Moral Justification for War; An Appraisal of the Just War Theory

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.