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Article: Rights, Liability, and the Moral Equality of Combatants
| Title | Rights, Liability, and the Moral Equality of Combatants |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Keywords | Just cause Liability to attack McMahan, Jeff Moral equality of combatants Rights Thomson, Judith Jarvis War |
| Issue Date | 2012 |
| Publisher | Springer Verlag Dordrecht. The Journal's web site is located at http://springerlink.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=journal&issn=1382-4554 |
| Citation | Journal Of Ethics, 2012, v. 16 n. 4, p. 339-366 How to Cite? |
| Abstract | According to the dominant position in the just war tradition from Augustine to Anscombe and beyond, there is no "moral equality of combatants." That is, on the traditional view the combatants participating in a justified war may kill their enemy combatants participating in an unjustified war-but not vice versa (barring certain qualifications). I shall argue here, however, that in the large number of wars (and in practically all modern wars) where the combatants on the justified side violate the rights of innocent people ("collateral damage"), these combatants are in fact liable to attack by the combatants on the unjustified side. I will support this view with a rights-based account of liability to attack and then defend it against a number of objections raised in particular by Jeff McMahan. The result is that the thesis of the moral equality of combatants holds good for a large range of armed conflicts while the opposing thesis is of very limited practical relevance. © 2012 The Author(s). |
| Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/147109 |
| ISSN | 2023 Impact Factor: 0.9 2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.354 |
| References | Christie, George C. 1999. The defense of necessity considered from the legal and moral points of view. Duke Law Journal 48: 975–1042. doi: 10.2307/1373089 Forde, Steven. 1998. Grotius on ethics and war. The American Political Science Review 92: 639–648. doi: 10.2307/2585486 Kutz, Christopher. 2000. Complicity: Ethics and law for a collective age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511663758 Lazar, Seth. 2009. Responsibility, risk, and killing in self-defense. Ethics 119: 699–728. doi: 10.1086/605727 Lazar, Seth. 2010. The responsibility dilemma for killing in war: A review essay. Philosophy & Public Affairs 38: 180–213. doi: 10.1111/j.1088-4963.2010.01182.x Mapel, David R. 2009. Moral liability to defensive killing and symmetrical self-defense. The Journal of Political Philosophy 18: 198–217. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2009.00340.x McMahan, Jeff. 1994a. Self-defense and the problem of the innocent attacker. Ethics 104: 252–290. doi: 10.1086/293600 McMahan, Jeff. 1994b. Innocence, self-defense, and killing in war. The Journal of Political Philosophy 2: 193–221. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.1994.tb00021.x McMahan, Jeff. 2004. The ethics of killing in war. Ethics 114: 693–733. doi: 10.1086/422400 McMahan, Jeff. 2005a. Just cause for war. Ethics and International Affairs 19: 1–21. doi: 10.1111/j.1747-7093.2005.tb00551.x McMahan, Jeff. 2005b. The basis of moral liability to defensive killing. Philosophical Issues 15: 386–405. doi: 10.1111/j.1533-6077.2005.00073.x McMahan, Jeff. 2006. On the moral equality of combatants. The Journal of Political Philosophy 14: 377–393. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2006.00265.x McMahan, Jeff. 2008b. Justification and liability in war. Journal of Political Philosophy 16: 227–244. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00301.x McMahan, Jeff. 2009. Killing in war. Oxford: Clarendon Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199548668.001.0001 McMahan, Jeff. 2010. The just distribution of harm between combatants and noncombatants. Philosophy & Public Affairs 38: 342–379. doi: 10.1111/j.1088-4963.2010.01196.x Miller, Seumas. 2001. Social action: A teleological account. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511612954 Fabre, Cécile. 2009. Guns, food, and liability to attack in war. Ethics 120: 36–63. doi: 10.1086/649218 Steinhoff, Uwe. 2007a. On the ethics of war and terrorism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217373.001.0001 Steinhoff, Uwe. 2008. Jeff McMahan on the moral inequality of combatants. Journal of Political Philosophy 16: 220–226. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00304.x |
| DC Field | Value | Language |
|---|---|---|
| dc.contributor.author | Steinhoff, U | en_HK |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-05-28T08:17:35Z | - |
| dc.date.available | 2012-05-28T08:17:35Z | - |
| dc.date.issued | 2012 | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.citation | Journal Of Ethics, 2012, v. 16 n. 4, p. 339-366 | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1382-4554 | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/147109 | - |
| dc.description.abstract | According to the dominant position in the just war tradition from Augustine to Anscombe and beyond, there is no "moral equality of combatants." That is, on the traditional view the combatants participating in a justified war may kill their enemy combatants participating in an unjustified war-but not vice versa (barring certain qualifications). I shall argue here, however, that in the large number of wars (and in practically all modern wars) where the combatants on the justified side violate the rights of innocent people ("collateral damage"), these combatants are in fact liable to attack by the combatants on the unjustified side. I will support this view with a rights-based account of liability to attack and then defend it against a number of objections raised in particular by Jeff McMahan. The result is that the thesis of the moral equality of combatants holds good for a large range of armed conflicts while the opposing thesis is of very limited practical relevance. © 2012 The Author(s). | en_HK |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Springer Verlag Dordrecht. The Journal's web site is located at http://springerlink.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=journal&issn=1382-4554 | en_HK |
| dc.relation.ispartof | Journal of Ethics | en_HK |
| dc.rights | The Author(s) | en_US |
| dc.rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Just cause | en_HK |
| dc.subject | Liability to attack | en_HK |
| dc.subject | McMahan, Jeff | en_HK |
| dc.subject | Moral equality of combatants | en_HK |
| dc.subject | Rights | en_HK |
| dc.subject | Thomson, Judith Jarvis | en_HK |
| dc.subject | War | en_HK |
| dc.title | Rights, Liability, and the Moral Equality of Combatants | en_HK |
| dc.type | Article | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.openurl | http://www.springerlink.com/link-out/?id=2104&code=4460546223RP2043&MUD=MP | en_US |
| dc.identifier.email | Steinhoff, U: ustnhoff@hku.hk | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.authority | Steinhoff, U=rp00610 | en_HK |
| dc.description.nature | published_or_final_version | en_US |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1007/s10892-012-9120-z | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.scopus | eid_2-s2.0-84870513966 | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.hkuros | 203924 | - |
| dc.relation.references | Augustine. 1887. The writings against the manichaeans and against the donatists, ed. Philip Schaff. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf104.html | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Christie, George C. 1999. The defense of necessity considered from the legal and moral points of view. Duke Law Journal 48: 975–1042. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.2307/1373089 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Forde, Steven. 1998. Grotius on ethics and war. The American Political Science Review 92: 639–648. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.2307/2585486 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Kutz, Christopher. 2000. Complicity: Ethics and law for a collective age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511663758 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Lazar, Seth. 2009. Responsibility, risk, and killing in self-defense. Ethics 119: 699–728. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1086/605727 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Lazar, Seth. 2010. The responsibility dilemma for killing in war: A review essay. Philosophy & Public Affairs 38: 180–213. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1088-4963.2010.01182.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Mapel, David R. 2009. Moral liability to defensive killing and symmetrical self-defense. The Journal of Political Philosophy 18: 198–217. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2009.00340.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 1994a. Self-defense and the problem of the innocent attacker. Ethics 104: 252–290. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1086/293600 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 1994b. Innocence, self-defense, and killing in war. The Journal of Political Philosophy 2: 193–221. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.1994.tb00021.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2004. The ethics of killing in war. Ethics 114: 693–733. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1086/422400 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2005a. Just cause for war. Ethics and International Affairs 19: 1–21. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1747-7093.2005.tb00551.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2005b. The basis of moral liability to defensive killing. Philosophical Issues 15: 386–405. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1533-6077.2005.00073.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2006. On the moral equality of combatants. The Journal of Political Philosophy 14: 377–393. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2006.00265.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2008b. Justification and liability in war. Journal of Political Philosophy 16: 227–244. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00301.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2009. Killing in war. Oxford: Clarendon Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199548668.001.0001 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2010. The just distribution of harm between combatants and noncombatants. Philosophy & Public Affairs 38: 342–379. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1088-4963.2010.01196.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Miller, Seumas. 2001. Social action: A teleological account. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511612954 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Fabre, Cécile. 2009. Guns, food, and liability to attack in war. Ethics 120: 36–63. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1086/649218 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Steinhoff, Uwe. 2007a. On the ethics of war and terrorism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217373.001.0001 | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Steinhoff, Uwe. 2008. Jeff McMahan on the moral inequality of combatants. Journal of Political Philosophy 16: 220–226. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00304.x | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Sugarman, Stephen D. 2006. The ‘necessity’ defense and the failure of tort theory: The case against strict liability for damages caused while exercising self-help in an emergency. Issues in Legal Scholarship. http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/sugarmans/C__TEMP_Mozilla_Cache_A08652B0d01.pdf. Accessed on 22 September 2009. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Anscombe, Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret. 1981. The Collected philosophical papers: vol. 3, ethics, religion and politics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Aquinas, Thomas. 2006. (Excerpt from) Scripta super libros sententiarum. In The ethics of war: Classic and contemporary reading, ed. Gregory M. Reichberg, Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby, 194–195. Oxford: Blackwell. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Frowe, Helen. 2011. The ethics of war and peace: an introduction. London and New York, NY: Blackwell. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Grotius, Hugo. 2005. The Rights of War and Peace, ed. Richard Tuck. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Justenhoven, Heinz-Gerhard, and Joachim Stüben (eds.). 2006. Kann Krieg erlaubt sein? Eine Quellensammlung zur politischen Ethik der Spanischen Spätscholastik. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2003. The ethics of killing: Problems at the margins of life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | McMahan, Jeff. 2008a. The morality of war and the law of war. In Just and unjust warriors: The moral and legal status of soldiers, ed. David Rodin, and Henry Shue, 19–43. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Murphy, Jeffrie G. 1973. The killing of the innocent. The Monist 57: 527–550. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Onuma, Yasuaki (ed.). 1993. A normative approach to war: peace, war and justice in hugo grotius. Oxford: Clarendon Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Reichberg, Gregory M. 2008. Just war and regular war: Competing paradigms. In Just and unjust wars, ed. David Rodin, and Henry Shue, 193–213. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Smith, Keith John Michael. 1991. A modern treatise on the law of criminal complicity. Oxford: Clarendon Press. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Steinhoff, Uwe. 2007b. On not believing in justified wars without being a pacifist. Politika (no number) (Annual Journal of the Politics and Public Administration Association of the University of Hong Kong): 152–155. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Steinhoff, Uwe. 2009a. What is war—and can a lone individual wage one? International Journal of Applied Philosophy 23: 133–150. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Steinhoff, Uwe. 2009b. Justifying defensive torture. In Torture: Moral absolutes and ambiguities, ed. Bev Clucas, Gerry Johnstone, and Tony Ward, 39–60. Baden–Baden: Nomos. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Steinhoff, Uwe. 2012. The moral equality of modern combatants and the myth of justified war. Forthcoming: Theoretical and Applied Ethics. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Thomson, Judith Jarvis. 1991. Self-defense. Philosophy & Public Affairs 20: 283–310. | en_US |
| dc.relation.references | Walzer, Michael. 1977. Just and unjust wars. New York, NY: Basic Books. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.spage | 339 | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.epage | 366 | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.eissn | 1572-8609 | en_US |
| dc.publisher.place | Netherlands | en_HK |
| dc.description.other | Springer Open Choice, 28 May 2012 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.scopusauthorid | Steinhoff, U=24167075300 | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.citeulike | 10403160 | - |
| dc.identifier.issnl | 1382-4554 | - |