Front cover image for Killing in war

Killing in war

Jeff McMahan urges us to reject the view, dominant throughout history, that mere participation in an unjust war is not wrong. He argues powerfully that combatants who fight for an unjust cause are acting wrongly and are themselves morally responsible for their actions
eBook, English, ©2009
Clarendon Press ; Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, New York, ©2009
1 online resource (xii, 250 pages)
9780191563461, 9780191721045, 9781282053366, 9786612053368, 0191563463, 0191721042, 1282053361, 6612053364
326881624
The morality of participation in an unjust war
The doctrine of the moral equality of combatants
The traditional criterion of liability to attack in war
Can unjust combatants satisfy the principles of Jus in Bello?
The basis of moral liability to attack in war
Arguments for the moral equality of combatants
Justification and liability
Consent
The boxing match model of war
The gladiatorial combat model of war
Hypothetical consent
The epistemic argument
Institutions as sources of justification
The duty to defer to the epistemic authority of the government
The duty to sustain the efficient functioning of just institutions
Fairness to fellow participants
The collectivist approach to the morality of war
Transferred responsibility
Symmetrical disobedience
Conscientious refusal
Excuses
Sources of allegiance to the moral equality of combatants
The conflation of morality and law
The conflation of permission and excuse
Excusing conditions for unjust combatants
Duress
Epistemic limitation
Diminished responsibility
Skepticism about excusing unjust combatants
Consistency
Are unjust combatants excused by duress?
Are unjust combatants excused by epistemic limitations?
Liability and the limits of self-defense
Different types of threat
The relevance of excuses to killing in self-defense
Culpable threats
Partially excused threats
Excused threats and innocent threats
Nonresponsible threats
Justified threats and just threats
Liability to defensive attack
The moral status of unjust combatants
Liability and punishment
The relevance of excuses to the distribution of risk
Child soldiers
Civilian immunity and civilian liability
The moral and legal foundations of civilian immunity
The possible bases of civilian liability
Civilian liability to lesser and collateral harms
Can civilians be liable to intentional military attack?
Civilian liability and terrorism
English