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- Publisher Website: 10.1080/15027570.2020.1723843
- Scopus: eid_2-s2.0-85079763856
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Article: Doing Away with “Legitimate Authority”
Title | Doing Away with “Legitimate Authority” |
---|---|
Authors | |
Keywords | Authorization Yitzhak Benbaji James Turner Johnson Seth Lazar legitimate authority |
Issue Date | 2019 |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis Scandinavia. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/smil20 |
Citation | Journal of Military Ethics, 2019, v. 18, p. 314-332 How to Cite? |
Abstract | I argue in this article that traditional just war theory did allow private, indeed even individual war, and that arguments in support of a legitimate authority criterion, let alone in support of the “priority” of this criterion, fail. I further argue that what motivates the insistence on “legitimate authority” is the assumption that doing away with this criterion will lead to chaos and anarchy. I demonstrate that the reasoning, if any, underlying this assumption is philosophically confused. The fact of the matter is that wars need not necessarily be authorized by some higher authority (such as a king, president, or parliament) in order to be justified, and this moral fact does not need to lead to chaos and anarchy. Accordingly, the criterion of legitimate authority cannot be relied on to delegitimate individual war, private war, guerrilla war, or even terrorism. Finally, I consider some other defenses of authorization and demonstrate that the “authorization” these accounts defend is either not needed for justification or already provided by other just war criteria or, indeed, entirely fictitious. |
Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/294131 |
ISSN | 2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.255 |
DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.author | Steinhoff, U | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2020-11-23T08:26:46Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2020-11-23T08:26:46Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2019 | - |
dc.identifier.citation | Journal of Military Ethics, 2019, v. 18, p. 314-332 | - |
dc.identifier.issn | 1502-7570 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/294131 | - |
dc.description.abstract | I argue in this article that traditional just war theory did allow private, indeed even individual war, and that arguments in support of a legitimate authority criterion, let alone in support of the “priority” of this criterion, fail. I further argue that what motivates the insistence on “legitimate authority” is the assumption that doing away with this criterion will lead to chaos and anarchy. I demonstrate that the reasoning, if any, underlying this assumption is philosophically confused. The fact of the matter is that wars need not necessarily be authorized by some higher authority (such as a king, president, or parliament) in order to be justified, and this moral fact does not need to lead to chaos and anarchy. Accordingly, the criterion of legitimate authority cannot be relied on to delegitimate individual war, private war, guerrilla war, or even terrorism. Finally, I consider some other defenses of authorization and demonstrate that the “authorization” these accounts defend is either not needed for justification or already provided by other just war criteria or, indeed, entirely fictitious. | - |
dc.language | eng | - |
dc.publisher | Taylor & Francis Scandinavia. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/smil20 | - |
dc.relation.ispartof | Journal of Military Ethics | - |
dc.rights | AOM/Preprint Before Accepted: his article has been accepted for publication in [JOURNAL TITLE], published by Taylor & Francis. AOM/Preprint After Accepted: This is an [original manuscript / preprint] of an article published by Taylor & Francis in [JOURNAL TITLE] on [date of publication], available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/[Article DOI]. Accepted Manuscript (AM) i.e. Postprint This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in [JOURNAL TITLE] on [date of publication], available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/[Article DOI]. | - |
dc.subject | Authorization | - |
dc.subject | Yitzhak Benbaji | - |
dc.subject | James Turner Johnson | - |
dc.subject | Seth Lazar | - |
dc.subject | legitimate authority | - |
dc.title | Doing Away with “Legitimate Authority” | - |
dc.type | Article | - |
dc.identifier.email | Steinhoff, U: ustnhoff@hkucc.hku.hk | - |
dc.identifier.authority | Steinhoff, U=rp00610 | - |
dc.description.nature | link_to_subscribed_fulltext | - |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1080/15027570.2020.1723843 | - |
dc.identifier.scopus | eid_2-s2.0-85079763856 | - |
dc.identifier.hkuros | 318876 | - |
dc.identifier.volume | 18 | - |
dc.identifier.spage | 314 | - |
dc.identifier.epage | 332 | - |
dc.publisher.place | Sweden | - |
dc.identifier.issnl | 1502-7570 | - |