Essays on Just War Theory

The relationship of one towards other has always been one of the most important ethical issues. The limits of what one can and cannot do within ethical bounds have long been controversial. With new technologies constantly being developed, and products being easily marketed from one nation to the other, the problem arises as to when one should be allowed to do this and when it is unethical. When it comes to this type of product, it is unethical to allow people to manufacture it in a nation that has proven its effects to be toxic on the human body, ...

Just War Theory Just War Theory is the ethical convention devised to ensure that war is started only when it is most necessary and to set the limits to warfare. The theory consists of three essential parts: Jus Ad Bellum (principles of justice of war), Jus In Bello (rules of the right conduct during warfare), and Jus Post Bellum (responsibilities of warring nations after war). According to Jus Ad Bellum, war is just only when (1) it has a just cause, (2) it is the last resort, (3) it is declared by a proper authority, (4) it has the ...

Fifth century Christians at large used to adhere to the ideal of traditional pacifism. Heywood (2003) defined Pacifism as “the principled rejection of war and all forms of violence as fundamentally evil” (p. 267). The pacifists hold a firm belief that no amount of logic or reason can ever justify war because a mutually exclusive relationship exists between justice and war. Back in the day, most Christians subscribe to pacifism not only as regards to how wars are viewed but also as a way of life in general. Accordingly, people were faced with a major dilemma of serving their ...

Warfare Technology and the Human Experience

Advanced technologies alter the human experience in warfare. Improved technology is supposed to make the war effort more precise and make the experience obsolete. This is however not the the case. Changes in technology have historically shown how dangerous wars can be and how difficult the human experience can be. The nuclear bomb was supposed to end all great power wars. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II proved that not all technologies were good for humankind. In the 21st century fight against terrorism, it has become more difficult to identify the enemy and hence ...

Purpose of the Research

The objective of this paper is to give a comprehensive synthesis on the analysis of War or Conflict, drawn from the perspective of the ‘Just War’ theory. This research also aims to specify the core values and points of a just war; it tackles further the theory’s bounds, especially the justification of the use of armed forces, the principles of a humane and reasonable warfare and the three categories directly central to the so-called just war. This will also focus on the possible arguments that arise in this specific case, inquiries that most likely occur when stumbling upon ...

Sarah Roberts-Cady (2010) in her article “Against Retributive Justification of the Death Penalty,” argues that retributive justice does not justify capital punishment. The retributive theories give partial answers to issues of the death penalty and, therefore, cannot morally legitimize it. She argues that punishment that is equal to the crime committed is difficult to achieve. The reward for wrongdoing may never be near the level of the crime if one does not want to break the principles of morality. She claims that it is not fair for one to claim that sentencing a murderer to death by a lethal injection since ...

The question could ever war be justified still possesses the minds of contemporary scholars and philosophers, as it is still one of the most controversial questions nowadays. The decision of starting a war has always been one of the most difficult for politics not mentioning the evident reasons for it. A useful guidance for all the people that will be affected by war has always been provided by the just war theory; however, it is too subjective for modern society. Just war theory is the result of thoughts and ideas developed by various philosophers through all the history of ...

Introduction

The captain in the middle of the war is in a moral dilemma. He is considering following orders and dropping a bomb into the enemies’ town where the enemies are hiding, or just approaching the town with a troop of soldiers. The captain has a decision to make revolving around his conscience. How sure is the captain about whereabouts of the enemies? Is he using the weapon he has rightfully? Who are the occupants of the town? These are issues of consideration in the justified ethic and war. The concept of reciprocity and ethical justification defines the very idea of ethics; there ...

In March 20th, 2003, America started on of the longest wars in the world. The American forces invaded Iraq without warning and triggered the beginning of the war. There were claims by the United Kingdom and the United States of America that, Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WPM) and thus was a threat to their security and to the coalitions in the region (Blair, 2002). The United Nations monitoring, verification and inspection commission (UNMOVIC) had conducted a thorough search and verification in Iraq prior to the attack to ascertain this claim. They found no evidence of ...

An Analysis of Human Intervention in Somalia

Just war theory acknowledges that humanitarian intervention through means of war should be taken by the international community to help a country torn by its own internal political struggles resulting to grave violations of human rights of its own citizens. The morality of this theory has always been a subject of heated debates, with arguments stating that we are obliged to help whoever and not just those “whom we are bound in community by contract, political tie, or common locale” (Boyle, 2003, 177). Others argue that endangering the lives of a country’s own soldiers in order prevent the people of a conflicted ...

The Just War Theory is a doctrine developed by Christians to determine whether the war is just. A number of criteria are used to determine whether the war is morally justifiable. The war is considered just if it satisfies a series of criteria. The Just War Theory has two parts which include: Jus ad bellum (conditions where war is justifiable) and Jus in Bello (conducting war in an ethical way). Jus ad bellum concerns whether it is moral to go to war while Jus in Bello concerns moral conduct expected in war (Jean, 2004). There is need to add a third part: ...

The Libya civil war took place in the year 2011 and is usually referred to as the Libyan Revolution. The armed conflict was fought between the forces of loyal of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and people who were seeking him out of the government. The first war was preceded by protests in Zawiya in 2009 and later ignited by the protests, which occurred in Benghazi in February 15, 2011. The protests led to clashes between the people and the security forces. The security forces ended up firing into the crowds to disperse them. The National Transitional council was created as ...

INTRODUCTION

War is one of the ugliest and damaging of all human behaviors. Many atrocities are committed against enemies in times of war. However, while most people do not encourage war, they may endorse it under certain circumstances. Many see warfare as an inevitability in a diverse world; a necessary evil. People of all genders, races, ages and religions have participated in warfare throughout the ages. Christianity has been involved in its share of warfare since its earliest origins 2000 years ago (Charles, 1-2). Of course, there are many Christian denominations, and they sometimes do not see eye-to-eye is where “good” Christians ...

Question 1

A community is composed of a set of individuals. In order for it to develop, each individual should be socially conscious and responsible towards the society, as it is a core of their existence. Social responsibility according to Vanasupa is about refining the quality of relations with key stakeholders. Vanasupa further states that individuals have societal obligations to fulfill and in that way harm or help themselves or others. Engaging in acts that may impair oneself or others should actually not be classified as a social responsibility. It is more of being irresponsible and may bring retrogression to the contemporary society. ...

The United States (U.S.) was attacked on 9/11 in such a way that even surpasses the attack on Pearl Harbor. At least during WWII the country knew who its enemies were. However, although the terrorist group(s) that attacked and caused the collapse of the Twin Towers are known, they are hidden. That leaves the U.S. Government scrambling to find these concealed enemies that are either still on U.S. soil or planning more attacks from abroad. It will be necessary to look at the ethical dilemmas involved with the USA PATRIOT Act (“Epic.org”, n.d.), in regards to authorization of ...

Introduction

The just theory of war has its roots in the ethics of war embraced by ancient Roman Empire and the catholic gurus of theology. Arguably the earliest proponents of the catholic faith, Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas endeavored to explain why and how war was religiously justifiable. The two gurus of theology argued that a man could serve God and his nation at the same time through being a strong Christian and going to war, in defense of his country (Elshtain 78). According to St. Augustine war was a morally justifiable tool that God had given to the rulers to guard and ...

Arguably, war and philosophy tend to always appear a little common. As a matter of fact, scholars assert that philosophy is a field that defines and establishes the rationality and justice for being part of a war and that it attempts to set norms and rules on how wars in most cases must be conducted. One of the philosophical theories that try to justify the essence of going to war is the Just War Theory. Certainly, the scheme of a Just War is to define and establish ethical and moral foundation for human destructive events and activities. In addition, just war principles tend to ...

Introduction

War is an integral part of the human history. It has been the justified as the last resort in conflict resolution, when other peaceful conflict resolution methods, fails. However, many times, it may be urged that war has not been used as the last alternative in resolving societal disputes, but has been rather orchestrated by the party(s) that suppose to hold superior militant power, to coerce the weaker side to concede to the demands or conform to its will. That is fact, not withstanding that there are main situation during the recorded history of the mankind, where war ...