Course : Ethical Leadership

Unit overview

The justification of war does not necessarily entail the justification of its conduct. A political community may have sufficient moral grounds to defend itself against aggression, yet the measures adopted in its defence may remain morally objectionable. The distinction between jus ad bellum and jus in bello is central to this problem. Questions of just cause, legitimate authority and proportionality must be considered alongside the restrictions governing military operations, particularly those concerning civilian protection and the distinction between combatants and non-combatants.

Military necessity presents a more difficult question. Suppose that an operation is expected to prevent a greater loss of life, but its execution involves foreseeable harm to innocent persons. Can the anticipated consequences justify that harm? The answer cannot be derived simply from the legitimacy of the military objective. It requires an examination of the moral claims of those whose rights and interests may be sacrificed in its pursuit.

Robert Nozick's account of individual rights as moral side constraints is relevant here. His treatment of self-defence, coercion and the prohibition against using persons merely as means offers a basis for questioning whether military necessity can override individual rights. Nevertheless, Nozick's position must be distinguished from the principles of just war theory, particularly concerning the permissibility of incidental civilian harm. The comparison therefore raises a further difficulty: whether the protection of a political community may require actions which, considered independently, would violate the rights of particular individuals.

Humanitarian intervention and the obligations arising after armed conflict extend this inquiry beyond the battlefield. The responsibility of political and military leadership concerns not only the purposes for which force is employed, but also the moral justification of particular decisions and their consequences for those affected.

Keywords

Just war theory; jus ad bellum; jus in bello; legitimate authority; just cause; proportionality; military necessity; discrimination between combatants and non-combatants; civilian protection; moral justification of warfare; individual rights; Robert Nozick and moral side constraints; self-defence and permissible coercion; military necessity and individual rights; humanitarian intervention; post-war responsibility; moral limits of political and military leadership

Required readings

• Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. "Consequentialism." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy  (Winter 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2023/entries/consequentialism/.
• Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations. 5th ed. New York: Basic Books, 2015. Chapters 8–9, "War's Means and the Importance of Fighting Well" and "Noncombatant Immunity and Military Necessity".
• Nozick, Robert. Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, 1974. Chapter 3, “Moral Constraints and the State”, pp. 26–53. 

Complementary readings

• Singer, Peter. “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 1, no. 3 (1972): 229–243. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2265052.
• Railton, Peter. “Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 13, no. 2 (1984): 134–171. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2265273.
• Savulescu, Julian, and Evangelos D. Protopapadakis. “'Ethical Minefields' and the Voice of Common Sense: A Discussion with Julian Savulescu." Conatus - Journal of Philosophy 4, no. 1 (2019): 125–133. doi: https://doi.org/10.12681/cjp.19712.
• Wawrzyniak, Jan R. “The Utilitarian Stigma of Environmental Protection.” Conatus – Journal of Philosophy 3, no. 1 (2018): 89–110. https://doi.org/10.12681/conatus.18368.
• McMahan, Jeff. "The Ethics of Killing in War." Ethics 114, no. 4 (2004): 693–733.  https://doi.org/10.1086/422400.
• Ahrensdorf, James Peter. “The Fear of Death and the Longing for Immortality: Hobbes and Thucydides on Human Nature and the Problem of Anarchy.” The American Political Science Review vol.94, no.3 (2000): 579-593.
  Attfield, Robin. Applied Ethics – An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2022.
• Bass, J. Gary. “Jus Post Bellum.” Philosophy and Public Affairs vol.32, no.4 (2004): 384-412.
• Bazargan, Saba and Samuel C. Rickless. The Ethics of War. 1st edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
• Beauchamp, Lamar Tom. “The Nature of Applied Ethics.” In A Companion to Applied Ethics, edited by Raymond G. Frey and Christopher Heath Wellman, 1-15. New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing, 2013.
  Bruce, Iain Alasdair Fairlie. “The Corcyraean Civil War of 427 B. C..” Phoenix vol.25, no.2 (1971): 108-117.
• Casey-Maslen, Stuart. Jus ad Bellum: The Law on Inter-State Use of Force. Oxford, London, New York, New Delhi and Sydney: Hart Publishing, 2020.
  Craigie, Peter Campbell. The Problem of War in the Old Testament. Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Grand Rapids, 1983.
  Crane, Gregory. “Power, Prestige, and the Corcyrean Affair in Thucydides 1.”  Classical Antiquity vol.11, No.1 (1992): 1-27.
• Fischer, Andrew. Metaethics – An Ιntroduction. New York: Routledge, 2011.
  Hau, Lisa Irene. Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
• Hoben, Wolfgang. “Bellum Iustum. The Theory of the Just War and Its Practical Significance for the Foreign Conflicts of Rome at the Time of the Republic.” Philosophy and History vol.16, no.1 (1985): 43-45.
  Hogan, Margaret Monahan. “Just War: A Catholic Perspective: Cui Non Videtur Causa Justa?.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology vol.71, no.4 (2012): 956-965.
• Kuhn, Steven. "Prisoner’s Dilemma".
  In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2019. Edited by Edward Nouri Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/prisoner-dilemma/.
  Morrison, V. James. “Preface to Thucydides: Rereading the Corcyrean Conflict (1.24-55).” Classical Antiquity vol.18, no.1 (1999): 94-131.
• Murray, Williamson. “Thucydides: Theorist of War.” Naval War College Review vol.66, no.4 (2013): 30-46.
• Okimoto, Keiichiro. The Distinction and Relationship between Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello. Studies in International Law. Oxford, Portland and Oregon: Hart Publishing, 2011.
• Reichberg, Gregory and Henrik Syse. “Protecting the Natural Environment in Wartime: Ethical Considerations from the Just War Tradition.” Journal of Peace Research vol.37, no.4 (2000): 449-468.
  Valentine, Milton. Theoretical Ethics. Frankfurt: Salzwasser-Verlag GmBH, 2018.
• Wixforth, Harald. “The Economic Consequences of the First World War.” Contemporary European History vol.11, no.1 (2002): 477-488.
• Wolff, Jonathan. An Introduction to Moral Philosophy. Oxford: W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.