Transcript File
War and Peace
Aims for this lesson:
Review
Just War principles
Consider Pacifism and Realism
NB Some exercises here from Robert Bowie
Ethical Studies (2nd edition, Nelson
Thornes, 2004) can be used for
discussion.
Just War – the origins and key
players
4th C BCE – war for self defence
is just (Early Christians were pacifist
before Constantine converts in 312 AD)
Early Christian thinkers – Augustine and
Ambrose war is justified to defend threats
against the faith. Use OT as example.
And this leads to…
Aristotle
St Thomas Aquinas 13th C
Conditions for when it’s right to fight – called
‘jus ad bellum’:
Right authority
Just Cause (eg self-defence, defence of
others)
Just Intention (eg seeking peace)
Check what these mean – pages 279-280
in Bowie (2nd edition 2004)
“A
just war is wont to be described as one
that avenges wrongs, when a nation or
state has to be punished for wrongs
inflicted by its subjects”.
Aquinas
Summa Theologica II-II Q40
Further ‘jus ad bellum’ conditions:
16th + 17th C – Francisco Suarez and
Franciso de Vittoria
Last resort – Falklands War?
Reasonable chance of success
Proportionality (eg disproportional to go to
war over fishing rights)
How war should be fought – ‘jus in
bello’
– read the explanations –
relate it to the recent Gulf War
Discrimination over targets – why is this
increasingly relevant?
Proportionality
Evaluating Just War
accepts that war is sometimes necessary but…
maintains moral principles
retains respect for human rights
Criticisms from realists:
War is more complicated than this – no single ‘just
cause’ eg 2009 Gaza Conflict
Can’t always predict outcomes – Vietnam, length of Gulf
War etc
Unrealistic to expect fighters to be moral thinkers eg
Gaza fighting in civilian areas against guerillas.
Who is the innocent civilian?
Jus post bellum
(don’t humiliate eg 1918)
Discrimination (punish leaders, not
civilians)
Financial aid (eg US Marshall Plan)
Rehabilitation (eg new constitution,
guarantees of rights, police reform etc)
Proportionality
Pacifism
Inspired by:
Buddhist principles
The example of Jesus – rejecting option of force even is
self defence eg “Love your enemies”.
Recent pacifists who have both argued for non violent
resistance’:
Gandhi – “I object to violence because when it appears
to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is
permanent.”
Desmond Tutu
Criticisms of Pacifism
Takes
right to decide away from victim.
Some people appear to be evil – e.g. the
holocaust – and will not be affected by
Non Violent Resistance.
The examples of pacifists being
conquered by ruthless powers (see page
284)
Christian Realism
Reinhold Niebuhr ‘Moral Man and Immoral
Society’ (1932)
Human nature is evil – therefore force is
necessary to maintain society
States have different moral rules to individuals
Pacifism is a heresy – Love will not guarantee
victory!!
God’s will requires us to be pro-active in the
world
Conclusion:
Pacifism
seems to deny the individual self
defence and history shows it is not always
successful and what’s more, can end in
atrocities.
Realism
permits states too much freedom
– surely there should be limitations?