Violence as Violation: An Enquiry into the Normative Significance of Violence

Abstract

The term violence is imbued with a great deal of moral and normative force. While this may generally
be agreed upon, the question as to what violence consists in is one with very disparate answers. This
Paper aims to assess the different ways in which violence may be understood, with the hope of
coming to a broad understanding of violence that captures the full normative significance of the term.
Whereas some may regard violence as something which exists purely in the realm of the physical,
other understandings take a more nuanced view. According to such views, violence may be
psychological, latent or structural as well as physical. Such modes of violence will be discussed in
turn, and their various strengths and shortcomings evaluated. This will, so far as possible, be situated
in a wider philosophical context, with relevant conceptual parallels being noted. Continuities shared
among all normatively significant modes of violence will then be identified, with the hope of arriving
at an understanding that captures the force of what each meaningfully articulates. It will be argued
that the central continuity shared among meaningful modes of violence is violation of means to
human flourishing, a rounded understanding will thus define violence in terms of violation.