Just War Theory and the Ethics of Violence: Foundations and Applications

Professor Steinhoff, Uwe Bernhard   (Principal Investigator (PI))

18

2016-01-01

230000

Just War Theory and the Ethics of Violence: Foundations and Applications

ethics, force, just war theory, moral and legal justifications, war

Philosophy

Humanities & Social Sciences (H)

17610315

General Research Fund (GRF)

2015

Completed

1) Develop a systematic and comprehensive account of the ethics of violence and just war theory by meeting the following objectives: 2) Describe and analyze in detail, drawing on both legal and philosophical scholarship, different justifications for the use of force. 3) Demonstrate the scope, limits, and implications of each of these justifications for the ethics of war. 4) Clarify the moral status of combatants. 5) Clarify in particular who may participate under which circumstances in which wars and why. 6) Apply the findings to a host of special issues, such as guerrilla warfare, drone warfare, terrorism, private military companies, etc. 7) Draw some general conclusions about the nature of war and recommend an attitude towards war which, while not embracing pacifism, is even more skeptical towards war than much of present-day just war theory.