Abstract
This paper analyses the role of intellectuals in the diffusion of the culture of violence that is spreading through contemporary society. It deals with thinkers who justify military intervention in order to protect human rights and civilians. The paper calls into question that positive goals (such as peace, democracy and human rights) could be achieved by using means which contradict and jeopardize those goals. It’s unlikely that free and democratic ways of live could flourish if they are imposed by armed violence. The rhetoric of “humanitarian wars” often describes its enemy as absolute, irrational and violent as possible, worthy of being blamed and sentenced to be destroyed ethically and, then, physically. Such rhetoric is often moved by political or economic interests: “values” risk therefore to be a strategy to move public opinion, rather than a piece for building a fair and peaceful society.