Thucydides, the writer of Historiae, places the Peloponnesian war in the nature of men, their mentality and their psychology. Philosophy of history according to Thucydides is founded on human factors rather than sociological ones. Philosophy of history is the development of immanent qualities, abilities, aspirations and actions of human beings. One of the main unchangeable and constant qualities of human mentality is the eagerness to fight. Life is a constant battle. There is a certain order in the world due to these unchangeable qualities, a kind of determinism according to which historical facts occur repeatedly in the same or in a similar way. Thucydides was a philosopher of history and not just a narrator of past events. He interpreted history as a result of human actions and rejected the intervention of external forces. Following the realistic approach in his interpretation of the Peloponnesian war, he traced the political antagonism between Sparta and Athens for the domination in Greece as the main cause of this war. At that time wars originated from the structure of the world itself, from the antagonism between opponent forces. The same is true today. It΄s believed nowadays that the existing antagonism can be surpassed by mutual consent, peacefully and even amicably. The truth is that conflicts mainly erupt for political and economical reasons. The effort to eliminate these economic, political and religious differences is the main reason behind acts of terrorism.
Academy of Athens
