Blurb:

This chapter aims to present the reflections of Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More on peace. Erasmus was mainly focused on the question of war, being a fierce opposer of it and strongly believing in the possibility of eradicating it from human behavior. Peace is an achievable status through a mix of free will, ratio, and logos. In order to reach such a goal, humankind needs education, a crucial element in Humanistic and Renaissance thought. On the same path we find More and his contradictions, which must be analyzed and contextualized. Although More imagined a tolerant and peaceful society on a global scale, unlike Erasmus, he recognized the impossibility of realizing this vision without the use of war.