(AFA - 2014)ETHICS OF WAR Human beings have been f

(AFA - 2014)

ETHICS OF WAR

               Human beings have been fighting each other
since prehistoric times, and people have been discussing
the rights and wrongs of it for almost as long.
The Ethics of War starts by assuming that war is
⁵a bad thing, and should be avoided if possible, but it
recognizes that there can be situations when war may be
the lesser evil of several bad choices.
               War is a bad thing because it involves
deliberately killing or injuring people, and this is a
¹⁰fundamental wrong – an abuse of the victims human
rights.
               The purpose of war ethics is to help decide what
is right or wrong, both for individuals and countries, and to
contribute to debates on public policy, and ultimately to
¹⁵government and individual action.
               War ethics also leads to the creation of formal
codes of war (e.g. the Hague and Geneva conventions),
the drafting and implementation of rules of engagement
for soldiers, and in the punishment of soldiers and others
₂₀for war crimes.
               The three key questions are:
Is it ever right to go to war?
When is it right to fight?
What is the moral way to conduct a war?
²⁵           The discussion of the ethics of war goes back to
the Greeks and Romans, although neither civilization
behaved particularly well in war.
               In the Christian tradition war ethics were
developed by St Augustine, and later by St Thomas
³⁰Aquinas and others.
Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), a Dutch philosopher
and author of De Jure Belli Ac Pacis (The Rights of War
and Peace), wrote down the conditions for a just war that
are accepted today.
³⁵             Cicero argued that there was no acceptable
reason for war outside of just revenge or self-defence –
in which he included the defence of honor.
               He also argued that a war could not be just
unless it was publicly declared and unless compensation
⁴⁰for the enemy’s offence had first been demanded.
               Cicero based his argument on the assumption
that nature and human reason influenced a society
against war, and that there was a fundamental code of
behavior for nations.

Adapted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/. Shtml Acessado em 14/03/2013

 

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