Just War

Just War Doctrine, Israel, and Hamas - Breakpoint

“At its moral center, the just war tradition… helps to guide the political sovereign… in determining when, in the last resort, the discriminate and proportionate use of military force is the only means likely to protect the innocent, right wrongs, or punish evil.” - WORLD

“This essay is the third in a series looking at moral forms of resistance through the lens of just war statecraft. Some of these ideas are adapted from my forthcoming book” - Eric Patterson @Providence

“…in what is known as jus in bello, just war doctrine says that for a war, or even part of a war, to be considered moral, it must only be done for the right reasons and in the right ways.” - Breakpoint

“I have argued in numerous places … that the bombing of Hiroshima (and subsequently Nagasaki) was not only morally permissible, but, given the context of the times and the actually available options, morally obligatory.” - Marc LiVecche

“McNerney describes HR 1009 as a modest resolution; a nonbinding suggestion that Just War tradition help structure future debates over U.S. military interventions by members of the House of Representatives.” - Providence

“The framework governing just war moral reasoning is traditionally divided into two primary categories…. jus ad bellum, which asks, essentially: when is it right to fight? The second category is the jus in bello: how do you rightly fight that fight that’s right to fight?” - Providence

“The moral philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) involves a merger of at least two apparently disparate traditions: Aristotelian eudaimonism and Christian theology.” - Providence

“The earliest idea that war should be governed and moderated, however, dates long before any formal formulation of Just War Theory. In Deuteronomy 20, Moses instructed the Israelites not to kill the women and children of their enemies.” - Breakpoint

“In the Christian tradition the criteria for justly engaging in warfare has been known as jus in bello (justice in war) and includes the primary criteria of discrimination … who are legitimate targets in war.” - TGC