WAR

1
WAR PEACE 1

• KEY QUESTIONS
• Does a country have the right to defend itself
  from attack?
• Suggest some limits to what a country can do in
  defence of itself against an unprovoked attack.
• Can civilians ever be a target in war?
• Should a Christian defend a weaker neighbour from
  attack?

2
WAR PEACE 2

• CONCEPTS OF WAR
• Holy War Christians nowadays reject the idea
  that war can be good and God inspired, though
  Muslims still have a religious duty to jihad.
• Just War a war may be justified if certain
  conditions are in place before and during the
  war.
• Pacifism This rejects the use of violence.
• Realism This maintains that normal moral rules
  cant be applied to how states conduct themselves
  in war.

3
WAR PEACE 3

• CONDITIONS FOR JUS AD BELLUM (WHEN ITS RIGHT TO
  FIGHT)
• Just Authority Thomas Aquinas
• Just Cause Thomas Aquinas
• Just Intention Thomas Aquinas
• Proportionality Suarez de Vitoria
• Last Resort Suarez de Vitoria
• Reasonable chance of success S de V
• Comparative Justice American Bishops

4
WAR PEACE 4

• JUST AUTHORITY
• Aquinas stated that a war can only be started by
  a legitimate authority and not by private groups
  or individuals.
• War must only be declared by those with the
  responsibility for public order a competent
  authority.
• This rules out wars started by private armies
  (civil war etc) or those started by incompetent
  rulers.

5
WAR PEACE 5

• JUST CAUSE
• Aquinas stated that, those who are attacked,
  should be attacked because they deserve it on
  account of some fault
• The Catholic Bishops added to this saying, War
  is permissible only to confront a real and
  certain danger, which includes protecting human
  life, preserving a decent human existence and
  guaranteeing basic human rights.
• This allows military action against a state
  thats persecuting a group of its own people
  (Iraq ???)

6
WAR PEACE 6

• JUST INTENTION
• Aquinas wrote, War had to be fought for the
  advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil.
• Rulers cannot fight wars for immoral intentions
• The Catholic Bishops added, During the conflict,
  right intentions means the pursuit of peace and
  reconciliation, including unnecessary destructive
  acts or imposing unreasonable conditions.
• Soldiers cant use or encourage a hatred of a
  minority in a war. Their intentions must be
  virtuous.

7
WAR PEACE 7

• PROPORTIONALITY
• There has to be proportionality between the
  injustice that led to the war and the damage done
  by the war, in terms of suffering and loss of
  human life.
• In other words, a state should not wage a war
  that causes substantially more suffering and
  destruction than the actual wrong done by the
  enemy.
• Excessive violence, death and violence should be
  avoided.

8
WAR PEACE 8

• LAST RESORT
• All peaceful attempts at resolution must have
  been exhausted before violence is used
• REASONABLE CHANCE OF SUCCESS
• Its immoral to enter into a hopeless war, thus
  magnifying suffering loss of life for no
  constructive purpose.
• COMPARITIVE JUSTICE
• Both sides to the conflict must be fairly
  considered

9
WAR PEACE 9

• CONDITIONS FOR JUS IN BELLO (HOW WAR SHOULD BE
  FOUGHT)
• Certain acts in war are always wrong
• Proportionality demands that only necessary
  destructive force weapons are used to achieve
  the desired peace. The indiscriminate destruction
  of entire cities is a crime against humanity
• No indiscriminate targeting civilians should
  not be targeted.

10
WAR PEACE 10

• EVALUATING JUST WAR THEORY
• FOR-
• It maintains core moral principles in a framework
  permitting violence in controlled circumstances
  against certain targets.
• It recognise the need to act against a tyrannical
  aggressor, intent on aggression.
• In prohibits wanton acts of violence in the
  natural interest.

11
WAR PEACE 11

• EVALUATING JUST WAR THEORY
• AGAINST
• Realists argue that the just war conditions are
  ambiguous, open to question or too simplistic and
  impractical.
• Outcomes of war are difficult to calculate.
• There is uncertainty about which people are just
  targets (civilians in a munitions factory)

12
WAR PEACE 12

• PACIFISM 1
• Pacifists argue that just war theory ignores the
  pacifist stance taken by Jesus.
• A right to personal self defence does not
  correspond to a right to defend sovereignty.
• Pacifism opposes all forms of violence.
• The Buddha required all his followers to renounce
  violence.

13
WAR PEACE 13

• PACIFISM ARGUMENTS FOR
• Early Christians were pacifists.
• Gandhi Martin Luther King were pacifist
• International Fellowship of Reconciliation was
  formed early 20th century, advocating
  reconciliation and rejecting taking of life.
• Many pacifists are philosophical pacifists,
  maintaining that violence towards another is
  intrinsically wrong as life has an absolute value.

14
WAR PEACE 14

• PACIFISM - ARGUMENTS AGAINST
• Jeff McMahan insists that pacifism removes the
  victims right to judge whether a violent
  response is just. (It takes away our freedom of
  choice).
• The widespread use of mass deportations and even
  mass exterminations shows the weaknesses of
  pacifistic principles.
• The persecutions of pacifistic Christians Jews
  has led to foreign domination of invaded
  countries, sometimes by the most fanatical and
  ruthless powers.

15
WAR PEACE 15

• REALISM 1
• Christian realism argues that human communities
  have to use force to maintain a just ordered
  society.
• The moral rules that restrict individual actions
  dont apply to communities.
• The war that serves the national interest is
  morally acceptable.
• This is opposite to pacifism Realists argue
  even though personal violence is wrong,
  protection of communities (countries) is good.
  Pacifists might accept personal violence if it
  was against a loved one but never in support of a
  country or state.

16
WAR PEACE 16

• REALISM 2
• Reinhold Niebuhr rejected pacifism as immoral
  as a heresy that assumed love would always be
  victorious.
• God rules through human institutions and
  pacifists often think God will wave a magic wand
  to kiss it better without realising they have
  to be proactive in maintaining peace, even if it
  means going to war.
• But, Jeff McMahon questions the morality of this
  special status, granted by realism, of
  governments who are playing God.
• Pacifism seems to place extraordinary limitations
  on individual rights to self-defence.
• Realism provides few if any limitations to a
  governments actions in a war.