PHL378H1 Lecture 6: LEC6 – Just Cause Sept 29 2009
PHL378: War & Morality
LEC6 – Just Cause
Sept, 29th, 2009
Ius in Bello
Proportionality
! individual act of war is permissible iff the damage it will cost is not disproportionate to the
good it will yield
! CB: pg. 103
! “when confronting choices....
! “to destroy civilization....
! M: pg. 389
! doctrine of double effect
! “the good achieved must be incidental to the evil”
! the harm the military costs must not be out of proportion to the good yielded
! M: pg. 390
! violated proportionality even if we aimed at military complex in the Hiroshima case b/c we
will have unproportional harm
! how much proportional harm we are allowed to cause depends on the seriousness of the aims of
the war
!
Necessity
! the harm must not be excessive to the benefit
! if there are 2 ways in which you can achieve your goals and one is less destructive that the
other, than you should choose the less destructive mean
! ie. if there is a bridge and it has military advantage for you to bomb it, and you can bomb it
either during the day (many civilian causalities), or you can bomb during night (less casualties).
then you should choose night
! ban on Dum Dum (exploding bullets)
! justification on the ban is that normal bullet already disables the soldier hence no need to
cause extra harm
! violates necessity condition if it is not banned
Ius ad Bellum
Right Intention
! “wag the dog”
! fighting to boost popularity rating and not for Right Intention/Just Cause
! this criteria ought to be dropped b/c
! the evaluation of the act as right/wrong and the evaluation of people in their motives as
morally good or morally bad are distinct entities hence you can act rightly from a bad
motive
! Interpretations
! Demanding: only desire for JC and nothing else
! Less Demanding: not only desire JC, but that has to be sufficient such that if all the other
desires are gone, you will still resort to war
! Least Demanding: belief that there is a JC is a necessary condition for fighting BUT not
sufficient; you need other motives (eg. self interested ones)
! Assume: JC give you the permission to fight
www.notesolution.com
Document Summary
Proportionality individual act of war is permissible iff the damage it will cost is not disproportionate to the good it will yield. the good achieved must be incidental to the evil the harm the military costs must not be out of proportion to the good yielded. violated proportionality even if we aimed at military complex in the hiroshima case b/c we will have unproportional harm. how much proportional harm we are allowed to cause depends on the seriousness of the aims of the war. ban on dum dum (exploding bullets) justification on the ban is that normal bullet already disables the soldier hence no need to cause extra harm. violates necessity condition if it is not banned. demanding: only desire for jc and nothing else. less demanding: not only desire jc, but that has to be sufficient such that if all the other desires are gone, you will still resort to war.
