
How We Fight
Ethics in War
Oxford University Press
Published on 17. April 2014
Book
Hardback
230 pages
978-0-19-967343-8 (ISBN)
Description
How We Fight: Ethics in War presents a substantial body of new work by some of the leading philosophers of war. The ten essays cover a range of topics concerned with both jus ad bellum (the morality of going to war) and jus in bello (the morality of fighting in war). Alongside explorations of classic in bello topics, such as the principle of non-combatant immunity and the distribution of risk between combatants and non-combatants, the volume also addresses ad bellum topics, such as pacifism and punitive justifications for war, and explores the relationship between ad bellum and in bello topics, or how the fighting of a war may affect our judgments concerning whether that war meets the ad bellum conditions. The essays take a keen interest in the micro-foundations of just war theory, and uphold the general assumption that the rules of war must be supported, if they are going to be supported at all, by the liability and non-liability of the individuals who are encompassed by those rules. Relatedly, the volume also contains work which is relevant to the moral justification of several moral doctrines used, either explicitly or implicitly, in just war theory: in the doctrine of double effect, in the generation of liability in basic self-defensive cases, and in the relationship between liability and the conditions which are normally appended to permissible self-defensive violence: imminence, necessity, and proportionality. The volume breaks new ground in all these areas.
Reviews / Votes
The collection meaningfully furthers many central debates in just war literature, including debates about, pacifism, punitive wars, the doctrine of double effect, rights theory, forfeiture theory, relationship between liability and justification, non-combatant status, reasonable chance of success and others. The advances made on these issues make this volume well worthwhile for a scholar already immersed in the field. In addition, since most of the essays also provide a significant background to the issues at hand and ground these discussions in more familiar foundational issues, the volume should be of interest more generally as well. * Jovana Davidovic, Analysis * [T]he volume certainly offers some points of interest to those working in the ethics of war more broadly. * Amanda Cawston, The Philosophical Quarterly *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
514 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-967343-8 (9780199673438)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2014
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€38.49
Available for download

E-Book
04/2014
1st Edition
OUP Oxford
€14.89
Available for download
Persons
Helen Frowe is Professor of Practical Philosophy and Wallenberg Academy Fellow at Stockholm University, where she directs the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace.
Gerald Lang is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. He held previous appointments in Reading and Oxford. He has very wide-ranging interests in moral and political philosophy.
Gerald Lang is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. He held previous appointments in Reading and Oxford. He has very wide-ranging interests in moral and political philosophy.
Content
Introduction ; 1. Varieties of Contingent Pacifism in War ; 2. Punitive War ; 3. Why Not Forfeiture? ; 4. Self-Defence, Just War, and a Reasonable Prospect of Success ; 5. Self-Defense, Resistance, and Suicide: The Taliban Women ; 6. Are Justified Aggressors a Threat to the Rights Theory of Self-Defence? ; 7. Self-Defense Against Justified Threateners ; 8. Just War Theory, Intentions, and the Deliberative Perspective Objection ; 9. Risking and Protecting Lives: Soldiers and Opposing Civilians ; 10. Non-Combatant Liability in War ; Index