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Morality and War: Can War Be Just in the Twenty-first Century?
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Whetham, David |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Abstract | Having originally studied moral philosophy before embarking on a long and successful career at the heart of UK Government, this book is the product of Fisher’s PhD thesis undertaken in what would have been a time of well-deserved retirement for most people. Fisher remains at King’s College London as a Visiting Senior Fellow with the Department of War Studies. Given his background having served in senior positions in the UK Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and in the Cabinet Office where he advised the Prime Minister on matters of defence it is hardly surprising that this work is well supported with a thoroughly practical appreciation of the realities of international relations. To start the book, Fisher addresses the questions posed by moral realism and also the insidious moral scepticism that pervades liberal discourse on all things normative. He challenges the view that moral relativism is the only intellectually honest approach in order to demonstrate that it is possible to ground the Just War Tradition on a foundation that is a good deal more solid (and indeed universal) than many critics might suggest. Fisher clearly feels meeting this challenge is essential: ‘If we are to defend liberal society . . . We need to be able to explain and defend the liberal vision of the good life and the values that underpin liberal society’ (page 36). One of the ways he seeks to do this is by drawing on other traditions of moral thinking and demonstrating how they can be recognised as implicit within the centuries of Just War discourse and engagement with the real world that has resulted in the key ad bellum and in bello principles that we are so familiar with today. The third chapter explores various forms of consequentialist thinking before the strengths and limitations of a more virtue-based approach are introduced. The conclusion here sets up the theme that the book returns to later, itself unsurprising given the very practical experience of the author: each approach needs to ‘learn from the other’ if we are to account satisfactorily for the ‘full complexity and richness of our moral lives (page 62). By working together, they can combine in a form of ‘Virtuous Consequentialism’. Having set up this robust foundation, the fourth chapter lays out the familiar principles that make up the Just War Tradition. As one would expect, ad bellum and in bello are explored and explained clearly and with an economy of expression that is very engaging and easy to follow. Post bellum issues are nodded to, but Fisher argues that they are already implicit in the extant formulation. However, he also accepts that it does no harm to raise awareness of the long-term nature of many of those considerations. On very practical grounds the recent challenges posed by David Rodin and others to the traditional assumption of the moral equality of combatants is rejected, while at the same time Fisher acknowledges that such moral parity does not extend to those actually responsible for the war the politicians on the ‘wrong’ side. So how does one know which side is the most just? |
| Starting Page | 75 |
| Ending Page | 77 |
| Page Count | 3 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1080/15027570.2012.674246 |
| Volume Number | 11 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.ajol.info/index.php/smsajms/article/viewFile/83745/73759 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1080/15027570.2012.674246 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
