On war and morality / Robert L. Holmes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holmes, Robert L., author.

Series:

Studies in moral, political, and legal philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War--Moral and ethical aspects.

War.

Oorlog.

Local Subjects:

Oorlog.

Physical Description:

xiii, 310 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1989]

Summary:

The threat to the survival of humankind posed by nuclear weapons has been a frightening and essential focus of public debate for the last four decades and must continue to be so if we are to avoid destroying ourselves and the natural world around us. One unfortunate result of preoccupation with the nuclear threat, however, has been a new kind of "respectability" accorded to conventional war. In this radical and cogent argument for pacifism, Robert Holmes asserts that all war--not just nuclear war--has become morally impermissible in the modern world. Addressing a wide audience of informed and concerned readers, he raises dramatic questions about the concepts of "political realism" and nuclear deterrence, makes a number of persuasive suggestions for nonviolent alternatives to war, and presents a rich panorama of thinking about war from St. Augustine to Reinhold Niebuhr and Herman Kahn. Holmes's positions are compellingly presented and will provoke discussion both among convinced pacifists and among those whom he calls "militarists." "Militarists," we realize after reading this book, include the majority of us who live a friendly and peaceful personal life while supporting a system which, if Holmes is correct, guarantees war and risks eventual human extinction.

Contents:

Violence and the perspective of morality

Political realism

Reason of state, military necessity, and domestic security

St. Augustine on the justification of war

Can war be morally justified?

Killing of innocent persons in wartime

Nuclear deterrence

Alternative to war.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-301) and index.

ISBN:

0691077940

9780691077949

9780691023007

069102300X

OCLC:

18106662

Online:

Publisher description