Neues zur Theorie des Gerechten Krieges: Die Wende zum Soldaten und Fragen der Kriegsmoral

Translated title of the contribution: News on the Just War Theory: The turn towards the soldier and questions of war moral

Angela Kallhoff, Thomas Schulte-Umberg

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

In Just War Theory, the leading paradigm is a normative assessment of war among nation states. As an effect of that perspective, the duties and obligations of soldiers as well as the issues of culpability have received only very little attention. Recently, philosophers have questioned this restriction in order to discuss war ethics from a different angle. Research now focuses on the single soldier's decisions on the battlefield and their moral assessment. This paper looks at the "criterion of liability" introduced by Jeff McMahan. It explains consequences of this new approach to war ethics, including the focus on reason-giving narratives. An interdisciplinary framework introduces recent historical findings on the single soldier's "morality". This paper argues that the shift of attention gives insight into the many facets of "morality" in the context of war.

Translated title of the contributionNews on the Just War Theory: The turn towards the soldier and questions of war moral
Original languageGerman
Pages (from-to)762-780
Number of pages19
JournalDeutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie
Volume65
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Sep 2017

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 603103 Ethics

Cite this