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Single Idea 23617

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / b. Justice in war ]

Full Idea

If most unjust combatants are morally innocent because they are excused, and if it is wrong to intentionally kill morally innocent people, then a contingent form of pacificism may be inescapable.

Gist of Idea

If the unjust combatants are morally excused they are innocent, so how can they be killed?

Source

Jeff McMahan (Killing in War [2009], 3.3.1)

Book Ref

McMahan,Jeff: 'Killing in War' [OUP 2009], p.124

A Reaction

A very nice argument against the moral equality of combatants. If I think we are the good guys, and the opposing troops are no morally different from us, how can I possibly kill them?

The 14 ideas with the same theme [ethics of how wars are fought]:

23565 Our obedience to the king erases any crimes we commit for him [Shakespeare]
23585 It is permissible in a just cause to capture a place in neutral territory [Grotius]
7236 War gives no right to inflict more destruction than is necessary for victory [Rousseau]
23880 When war was a profession, customary morality justified any act of war [Weil]
23583 If an aggression is unjust, the constraints on how it is fought are much stricter [Rawls]
23593 Jus ad bellum and Jus in bello are independent; unjust wars can be fought in a just way [Walzer]
23573 For moral reasons, a just war must be a limited war [Walzer]
23577 Napoleon said 'I don't care about the deaths of a million men' [Walzer]
23600 Proportionality in fighting can't be judged independently of the justice of each side [McMahan]
23603 Can an army start an unjust war, and then fight justly to defend their own civilians? [McMahan]
23611 Soldiers cannot freely fight in unjust wars, just because they behave well when fighting [McMahan]
23612 The law of war differs from criminal law; attacking just combatants is immoral, but legal [McMahan]
23617 If the unjust combatants are morally excused they are innocent, so how can they be killed? [McMahan]
20616 During wars: proportional force, fair targets, fair weapons, safe prisoners, no reprisals [Tuckness/Wolf]