Is war

necessary?

Presentation by :
 Table of Contents

01 02 03
Introduction War or not? Need for war
What is war? Just war theory Just cause
and war ethics
“The supreme art of war is to
subdue the enemy without
fighting.”

—Sun Tzu, 
The Art of War
 01
Introductio
n
What is war?
 What is war?

War is a situation or a period of fighting between

countries or groups of people. A war generally
involves the use of weapons, a military organization
and soldiers. War is a situation in which a nation
enforces its rights by using force. Not every
armed conflict is a war
The three pure types of war may be called as :

● Absolute war
● Instrumental war
● Agonistic war
Etymology
The English word war derives from the 11th-century Old
English words wyrre and werre, from Old
French werre (also guerre as in modern French), in turn from
the Frankish *werra, ultimately deriving from the Proto-
Germanic *werzō 'mixture, confusion'. The word is related to
the Old Saxon werran, Old High German werran, and the
German verwirren, meaning “to confuse”, “to perplex”, and
“to bring into confusion”.
 14,000
The earliest evidence of prehistoric warfare
 is a Mesolithic cemetery in Jebel Sahaba,
which has been determined to be
approximately 14,000 years old. About
forty-five percent of the skeletons there
displayed signs of violent death.
While some scholars see war as a universal
and ancestral aspect of human nature others
argue it is a result of specific socio-cultural,
economic or ecological circumstances.[
 Three largest wars by death toll

Date Death (millions)

World war 2 1939-1945 60.7-84.6
Mongol
13th century 60
conquests
Taiping
1850-1864 40
rebellion
02
War or
not?
Just war theory and war ethics
Is it ever morally right to
kill on a massive scale?
War has been
puzzling philosophers
for centuries, and it
isn’t hard to see why.
What could be more
intuitive or ethical
than the belief that it
is morally wrong to
kill on a massive
scale?
Just war theory
Many would argue that there are times when war is morally
permissible, and even obligatory. The most famous way of
ethically assessing war is to use ‘Just War Theory’; a tradition
going back to St. Augustine in the 5th Century and St. Thomas
in the 13th Century. Just War theory considers the reasons for
going to war (Jus ad bellum) and the conduct of war (Jus in
bello). This distinction is important. A war might be ethical but
the means unethical, for instance, using landmines, torture,
chemicals and current debate is concerned with drones.
Just War theory sets out principles for a war to be ethical. The
war must be:

● Waged by a legitimate
authority (usually interpreted
as states)
● In a just cause
● Waged with right intention
● Have a strong probability of
success
● Be a last resort
● Be proportional
In addition, there are three principles for conduct in war:

Discrimination Proportionality Actions

Distinguishing The harms must be Actions must be
between enemy proportional to the militarily necessary
combatants and non- gains
combatants
03
Need for war
Just cause
What is a 'just cause'?
A war is only just if it is fought for a reason that is justified, and
that carries sufficient moral weight. The country that wishes to
use military force must demonstrate that there is a just cause to
do so.
The main just cause is to put right a wrong. Sometimes a war
fought to prevent a wrong from happening may be considered
a just war.
In modern times wars to defend the innocent are increasingly
regarded as just (which fits with the idea in some religious
St. Augustine's view
St. Augustine said there were three
just causes :

● defending against attack

● recapturing things taken
● punishing people who have
done wrong
Each of these can be seen as an
act of justice: they harm
someone who deserves to be
harmed because they have
done wrong.
 Just Causes

Asisting an
Self-defense Punishment Violation of
invaded
human rights
friendly
nation
 War divdes!

War No war
Final mode of action when When conflicts are
no means left. resolved by other means
World beyond wars

Thank you!
 Resources

● http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/just/cause_1.shtml#:~:text=just%20cause'%3F-,A%20war%20is%20only
%20just%20if%20it%20is%20fought%20for,just%20cause%20to%20do%20so.&text=Sometimes%20a%2
0war%20fought%20to,be%20considered%20a%20just%20war.
● https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/ethics-of-warfare-heather-widdows.aspx
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War#Ethics