, and a battle ensues. War has always been a defining feature of human experience, a terrible reality with which great thinkers and philosophers have grappled with for thousands of years. When is it “right” to wage a war? What is the “right” way to wage it? Philosophers have sought to answer these questions by drawing from their notions of morality, seeking to distinguish a “just” from an “unjust” war. However, while many texts have been written about the different moral solutions philosophers have posed to these questions, less attention has been paid to how their thoughts on morality are related to their broader ideas concerning the nature of human history. This paper explores this question through the philosophies by Thucydides, St. Augustine, and Hegel. I have chosen these three philosophers in particular because they offer instructively divergent ideas on the direction and purpose of history. Thucydides believed history, like human nature, was unchanging over time. Augustine held that it was possible for mankind to ascend to a higher plane if they held true to divine precepts on earth. Hegel had a vision of inevitable earthly progress. Together, we are confronted with cyclical, transcendent, and teleological conceptions of human destiny. Such a divergent set of historic schemas, I will argue, leads to equally divergent approaches to the proper conduct of war. Thucydides: As immoral as possible, as moral as necessary