Just War Theory
Uploaded by coneyislandfun on Feb 25, 2007
“The conditions of Just War Theory are both practical and reasonable. They provide the basis to justify any conflict” – Clarify and evaluate this claim.
Just War Theory states a collection of criteria that come before choosing to go to war. They are intended to ensure that the decision to wage war is the right one. However, while what they state seems to be reasonable, it appears impractical to expect a war to follow the rules, as war is generally disordered. I also think that it is untrue to say that the Just War Theory justifies conflict as I do not believe that conflict or war can ever be justified completely.
Just War Theory attempts to protect the innocent, so that the only people involved in the war are those who chose to be involved. While on the surface this seems a sensible idea, how can we protect the innocent in an event as haphazard as a war? It would be virtually impossible to ensure that no civilian is harmed or killed during a war because soldiers and fighting naturally expands into civilian areas. It also would be difficult to determine which civilians are innocent and which are not – for example, would a munitions worker who agreed and supported the war be a legitimate target? We can see that it is controversial to make a decision on who is innocent and who is not.
The theory states that the reason for going to war must be just or fair. According to Aquinas, the war must occur only if it is to confront a ‘real and certain danger’, including protecting innocent life or preserving basic human rights. However, to me it seems hypocritical to justify going to war because it is protecting innocent life, when clearly war itself is going to destroy innocent lives. It seems hypocritical also to say war can be justified if it is protecting human rights, because what about the rights of civilians who are caught in crossfire or bomb attacks? To me, justifying war by saying it is for a good cause is incomprehensible because trying to achieve peace or harmony by introducing conflict and war is clearly not going to work.
The theory also states that a war can only be fought with ‘good’ intentions, or according to Aquinas ‘the advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil’. While this rule has sensible grounding, to guarantee there are...