About

‘The Barbarous Philosopher’ is a blog about war, politics, and ethics.  I intend to use it to discuss both current affairs and my research as a graduate student studying International Relations.  The focus of my research at the moment is the idea of duty in war and how it affects the ethics of killing.

The title of the blog comes from a description given by Rousseau in his ‘Fragments on War’ where he refers to Grotius as a ‘barbarous philosopher’.  He believed that Grotius’ ‘De Iure Belli ac Pacis’ was a mere apologia for war and brutality and that it justified oppression and slavery.  Without denying the flaws of Grotius’ thought, I am much more sympathetic to him, and I also liked the turn of phrase.