“WAR”
BY JOHN RUSKIN
GROUP MEMBERS
Ehtisham Azhar Hina Arshad
Ayesha urooj Arslan Zulfiqar
Ayesha Zaib Ayesha Khalid
Introduction to War by Ehtisham Azhar
War is the foundation of all arts.
It is the foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men.
It is a practical fact that peace and vices of civil life flourish together. All nations realized the truth that war nourishes
and invigorates them whereas peace wastes and debilitates them.
But he is not referring to the wars of barbarians or the Scotch border feuds or the Napoleonic war, because such wars
build nothing except tombs.
Rather he refers to creative or ‘noble war’ which disciplines love and ambition and kills evil.
◦ In such wars the natural instincts of self-defence are sanctified by the nobleness of the institutions and purity of the
households which they are called upon to defend.
War of Exercise and play by Ayesha
Urooj
John Ruskin : an English art critic and a social thinker.
Time period: 1819-1900.
● He wrote about war in his book” The crown of wild olive” in 1866.
War as a means of exercise and play ,which is leading to personal growth and development.
War as an exercise:
war is a physical and a mental challenge.
War as a play:
war is a form of play where individuals engage in a high stakes game of strategy and skill.
• This prospective requires three more things:-
1- Just cause.
2- Honourable conduct.
3- Self reflection.
Means individuals must engage in recognizing human cost of war and striving for personal growth.
Continued by Hina Arshad
► Ruskin condemns war for the sake of war. He justifies that war which is undertaken more as a play or exercise of the
personal power of human creatures than a tool of vengeance upon innocent people.
► In the past war used to be more an exercise than any thing else among the classes who caused and proclaimed it. To the
governor and the soldier, it had always been a grand pastime. No king whose mind was fully occupied with the development of
the inner resources of his kingdom, ever entered into war except under compulsion. No youth who was sincerely busy with any
peaceful subject of study ever became a soldier.
►Fighting is implanted in human nature and hence for all healthy men, fair fight is the best play and that a tournament
was a better game than a steeple-chase. Only that game of war is justifiable in which the full personal power of the human
creature is brought out in management of its weapons. There are three reasons for this. First, the great justification of this game
is that when well played, it determines, who is the best man, who is the most fearless, the swiftest of eye and hand. The issue of
the battle must not depend on the longest gun or the best gun-power but on the firmness of frame and fairness of hand. The other
two reasons for this mode of decision are the lessening of material destructiveness or cost and the physical distress of war.
War of Dominion by Ayesha Zaib
1. This is the commonest type of war
2. The real motive of war is not unholy because human nature is essentially noble but when this nobility is forgotten man advances to commit follies or sins.
3. Ruskin says that:
Kings or prince are free to extend their territory or state but they should be generous or gentle of all nobles.
But Ruskin says that the noble intentions doesn’t remain noble so long rather the intentions turn into evil sight.
It means that if a ruler neglect his subject and reveals only in extending his territory, he is failing in his duty.
• According to Ruskin
The duty or big work of any ruler of a state is to make laws for them, and lead them to a purer life or also should be Concentrate on this.
True power:
• The Ruskin defines the true power, true authority.
According to him:
The power does not depends upon the multitude of men or women or extend of territory.
• It is wrong to suppose that nations became strong only if these numbers are one mind But mere number is not sufficient.
• He says that;
A little group of wise heart is better than the wilderness full of fools.
War for Defence by Arslan Zulfiqar
◦ The third kind of war that Ruskin calls a ‘noble deed’ is the war for defence.
◦ It is the war waged simply for the defence of the country in which we were born and for the maintenance and
execution of her laws by whomsoever threatened or defied.
◦ Most men joining the army consider themselves bound to duty. These persons should act as sentimental beings,
because it is on the whole, the love of adventure, love of fine dress, love of the pride of fame which chiefly make a
boy like going into the Guards better than into a counting house.
◦ Therefore, for their honour and that of their families, they should choose brave death in a red coat in preference to
brave life in a black coat.
Ruskin’s Viewpoints on War by Ayesha
Khalid
1. Definition and Critique on war
2. Moral and Ethical Implications
3. Economic consequences
4. Psychological and Social impact
5. Role of soldier
6. Critique on leadership
7. Call for peace and Reform
THANKS!
