Green Energy
In the Spring 2006 issue of The Objective Standard, Yaron Brook and Alex Epstein analyze "Just War Theory." In the article they state:
As evidence of this I present some recent comments on the war in Lebanon by Mark Grimsley who has a blog named Blog Them Out of the Stone Age. Grimsley is a professional military historian who teaches at Ohio State University where he received his Ph.D. He has published several well regarded works on the American Civil War. In a recent post Grimsley provides numerous links about the ongoing campaign in Lebanon. One section is titled: "Articles on Just War Theory and the Problem of Moral Judgment in War." As the entries under this heading make clear, there is only one theory governing the "rules of engagement" in war and that is based on one interpretation of Judeo-Christian ethics.
As Brook and Epstein note:
Prof. Grimsley elaborates further on his views of "just war" in a blog post at Cliopatria. He is practicularly unhappy about the graphic "I'm a Fan of Disproportionate Response" that is on the sidebar of The Dougout:
I agree that "disproportionate response" violates what passes for international law and usages when it comes to civilized nations defending themselves. How is Hezbollah going to be made to follow these laws and usages? The question answers itself and also make clear that "Just War Theory" benefits the aggressor. It would be suicidal for Israel to adopt "Just War Theory." Such a course would be an open invitation to fascist aggressors to attack with impunity, hide behind civilians and when they start losing to whine to the U.N. for a "cease fire." As with all forms of altruism "Just War Theory" rewards evil and punishes the good.
Crossposted at The Dougout
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- Just War Theory And Practice
Introduction Just war theory or the just war tradition (JWT) has become the dominant ethical philosophy in the West for the proper conduct of warfare. A definition of just war would be the aspiration to subordinate the type of state-sponsored violence...
- "disgrace:" Confirmed
Last week Elan Journo penned an op/ed for the Ayn Rand Institute titled: The Real Disgrace: Washington's Battlefield 'Ethics.' Journo argued that the current rules-of-engagement under which the U.S. military operates has tied the hands of...
- Weapon Testing
The War is being used to test a new weapon. Like all weapons tests the outcome will determine how the weapon is revised for future deployment. The weapon being tested is not a drone or a missile or a bunker buster bomb. It's a rhetorical weapon: the...
- Pretty Much Sums This Issue Up For Me.....
OK, not even close. But this was a beautiful interchange I found in an article in Haaretz: "The European Union is greatly concerned about the disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon in response to attacks by Hezbollah on Israel," according...
Green Energy
Just War Theory: the Only Game in Academia and the Military
In the Spring 2006 issue of The Objective Standard, Yaron Brook and Alex Epstein analyze "Just War Theory." In the article they state:
Just and Unjust Wars [by Michael Walzer] serves as the major textbook in the ethics classes taught at West Point and dozens of others colleges and military schools. More broadly, Just War Theory—for which Just and Unjust Wars is the most popular modern text—is the sole moral theory of war taught today.
As evidence of this I present some recent comments on the war in Lebanon by Mark Grimsley who has a blog named Blog Them Out of the Stone Age. Grimsley is a professional military historian who teaches at Ohio State University where he received his Ph.D. He has published several well regarded works on the American Civil War. In a recent post Grimsley provides numerous links about the ongoing campaign in Lebanon. One section is titled: "Articles on Just War Theory and the Problem of Moral Judgment in War." As the entries under this heading make clear, there is only one theory governing the "rules of engagement" in war and that is based on one interpretation of Judeo-Christian ethics.
As Brook and Epstein note:
To identify a nation as an enemy is to recognize it as a committed initiator of force that threatens one’s own life, that forfeits its right to exist, and that in justice deserves whatever is necessary to end the threat it poses. By Just War Theory’s moral standards, however, there is no such thing as an enemy nation. Even when a nation initiates aggression, it is not regarded as the proper object of retaliation, but as a haven of “others” to be served. (This notion is, unsurprisingly, rooted in Augustine’s religion, Christianity, which countenances us to love everyone— specially, as proof of extreme virtue, to “love thine enemy.”)
Walzer’s prescriptions are not the idle musings of an ivory tower philosopher; they are exactly the sort of “rules of engagement” under which U.S. soldiers are fighting—and dying—overseas. When our marines in Baghdad do not shoot back when fired upon from a mosque, or when our helicopter pilots are shot down while flying too low in an attempt to avoid civilian casualties while in pursuit of their targets, they are following the dictum that we should show a “positive commitment to save civilian lives” even if this entails “risking soldiers’ lives.”
Prof. Grimsley elaborates further on his views of "just war" in a blog post at Cliopatria. He is practicularly unhappy about the graphic "I'm a Fan of Disproportionate Response" that is on the sidebar of The Dougout:
Well, I'm not a fan of disproportionate response. The reliance on aerial and artillery bombardment troubles me; I cannot, try as I might, accept the proposition that it falls within the modern laws and usages of war. It violates the very core of those laws and usages: The weapons used in war must discriminate between combatants and noncombatants. Civilians are never permissible targets of war, and every effort must be taken to avoid killing civilians. Their deaths are permissible only if they are unavoidable victims of a deliberate attack on a military target.
I agree that "disproportionate response" violates what passes for international law and usages when it comes to civilized nations defending themselves. How is Hezbollah going to be made to follow these laws and usages? The question answers itself and also make clear that "Just War Theory" benefits the aggressor. It would be suicidal for Israel to adopt "Just War Theory." Such a course would be an open invitation to fascist aggressors to attack with impunity, hide behind civilians and when they start losing to whine to the U.N. for a "cease fire." As with all forms of altruism "Just War Theory" rewards evil and punishes the good.
Crossposted at The Dougout
-
Ace of Spades: Tea Party Spokesman: Let's Stop Talking About "Birthers" And Focus On All The "Racers" In The Media Well. yes, why not? Conspiracy theories are defined by several important elements: 1. They are constructed specifically to be nonfalsifiable....
- Just War Theory And Practice
Introduction Just war theory or the just war tradition (JWT) has become the dominant ethical philosophy in the West for the proper conduct of warfare. A definition of just war would be the aspiration to subordinate the type of state-sponsored violence...
- "disgrace:" Confirmed
Last week Elan Journo penned an op/ed for the Ayn Rand Institute titled: The Real Disgrace: Washington's Battlefield 'Ethics.' Journo argued that the current rules-of-engagement under which the U.S. military operates has tied the hands of...
- Weapon Testing
The War is being used to test a new weapon. Like all weapons tests the outcome will determine how the weapon is revised for future deployment. The weapon being tested is not a drone or a missile or a bunker buster bomb. It's a rhetorical weapon: the...
- Pretty Much Sums This Issue Up For Me.....
OK, not even close. But this was a beautiful interchange I found in an article in Haaretz: "The European Union is greatly concerned about the disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon in response to attacks by Hezbollah on Israel," according...