Abstract:
This dissertation seeks to critically examine the moral justification
for war in order to have a deeper understanding of justice and morality of
war. Unlike natural disasters, war is traditionally viewed as an extreme
activity in human social failure. The prodigious majority of theorists
addressing questions of the morality of war do so from within the moral
framework provided by Just War Theory; a normative account of war that
dates back over 1500 years in the Western Philosophical Tradition. Recent
events in the conduct of wars around the world have, however, called into
question the relevance and appropriateness of the just war theory for
contemporary wars. For example, during recent wars, morality and virtue
have no place in society. This work shall explore some of the major theorists
in the history of Western Just War Theory (St Thomas Aquinas and
Augustine) showing that the ancestors of Just War Theory did consider in
particular the moral virtues and ethical principles to be of central importance
to the morality of war. In this work I shall critically examine the notion of a
just war with a discussion of various formulations of the realist's and
pacifist's positions and argue that though the just war tradition provides a
reasonable alternative to either of these extremes, its glaring deficiencies
(inability of the theory to address the rise of non-state actors such as al-
Qaeda, increasing availability of weapons of mass destruction, etc) ought
not to be overlooked. Finally, I shall hold that the theory of the just war is
today outmoded, unpractical, unrealistic and flawed especially if one wishes
to preserve a moral constraint on war.
