In war, the utopian and the dystopian converge. What could be more dystopian than a world of endless violence, and what more utopian than perpetual peace? Yet, at the same time, utopianism has itself been accused of brutality, and those who are opposed to war charged with perpetuating dystopian bloodshed. This paper examines the relationship between war, peace and utopia, by focusing on the ethical conflicts of opposing violence. It does so through the particular example of humanitarianism. Contemporary humanitarianism seeks to oppose the violence of war, but does so by placing limits on war rather than abolishing it, and is therefore often seen as complicit with violence. For many humanitarians, the response to this complicity has been a widespread sense of ethical crisis. In contrast, this paper examines a particular utopian humanitarian tradition, in the shape of British pacifist ambulance workers in the Second World War. This is a form of humanitarianism that recognises complicity, but also retains a utopian commitment to human perfection. The central argument of this paper is that the ethical conflicts of humanitarianism need to be put back into the diverse visions of the human that have run through humanitarian histories.

中文翻译：

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和平主义者的乌托邦：第二次世界大战中的人道主义，悲剧和同谋

在战争中，乌托邦和反乌托邦会聚。有什么比无休止的暴力世界更反乌托邦，又有什么比永无止境的乌托邦更乌托邦？然而，与此同时，空想主义本身已被指控为残暴行为，而反对战争的人则被指控犯有永续的反乌托邦流血案。本文着眼于反对暴力的伦理冲突，考察了战争，和平与乌托邦之间的关系。它是通过人道主义的具体例子做到的。当代人道主义主义试图反对战争的暴力，但是这样做是通过限制战争而不是废除战争来实现的，因此经常被视为与暴力同谋。对于许多人道主义者而言，对这种同谋的反应是一种普遍的道德危机感。相比之下，本文以第二次世界大战中英国和平主义者的救护车工的形式，考察了一种特殊的乌托邦人道主义传统。这是一种承认共谋的人道主义主义形式，但也保留了对人类完美的乌托邦式承诺。本文的中心论点是，人道主义的伦理冲突需要重新纳入贯穿人道主义历史的人类多样化视野。