[lit-ideas] Just War
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 17:17:40 -0700
Phil quotes me to say "Just wars are not evil. Just wars are necessary to
oppose evil."
Phil then responds by writing, "I am not sure if Lawrence is intentionally
referencing the Just War tradition, but if he is, he is wrong. The
well-established tradition of
just war is that all war is evil but under very specific conditions, war is
justified."
Phil doesn't say where this "well-established tradition of just war" exists,
but I did read Jean Bethke Elshtain's Just War Against Terror. On page 189
she writes, ". . . reason and careful reflection . . . teach us that there
are times when the first and most important reply to evil is to stop it.
There are times when waging war is not only morally permitted, but morally
necessary, as a response to calamitous acts of violence, hatred, and
injustice."
On page 202, Bethke writes, "Intellectual and moral approaches to war as a
human phenomenon can generally be divided into four schools of thought. The
first can be called realism: the belief that war is basically a matter of
power, self-interest, necessity, and survival, thereby rendering abstract
moral analysis largely beside the point. The second can be called holy war:
the belief that God can authorize the coercion and killing of nonbelievers,
or that a particular secular ideology of ultimate concern can authorize the
coercion and killing of nonbelievers. The third can be called pacifism: the
belief that all war is intrinsically immoral. And the fourth is typically
called just war: the belief that universal moral reasoning, or what some
would call natural moral law, can and should be applied to the activity of
war."
You can see from Bethke's statement on page 189 that she subscribes to the
fourth approach. I agree with her. You seem to find yourself in the third
approach, an approach in which all war is intrinsically immoral.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Phil Enns
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 4:22 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: On the prospect of World Peace
Lawrence Helm wrote:
"Just wars are not evil. Just wars are necessary to oppose evil."
I am not sure if Lawrence is intentionally referencing the Just War
tradition, but if he is, he is wrong. The well-established tradition of
just war is that all war is evil but under very specific conditions, war
is justified. When confronted by great evil, it may be necessary to
engage in the evil of war, but not without the greatest reflection
regarding intentions and means.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns
Toronto, ON
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