tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post2643552306582512638..comments2024-03-28T03:10:23.679-07:00Comments on Polemarch: In Defence of WarThe Polemarchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-55984477882009459142014-04-05T03:25:23.580-07:002014-04-05T03:25:23.580-07:00I guess there are always people who think that the...I guess there are always people who think that the easiest way to solve a problem is to bomb someone. Usually it turns out that the original problem does not go away, merely gets covered over by lots of other problems.<br /><br />I think that the just war theory (or theories - everyone has a slightly different formulation) is attempting to get away from 'my country right or wrong' reasoning of going to war, and to provide some objective criteria to evaluate the justice or otherwise of the course of action.<br /><br />Of course, this tends to shift the argument down a level or so, to the debate, perhaps, about what constitutes an appropriate authority to declare war.<br /><br />One of the interesting things about the just war is that international law is based upon it (at least so far as conflict goes) and mostly powers try to at least pay lip-service to it, even though it is a tradition firmly rooted in the Judaeo-Christian west.<br /><br />Obviously, a lot does depend on you context in terms of history and the present. But by providing abstract measures of justness, the just war tradition does attempt to provide a brake on some of the sillier reasons for going to war.<br /><br />Not that this stops wars, you understand, but it does make politicians work a bit harder to justify their decisions.The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-90615854823784754162014-04-05T02:35:47.157-07:002014-04-05T02:35:47.157-07:00Again, an excellent and stimulating post. Agree th...Again, an excellent and stimulating post. Agree that war gamers are likely to think about war more than yer average punter, but there are people - even as we speak - baying about bombing the Russians out of Crimea and similar, and I doubt if any of them are war gamers, so there are more peculiar fringe groups than us.<br /><br />I'm still struggling with the idea of a just war - not with the existence of such a concept, but with the subjectivity which dominates our thoughts about it. A lot depends, obviously, on which side you are/were on, but there is also the important element of who won - last time, the time before etc. The world we inhabit is the accumulation of all history to this point, which means it directly reflects the complete roll-up of who won and whose philosophy prevailed n successive ages. If Germany had won WW2 (not impossible) then obviously i have no idea what would have happened thereafter, but one possible outcome is that our education, our upbringing, loyalties and views on life in general would not be what they are now. The history we would have been taught would have been written and edited by the winners - my idea of a just war, however much of a clever and humane chap I might like to think I am, is a product of the current state of things. This is true even if i am directly opposed to the status quo.<br /><br />I have been in trouble for making such suggestions before, so I will tread carefully here. It is not a huge step from living in a world where the history of (e.g) the British Empire is taught as just and correct and worthy to an alternate world where the history of a dominant Nazi (or Communist) regime is accepted in the same way. I am not - I emphasise - offering a vindication of any of these. <br /><br />The normality on which we base our judgements is the direct descendant of the things which went before, many of which must have been neither just nor (to coin a word) good.<br /><br />Sorry - that was a waffle - I agree with your post.MSFoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470241067504971068noreply@blogger.com