The Mechanics of Claims and Permissible Killing in War

The Mechanics of Claims and Permissible Killing in War PDF Author: Alec D. Walen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190872063
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
According to the dominant account of rights, there are two ways to permissibly kill people: they have done something to forfeit their right to life, or their rights are outweighed by the significantly greater cost of respecting them. Contemporary just war theorists tend to agree that it is difficult to justify killing in the second way. Thus, they focus on the conditions under which rights might be forfeited. But it has proven hard to defend an account of forfeiture that permits killing when and only when it is morally justifiable. In The Mechanics of Claims and Permissible Killing in War, Alec D. Walen develops an alternative account of rights according to which rights forfeiture has a much smaller role to play. It plays a smaller role because rights themselves are more contextually contingent. They systematically reflect the different kinds of claims people can make on an agent. For example, those who threaten to cause harm without a right to do so have weaker claims not to be killed than innocent bystanders or those who have a right to threaten to cause harm. By framing rights as the output of a balance of competing claims, and by laying out a detailed account of how to balance competing claims, Walen provides a more coherent account of when killing in war is permissible.

The Mechanics of Claims and Permissible Killing in War

The Mechanics of Claims and Permissible Killing in War PDF Author: Alec D. Walen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190872063
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
According to the dominant account of rights, there are two ways to permissibly kill people: they have done something to forfeit their right to life, or their rights are outweighed by the significantly greater cost of respecting them. Contemporary just war theorists tend to agree that it is difficult to justify killing in the second way. Thus, they focus on the conditions under which rights might be forfeited. But it has proven hard to defend an account of forfeiture that permits killing when and only when it is morally justifiable. In The Mechanics of Claims and Permissible Killing in War, Alec D. Walen develops an alternative account of rights according to which rights forfeiture has a much smaller role to play. It plays a smaller role because rights themselves are more contextually contingent. They systematically reflect the different kinds of claims people can make on an agent. For example, those who threaten to cause harm without a right to do so have weaker claims not to be killed than innocent bystanders or those who have a right to threaten to cause harm. By framing rights as the output of a balance of competing claims, and by laying out a detailed account of how to balance competing claims, Walen provides a more coherent account of when killing in war is permissible.

MECHANICS OF CLAIMS AND PERMISSIBLE KILLING IN WAR

MECHANICS OF CLAIMS AND PERMISSIBLE KILLING IN WAR PDF Author: WALEN.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780190872076
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Killing in War

Killing in War PDF Author: Jeff McMahan
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191563463
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Killing a person is in general among the most seriously wrongful forms of action, yet most of us accept that it can be permissible to kill people on a large scale in war. Does morality become more permissive in a state of war? Jeff McMahan argues that conditions in war make no difference to what morality permits and the justifications for killing people are the same in war as they are in other contexts, such as individual self-defence. This view is radically at odds with the traditional theory of the just war and has implications that challenge common sense views. McMahan argues, for example, that it is wrong to fight in a war that is unjust because it lacks a just cause.

Who Should Die?

Who Should Die? PDF Author: Ryan C. Jenkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190495650
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This volume collects influential and groundbreaking philosophical work on killing in war. A "who's who" of contemporary scholars, this volume serves as a convenient and authoritative collection uniquely suited for university-level teaching and as a reference for ethicists, policymakers, stakeholders, and any student of the morality of war.

Sparing Civilians

Sparing Civilians PDF Author: Seth Lazar
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198712987
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Killing civilians is worse than killing soldiers. Few moral principles have been more widely and viscerally affirmed. But in recent years it has faced a rising tide of dissent. Seth Lazar aims to turn this tide, and to vindicate international law. He develops new insights into the morality of harm, relevant to everyone interested in the debate.

Permissible Killing

Permissible Killing PDF Author: Suzanne Uniacke
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521564588
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Do individuals have a positive right of self-defence? And if so, what are the limits of this right? Under what conditions, if any, does this use of force extend to the defence of others? These are some of the issues explored by Dr Uniacke in this comprehensive philosophical discussion of the principles relevant to self-defence as a moral and legal justification of homicide. She establishes a unitary right of self-defence and defence of others, one which grounds the permissibility of the use of necessary and proportionate defensive force against culpable and non-culpable, active and passive, unjust threats. Particular topics discussed include: the nature of moral and legal justification and excuse; natural law justifications of homicide in self-defence; the Principle of Double Effect and the claim that homicide in self-defence is justified as unintended killing; and the question of self-preferential killing. This is a lucid and sophisticated account of the complex notion of justification, revolving around a critical discussion of recent trends in the law of self-defence.

Why Law Matters

Why Law Matters PDF Author: Alon Harel
Publisher: Oxford University Press (UK)
ISBN: 019964327X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Why Law Matters argues that public institutions and legal procedures are valuable and matter as such, irrespective of their instrumental value. Examining the value of rights, public institutions, and constitutional review, the book criticises instrumentalist approaches in political theory, claiming they fail to account for their enduring appeal.

War and Self-defense

War and Self-defense PDF Author: David Rodin
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 9780199275410
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
When is it right to go to war? The most persuasive answer to this question has always been 'in self-defence'. David Rodin shows what's wrong with this answer. He proposes a comprehensive new theory of the right of self-defence which resolves many of the perplexing questions that have dogged both jurists and philosophers.

The Ethics of Killing

The Ethics of Killing PDF Author: Jeff McMahan
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195169829
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
Drawing on philosophical notions of personal identity and the immorality of killing, Jeff McMahan looks at various issues, including abortion, infanticide, the killing of animals, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.

War by Agreement

War by Agreement PDF Author: Yitzhak Benbaji
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199577196
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
War by Agreement presents a new theory on the ethics of war. It shows that wars can be morally justified at both the ad bellum level (the political decision to go to war) and the in bello level (its actual conduct by the military)by accepting a contractarian account of the rules governing war. According to this account, the rules of war are anchored in a mutually beneficial and fair agreement between the relevant players - the purpose of which is to promote peace and to reduce the horrors of war. The book relies on the long social contract tradition and illustrates its fruitfulness in understanding and developing the morality and the law of war.