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Ethics and War

Ethics and War

Ethics and War

An Introduction
Steven P. Lee, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, New York
February 2012
Available
Paperback
9780521727570

    What are the ethical principles underpinning the idea of a just war and how should they be adapted to changing social and military circumstances? In this book, Steven P. Lee presents the basic principles of just war theory, showing how they evolved historically and how they are applied today in global relations. He examines the role of state sovereignty and individual human rights in the moral foundations of just war theory and discusses a wide range of topics including humanitarian intervention, preventive war, the moral status of civilians and enemy combatants, civil war and terrorism. He shows how just war theory relates to both pacifism and realism. Finally, he considers the future of war and the prospects for its obsolescence. His clear and wide-ranging discussion, richly illustrated with examples, will be invaluable for students and other readers interested in the ethical challenges posed by the changing nature of war.

    • A version of just war theory adequate to current social, political and military changes
    • Includes a history of the just war tradition, providing a context for discussion of contemporary concerns
    • Proposes a new understanding of just war theory's relation to pacifism and realism, engaging readers who reject war on moral grounds as well as those who reject the idea that war can be judged in moral terms

    Reviews & endorsements

    "...this is a fine book.... it is one to read, and then keep as a reference..."
    Nick Fotion, Emory University, Notre Dame Philosophical Review

    "This book deserves to become a classic.... Lee draws on authors from all historical periods in his 225-item bibliography and 686 footnotes to argue for and against the questions framing each topic. His knowledge of the literature is encyclopedic.... Essential..."
    --J.M. Betz, formerly, Villanova University, Choice

    See more reviews

    Product details

    February 2012
    Paperback
    9780521727570
    341 pages
    248 × 175 × 15 mm
    0.68kg
    4 b/w illus. 3 tables
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Understanding war in moral terms
    • 2. The just war tradition: a brief history
    • 3. When is it just to go to war?
    • 4. Sovereignty and human rights
    • 5. How should war be fought? Part I
    • 6. How should war be fought? Part II
    • 7. Civil wars
    • 8. Justice at the end of war.
      Author
    • Steven P. Lee , Hobart and William Smith Colleges, New York

      Steven P. Lee is Donald R. Harter Professor in Humanities at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. He is the author of Morality, Prudence, and Nuclear Weapons (Cambridge University Press, 1993) and What Is the Argument? Critical Thinking in the Real World (2002), the editor of Intervention, Terrorism, and Torture: Contemporary Challenges to Just War Theory (2007) and the co-editor of Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction (Cambridge University Press, 2004).