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Single Idea 23607
[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / c. Combatants
]
Full Idea
War is something that occurs not between man and man, but between States. The individuals who become involved in it are enemies only by accident. A State can have as its enemies only other States, not men at all.
Gist of Idea
Wars are between States, not people, and the individuals are enemies by accident
Source
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], p.249), quoted by Jeff McMahan - Killing in War 2.5
Book Ref
McMahan,Jeff: 'Killing in War' [OUP 2009], p.79
A Reaction
This is the classic statement of the collectivist view, which goes on to assert that the morality of warfare is quite different from ordinary morality. McMahan argues against this view, very persuasively.
Related Idea
Idea 23608
If being part of a big collective relieves soldiers of moral responsibility, why not the leaders too? [McMahan]
The
18 ideas
with the same theme
[role and ethics of the fighters]:
23566
|
Princes should not justify a war to their subjects, and doing so would undermine the state
[Vitoria]
|
20479
|
People at home care far more than soldiers risking death about the outcome of wars
[Montaigne]
|
23609
|
I act justly if I follow my Prince in an apparently unjust war, and refusing to fight would be injustice
[Hobbes]
|
23607
|
Wars are between States, not people, and the individuals are enemies by accident
[Rousseau]
|
21073
|
Hiring soldiers is to use them as instruments, ignoring their personal rights
[Kant]
|
23574
|
The duties and moral status of loyal and obedient soldiers is the same in defence and aggression
[Walzer]
|
23575
|
We can't blame soldiers for anything they do which clearly promotes victory
[Walzer]
|
23614
|
Even aggressor soldiers are not criminals, so they have equal rights with their opponents
[Walzer]
|
23584
|
Rejecting Combatant Equality allows just soldiers to be harsher, even to the extreme
[Walzer]
|
23589
|
Kidnapped sailors and volunteers have different obligations to the passengers
[Walzer]
|
23596
|
If all combatants are seen as morally equal, that facilitates starting unjust wars
[McMahan]
|
23599
|
You don't become a legitimate target, just because you violently resist an unjust attack
[McMahan]
|
23604
|
Volunteer soldiers accept the risk of attack, but they don't agree to it, or to their deaths
[McMahan]
|
23605
|
Soldiers cannot know enough facts to evaluate the justice of their war
[McMahan]
|
23608
|
If being part of a big collective relieves soldiers of moral responsibility, why not the leaders too?
[McMahan]
|
23610
|
If soldiers can't refuse to fight in unjust wars, can they choose to fight in just wars?
[McMahan]
|
23613
|
Equality is both sides have permission, or both sides are justified, or one justified the other permitted
[McMahan]
|
23615
|
Fighting unjustly under duress does not justify it, or permit it, but it may excuse it
[McMahan]
|