English question

In (1), “more” applies to both “just” and “peaceful”. I’d like to know why it is unlikely that it applies only to “just”.

(1) We believe that education is the key to building a [u]more[/u] just and peaceful world.

I'm a resecher of English linguistics. Any insight you might have would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

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Zeusdelight · 61-69, M

I think you are saying the combination of just and peaceful is necessary.

Both:
1 We believe that education is the key to building a more just world.
and
2 We believe that education is the key to building a more peaceful world

make sense.

However, "more" is not needed in either of these sentences or the original. Its presence presupposes that the world is just and peaceful, to some extent, and that education will improve justness and peacefulness in the world.

Now the world may be just and peaceful to some extent, but "more" invites a debate about how just and/or peaceful the world is now.

This may detract from the more central concept that education is the key to building a just and peaceful world.