PS 280 Midterm: Cumulative Midterm 1 Notes
10 Mar 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Aquinas
- Reason and fate go together
- Just war requirements (jus ad bellum) (jus in bello)
o Must be started by sovereign
o Must have just cause
▪ Right a wrong
▪ Get something back that was stolen
▪ Help people
o Must have right intention
o Proportional force
▪ No excessive force
- How does Aquinas convince us?
o Bible quotes
o Theology
▪ Use of reason to decide matters of faith
▪ Solves contradictory positions
o Philosophy
▪ Pure reason
- Cleg at fight as
o Cetai oupatios ae so iosistet ith oe aothe, that the cannot be
eeised at the sae tie
o Does war lead to sin & corruption even if the cause is right
- Superogatory
o Doing extra things to lead a good life that are not required to get into heaven
o Ex: priests, nuns
- Negative morality
o Must avoid any immoral act
o As log as ou dot do ___, oue goig to heae
Wilson
- Moalit oligates ou, at ast it aside
o Positive morality
▪ Must do things for the good
▪ Power (the state) can promote the good
• Can go to war to promote the good
▪ Deontological- something is either all right or all wrong
• Ex: killing a baby is wrong no matter what
• Wilson was deontological
▪ Utilitarian- what is good is what benefits the most people
• Must know context before deciding right or wrong
• It is ok to kill a few people to get to the right thing
• Ex: Killing the baby would be ok
o Doing wrong things to create utopia
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▪ Grand Inquisitor
- Wilsonianism- democratic peace
o If everyone is a democracy, nobody will fight
o The masses never benefit from war
- Three fundamental assumptions of Wilsonianism
o Reason can be used to solve human problems
o Revolution can be brought about in international politics
▪ Doest hae to e a stuggle fo poe ad ostat afae
▪ Must change what people value by using reason
o One can create a set of global institutions that can force states to be peaceful
▪ League of nations forced other countries to be democratic
- Eduatio: sat people dot ote fo leades ho sed the to a
- Problems with Wilsonianism
o War to end all wars is a contradiction
▪ Leads to crusade
o Forcing people to adopt his beliefs (democracy) to create utopia
o Doing whatever you want in the name of your good idea = using democracy as an
excuse to do whatever you want
o Morgenthau says
▪ Fighting wars that are not in national interest, that do good things but might not
be in self-interest of country
▪ Morgenthau would be hesitant to ask people to go and die for anything that
ast i the iteest of the out
o Kennan says
▪ Wilso is doig Cusades ad speadig ideolog to people ho dot at it is
not in national interest
Thucydides
- Peloponnesian War
o Justice & Power
▪ the stog do hat the hae the poe to do ad the eak aept hat the
hae to aept
o Security
▪ seuit does ot eist i ou all fa aa o thei good ill, ut i the eas
at had
o Reliability
▪ the Spartans hold for honor that which pleases them and for justice that which
pofits the
o Wishful thinking
▪ ou thik futue thigs oe etai tha the peset dage
o Warning
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▪ ou ae disussig the fate of ou out, ad its futue depeds o the
deisio oue aout to ake
o Alliances are only kept if they are in both parties interest
o You cannot rely on reason or rational assumption to protect you
▪ Only power can face power
- Government needs mentally & physically strong leaders
- Melian Dialogue
o Source of realist wisdom
o Provides lessons for the weak but not the strong
- Strong realism
o Strong do as they want, weak do as they must
o Justice is an illusion the weak use in an attempt to keep the strong from doing whatever
they want
- Mytilenian revolt
o 10 years before Melian dialogue
o Athens wants to kill and enslave everyone
o They change their mind
- Parallels with Mytilenian & Melian
o Weak state rising up
o Athens wants revenge
- Differences
o Mytilenians spared
- Power and corruption
o Absolute power corrupts absolutely
o After Athens leader dies, people get power, become corrupted, almost kill Mytilenians
and kill Melians
- Rational choice
o Most people dot ko hat the at o ho to get it
o Thee ideisie, fikle, ad easil pesuaded fa speehes
o Democracy is a terrible idea
- The states of justice
o As people gain power, they stop paying attention to justice
▪ People making arguments of killing Melians use justice in their arguments
- Summary
o Thucydides thinks democracy is a terrible idea and we need strong leaders to make our
choices
o Morality is not sufficient against power, will not protect you
▪ Whats important is not what is right or wrong, its who has power
o Might makes right- if you have power, you can do whatever you want
▪ Not Thucydides approved
o Horror at how Melians are treated is not because of failure of self-interest, is despite
self-interest
o Thudides doest just edose Might Makes ‘ight
o Good leaders = good governance
find more resources at oneclass.com
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