Tuesday, June 24, 2025

On Nuclear Restraint and Responsibility (Fr. George Florovsky)

 
Georges Florovsky: Letter to Davis McCaughey
Florovsky, Georges ; Obolevitch, Teresa
Studies in East European Thought, 2025-02, Vol.77 (1), p.225-229
 
Abstract

The letter from Georges Florovsky to Davis McCaughey is a reflection after reading the Report The Era of Atomic Power: Report of a Commission (1946). Florovsky gives his own arguments against the development of research concerning nuclear weapons and their use. These include: treating an attempt at a technical transformation of the world as a human claim to put oneself in God’s place, i.e., to be a God-man. Another group of indictments against the use of the atomic bomb concerned ethical issues and human responsibility for the war. Florovsky’s letter is his contribution to the discussion on the threat posed by the atomic bomb.
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