Just War theory and its links to

1
Just War theoryand its links to Natural Law
2
Just War theory and taking life

• The just war theory is a largely Christian
  philosophy that attempts to reconcile three
  things
• taking human life is seriously wrong
• states have a duty to defend their citizens, and
  defend justice
• protecting innocent human life and defending
  important moral values sometimes requires
  willingness to use force and violence

3
'Just', or merely 'permissible'?

• The doctrine of the Just War can deceive a person
  into thinking that because a war is just, it's
  actually a good thing.
• But behind contemporary war theory lies the idea
  that war is always bad. A just war is permissible
  because it's a lesser evil, but it's still an
  evil.

4
Just War Origins of Thought

• St Augustine of Hippo (4th C.) distinguished
  between
• Private retaliation (not justified in
  Christianity)
• War pursued against those who are a threat to
  peace (sometimes justified)
• His time saw the birth of a brand new notion
  Christendom
• ChristendomChrists domains
• The notion of a greater whole that was sacred and
  may be threatened internally or externally

St Augustine of Hippo, 354-430. He lived right at
the end of the Roman Empire in the West.
5
Just War Origins in Christianity

• St Thomas of Aquinas (13th C.) developed the
  Christian doctrine of Just War
• He laid out the following conditions
• Declared by the sovereign
• Just cause those attacked should deserve this
• Right intention the advancement of good or
  avoidance of evil
• Aquinas lived at a time when numerous small wars
  between city states were common
• not long after the reconquest of Sicily from
  Muslim rule

St Thomas Aquinas, 1225 1274. He was a
Dominican priest and scholar.
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Just War - preservation of innocent life

• Both Natural Law and Just War theory have their
  origins in Thomas Aquinas.
• Primary precept preserve innocent life
• Just war does not give you a set of boxes
• to tick to say if war is just, its aim
• is restraint, the preservation of life
• and lasting peace.

7
Just War criteria

• Other thinkers developed the concept of Just War
• Just cause
• Declared by lawful authority.
• Right intention
• Last resort
• Reasonable chance of success
• Innocents should not be harmed
• Only appropriate force should be used

These are sometimes called the Jus ad Bellum
criteria criteria to be in place before war is
prosecuted
These are sometimes called the Jus in Bello
criteria criteria for moral conduct of the war
once started
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A developing theory

• In Ethics and War Beyond Just War Theory Mervyn
  Frost argues that In the global war on terror
  those using violence will have to be able to
  demonstrate that they really are serious about
  defending the values in whose name they are
  fighting, rather than just using the words to
  justify terror against terror.

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Criteria explained

• Declared by lawful authority
• since only a lawful authority can act on behalf
  of the whole people
• Restricts the number of groups that can ethically
  wage war
• For example, it stops wars declared by rebels
  who've overthrown a legal government being
  considered ethical

President Roosevelt signs the Declaration of War
against Japan, 1941
10
Hiroshima Nagasaki

• In the early morning hours of August 6, 1945, a
  B-29 bomber named Enola Gay was headed north by
  northwest toward Hiroshima, Japan.
• The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima contained a
  mass of uranium about the size of a cricket ball.
  
• The explosion it unleashed was the equivalent of
  that of 20,000 tons of TNT.
• The devastation was horrific, but Japan refused
  to surrender.

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US Warning Leaflet Nagasaki

• America asks that you take immediate heed of what
  we say on this leaflet.
• We are in possession of the most destructive
  explosive ever devised by man. A single one of
  our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the
  equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our
  giant B-29s can carry on a single mission. This
  awful fact is one for you to ponder and we
  solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate.
• We have just begun to use this weapon against
  your homeland.

President Truman took the decision to drop the
bombs
12
The Death Toll

• No one will ever know for certain how many died
  as a result of the attack on Hiroshima. 
• Some 70,000 people probably died as a result of
  initial blast, heat, and radiation effects. 
• The five-year death total may have reached or
  even exceeded 200,000, as cancer and other
  long-term effects took hold.
• The same grim picture unfolded in Nagasaki, the
  second city to be bombed.
• After this, The Emperor of Japan overruled the
  military and ordered the government to surrender
  to the Allied Forces.

13
An eyewitness

• I threw myself into a frantic search for my
  family, casting about in the still-hot rubble.
  Before long, the tips of my shoes were burned so
  that my toes stuck out, and my hands became
  swollen with blisters. Looking along the road,
  near a neighbour's house, I found a charred copse
  that seemed to be my wife. The dead baby on her
  back I took to be our one-year-old daughter
  Takako. However, I never was able to find our
  eight-year-old son Tateki, or our elder daughter
  Makiko.
• Tsuneo Tomimatsu, Nagasaki.

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An eyewitness

• Houses and trees were levelled as far as the eye
  could see, and fires began breaking out in the
  ruins. At the roadside I saw the corpse of a man
  who had been leading a horse cart, still on his
  feet, with his hair standing on end like wire.
  The river was filled with the dead and half-dead
  burned children were screaming, Mommy! Mommy!
  and mothers searched for their children, calling
  their names in faltering voices.
• Ms. Hide Kurokawa, Nagasaki

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Tricycle
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Evaluation

• Was President Trumans decision to drop the
  atomic bombs justified?
• How did it preserve innocent life?
• Did it prevent more deaths?
• Was it merely a Utilitarian decision with unknown
  consequences?

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Sermon on the Mount Matt. 5
You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye,
and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, Do not
resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on
the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called children of God
Exegesis Context new Kingdom values
fulfilling the OT teachings Peacemaking ?
peacekeeping Focus more on personal living rather
than on war
Exegesis Again, focus more on personal living
rather than on war The passage doesnt say If
someone stabs you on the right of the chest
Discussion Points Do any of these two passages
shed any light on morality in war situations?
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Cycle of Violence Matthew 26
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and
arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions
reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the
servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
 "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said
to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by
the sword.
Exegesis Quite obvious (unjustified?) violence
leads to more violence Has a message for both
personal conflict and for national conflict
19
Is the only way to preserve innocent life to be a
pacifist?
Does Just War theory support every view from
contingent pacifism to militarism?
20
Quakers
In war Conscientious objectors or medical staff
Founded in 17th C. by George Fox and friends
Anti-gossip Is it true? Is it hurtful? Is it
necessary?
Persecuted by English Church
Dedicated to simplicity and peace
Anti-slavery
Society of Friends
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Case Study Mikhail Kalashnikov
This the man who designed a rifle that...
will inflict a fatal wound at 300 yards
will spray thirty bullets in three seconds
can be bought for as little as 100 on the
world's black markets
fires 'tumbling' bullets which make a small entry
hole into flesh and yet tear out a massive exit
will function even if dirty, wet or unoiled
is light enough to be carried by a child
has been used to kill most of the fifty million
or so people in small wars since 1945
is the weapon of choice for many small armies
terrorist organisations (some 70 million have
been sold)
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Case Study
Name Automatic Kalashnikov assault rifle, first
made in 1947 - hence, AK-47 Inventor Mikhail
Kalashnikov, born 1919
What Kalashnikov says when asked about his
invention... 'When Germany invaded, I saw my
comrades in pain. They were being wheeled into
hospital, injured in defence of their Motherland
against the Fascists. Courage was not enough. The
Nazis had superior armoury. I wanted to redress
the balance.'
'My life's not been easy. I wanted my invention
to serve peace. I didn't want it to make war
easier If it was not guns, it would be knives
or axes. Guns are not guilty. People are guilty.
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Case Study
Mikhail Kalashnikov has hardly made a penny from
his invention. In 1990 he met Eugene Stoner, who
designed the M-16 (the closest thing to an
American equivalent of the AK-47), and was
shocked by the fact that Stoner had his own jet
whilst he himself could not afford the price of a
plane ticket to Washington.
If you were to sit in judgement of Kalashnikov,
of what, if anything, would you accuse him? Give
reasons for your answer.
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Does Just War Theory succeed in preserving
innocent life?