The Morality of War: Classical and Contemporary Readings

Questions about the morality of war have troubled philosophers and non-philosophers throughout history and remain among the most relevant and important issues for public debate today. In this course, we will take up the task of asking and (perhaps) answering difficult questions pertaining to peace, war, and defense such as: Is going to war ever justified? What are the criteria according to which we ought to judge whether a war is being waged justly? Do the ends ever justify the means? Who ought to decide? Yet, I have not structured the course around particular questions or problems; rather we will take a historical approach in order to trace the progression and development of human reasoning regarding war. The first part of the course deals with historical and classical approaches to the ethics of war. In the second part we will discuss some of the contemporary responses to these seminal works.

This course is cross-listed with POLI 272 and PWAD 272.

Emily Crookston’s webpage