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The Nature and Nurture of Human Warfare: An Evolutionary Account. By Ronald F. White, PhD.

        I have written several blogs on "Just War Theory."  (https://freedomsphilosopher.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-ethics-of-war.html).  In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, I thought it would be useful to explore the larger questions of whether human leadership and human warfare are natural behaviors passed on to subsequent generations through our genetic inheritance; or whether those behaviors are learned and therefore passed on over time via teaching and learning (culture). And, in light of those findings, I will speculate whether the quest for global peace a realistic sociopolitical goal.            Like all human institutions, the history of human warfare reveals varying degrees of cultural evolution, devolution, and/or stability over time. We know that warlike behavior has taken place throughout much of human history. There is evidence that groups of Hunters and Gatherers rarely (if ev...
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Putin's Invasion of Russia: The Politics of Invasion and Intervention

  What light can an old philosopher, like myself, shed upon a global event such as the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin and the Russian Army? Most philosophers begin by identifying key concepts that shape human political behavior, such as: leadership, followership, military invasion, industry, politics, defense, external intervention, economic sanctions, and national and global media responses. Let's start with the puzzle of leadership and followership. How does an aspiring leader, like Putin, rise to power in Russia and maintain that power, without inspiring political opposition? Evolutionary Politics (as an academic discipline) acknowledges several facts. First, worldwide, the overwhelming majority of high-level political leaders, corporate leaders, and military leaders are all older men. Soldiers who follow military leaders are mostly young men, who need a reliable paycheck to support their families. Historically, soldiers are either drafted (involuntarily) or enlist (volun...
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PART II: War Leadership: Vladimir Putin's Leadership in the Context of Russia's Bombing of Ukraine.

 In case you haven't followed recent media coverage, President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian army to invade, neighboring, Ukraine by bombing cities and killing thousands of civilians. Survivors migrated to other nearby countries, especially Poland. Critics noted that deliberately bombing cities violates the principles of Just War Theory , and that Putin is therefore a war criminal. Although Ukraine is not a member, the European Union has been sending humanitarian and military hardware aid to Ukraine. Recently, V olodomyr Zylenskyy, duly elected President of Ukraine,  Zelenskyy traveled to the United States seeking more military hardware, especially aircraft and missiles, to help enforce a no-fly-zone over those land areas that the Russians have been using launch to bombers and missiles. In sum, Putin's invasion raises complex leadership puzzles for Joe Biden and the various leaders within the European Union. Should the European Union and/or the United State intervene mili...
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