The Justifications of a Just War
“For war, as a grave act of killing, needs to be justified.” These words were written by Murray N. Rothbard, dean of the Austrian School and founder of modern libertarianism, who spent much of his academic career trying to determine what, exactly, defined a “just war”. In fact, for as long as humans have been fighting wars, there have been quotations referring to the justification and moralities of wars and how warfare can be considered fair and acceptable to each society’s individual standards. While the time and place of each war differs, the reality of the devastation of battle may be found warranted by those fighting using these just war standards to vindicate their actions.
History of the Theory of a Just War
The idea of a fair war can be traced back to when wars themselves began. In records of early civilizations, there were indications that the warriors involved used ethical deliberations to better control the possible devastations of their battles,
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One of the all-time greatest Christian theologians, Augustine of Hippo proclaimed that a Christian could be both a soldier and a man of God, being devoted to his country and to a higher power in equal rights. He justified this notion by referring to the book of Romans in the Christian Bible, which states that God himself has given power to the government, and those who follow that government in turn follow God. He believed that Christians, though being taught to shun violence, should not be ashamed to use any means necessary to serve their country, protect their peace, and punish those who do evil against them. However, Augustine knew that some governmental disputes would be immoral, to which he said his people, "by divine edict, have no choice but to subject themselves to their political masters and [should] seek to ensure that they execute their war-fighting duty as justly as possible
Have you heard about Korean War, which occurred in June, 25, 1950? The conflict between ideologies caused this war with tens of millions killed, millions of families separated, the country reduced to rubble, and a huge permanent scar on Korea’s culture. Then, Vietnam War, Gulf War, or Iraq war can sound familiar to you. Let’s change point to the number of dead bodies from wars themselves. Can you guess how many people got killed during all of those war periods? Only for Vietnam War, the true civilians of Vietnam War were two millions in the north, and another two millions in the south, and military causalities were 1.1 million killed and six hundreds thousand wounded during war. To finish a war, how many innocent people and soldiers have
When is it justifiable to engage in war? This question has plagued humanity for centuries and continues to do so. The theory of just war addresses three important questions when considering and dealing with war. These components are when is it justifiable to go to war, the right ways to conduct proceedings during war, and the justification of terminating war. The first part of the theory, originally written in Latin as jus ad bellum, is an important idea within Pope Urban II’s, “Speech at Clermont.” In the 11th century Pope Urban II gave this speech as a call for crusade with the hope of freeing Jerusalem from Muslim control. They eventually succeeded in this mission and took the city of Jerusalem. The “Speech at Clermont,” is now an important source for understanding the justifications of going to war within the medieval just war theory. Throughout the speech Pope Urban II justified the crusade by claiming it was the responsibility of the Christian people to regain the Holy Land, to protect their fellow Christians in the East, and their duty to stop the “disgraceful” and “demon worshipping” Muslim people.
War, a state of armed conflict between different nations and states. Both nations Texas and Mexico were disputed on their countries borders. Many Americans felt like they wanted to go to war with Mexico and used any reason no matter how big or small to do it. America tried to meet with Mexican representatives to settle the borders, but neither side did much talking. The United States was not just in going to war with Mexico due to them picking on the smaller country (Mexico), Mexico was just defending the borders Mexico thought they had, and Polk sent troops near the border of Mexico and was unclear on his intentions.
One of the oldest traditions in religious ethics is that of the just war. The "Just War Theory" specifies under which conditions war is just. Opposition based on the Just War Theory differs from that of pacifists. Oppositionists oppose particular wars but not all war. Their opposition is based on principals of justice rather than principles of pacifism (Becker 926).
justice of war and the justice in war in a great depth, and uses numerous historical
In the event that a war needs to exist, it must be certified by an authentic staff in government. Wars must be announced by a real government, yet we have a few individuals that out of the blue wage a war. I expected they called it Just Wars since it is to undue an uncalled for circumstance. Wars are to secure the powerless and innocence individuals to guarantee their prosperity. War is an appalling approach to look for peace and serenity, however not everybody is considerate, and ready to take a seat a concoct an assertion. The strategies that are utilized as a part of wars is to influence the adversary to stop whatever they are doing; appalling individuals are being sacrifice doing combat. Admirable just war's fundamental objectives are to
As a citizen of the United States, I am part of an institution that has been, and is currently, killing people. Whether or not all or some of these killings are ethically defensible is a difficult question to answer and most people simply never confront the issue. I will evaluate literature on the topic, identify the different justifications for killing in time of war and decide if they legitimize our actions. After describing some compelling arguments, I will defend my own position that pacifism is the only ideal which mankind should embrace.
It is a controversy. Should the United States enter and escalate the war with the Islamic state? Even experts opinions are conflicting on this point. The article on the website Newsela discusses these two opinions. The con side is written by John B. Quigley, a professor of law at the Ohio State University; James Jay Carafano , a 25-year old army veteran, is representing the pro side. Which, in my opinion, definitely is the winning side in this argument.
There has always been a great debate when to have a war. Many individuals debate whenever or not it is sinful to have war. Under Thomas Aquinas’ Just War Theory it makes the approach possible as it believes that it makes sense to discuss and debate the morality of war. Under the legitimate authorization aspect to the theory it believes that the decision of whenever to enter/start war must be made by proper legal authority and proper legal process, however there are many flaws among that theory. While the Just War Theory does put into consideration the five reasons of how to approach war, I will be arguing why the legitimate authorization of war to the theory is false.
The Just War Theory is a doctrine founded by Saint Augustine which has helped bring much discussion and debate to wars and the morality to fight in them. Wars and fights between people have gone on forever and are not perceived to stop anytime soon so it is important that some people thought about when and why they should ever fight. For many years Christians never part toke in this fighting due to teachings of the Bible and Jesus' teaching on 'turning the other cheek' and 'live by the sword, die by the sword'. Saint Augustine would be one of the first to talk about how a Christian could be a soldier and serve God at the same time. Through this thought we would receive the Just War Theory which gave a set of requirements for someone to partake
The Reason for Going to War Since the beginning of the war on Iraq, over 8243 civilians, 11000 Iraqi soldiers and 642 Coalition soldiers have died. There has not been one day since a US soldier was killed and since the beginning of the occupation, 39750 bombs have been dropped and $117 billion dollars have been spent. And no weapons of mass destruction have been found.
After the war most children were orphaned. Other children that weren't orphaned wished they were. "To have been born...on an unknown day, to Mother unknown, begotten by Father Nowheretobefound," was more preferable than being a child of German parents. Orphans were more wanted because European states didn't want the generation to rebuild their countries to have a past. A reason why children's pasts were so fraught was schools, parents and states fought over who can be trusted to interpret them. Parents and state officials that didn't think this was right to be keeping children's "true" identity from them would result in the loss of moral, ideological, and physical ruin. Various claimants made exclusive assertions about the whereabouts of the "true" home and "true" identity. The claimants didn't want t nit teach the children of the past but to put particular versions of in their minds. Premysl Pitter, the Czech
In judging one side just or unjust, no matter the epistemic difficultly of the task, one contributes or detracts from a particular side within a conflict. Given this, there emerges a second tier of collective international liability. Are spectators in the international community who support an unjust war accomplices or co-conspirators by virtue of their contributions to an unjust war effort? And if they are, how would victor’s justice operate in this second tier of collective international moral liability? To answer these questions I will provide a series of arguments broken up into three sections: foundations, applications, and implications. First, in section I: foundations, I will outline why exploring an asymmetrical approach is a productive
Sun Tzu understood the nature of war as “the province of life or death,” and a “matter of vital importance to the state.”1 I agree. In my own experience, war awakens your primordial instincts and strips you of your self-rationalizations. Sun Tzu defined the character of war when he wrote, “water has no constant form, there are in war no constant conditions.”2 Accordingly, Sun Tzu’s principals of war offer a framework adequate to explain the nature and character of 21st century warfare, which I rationalize as a near-continuous battle of ideologies fought through asymmetric means to advance the values and interests of state and non-state actors.
Alexander Moseley’s theory of ‘just’ war (2009) summarises conditions necessary for a nation’s involvement to be ‘just’ and provides a good framework to base scientific research around. Research dating back to the thirteenth century shows that public opinion declines as the war is perceived to be no longer worth fighting or ‘just’. His conditions are as follows: (Note that casualty count is omitted)