Ethical and Hermeneutical Reflections on War, Violence, and Responsibility

This book employs an interdisciplinary lens to help readers understand why Russia invaded Ukraine, as well as why and by what means it continues to wage war against the Ukrainian people, state, nation, culture, and the country’s environmental well-being.

Through listening to, learning from, and analytically engaging Ukrainian intellectuals, Cynthia R. Nielsen in Ethical and Hermeneutical Reflections on War, Violence, and Responsibility: Listening to Ukrainian Voices demonstrates that Russia is not only carrying out an unjust war of aggression against Ukraine but also exposes how its use of (pseudo)History, gender narratives, information warfare, religious discourses, and other forms of propaganda have laid the groundwork for the present war and function to maintain it. By bringing contemporary Ukrainian voices such as Serhiy Zhadan and Olexsandr Myhked into conversation with hermeneutical, moral, and political philosophy and utilizing discourse analysis to explain Russia’s imperial identity, we not only gain a better understanding of why Russia invaded Ukraine, but also a clearer picture of how war in the 21st century impacts human lives and communities, culture, language, the information sphere, as well as the toll it takes on non-human animals and the environment.

This book is an excellent supplement for anyone who is preparing to teach on Ukraine, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the wars in post-modernity.