Killing in War

by Jeff McMahan

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191609473
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	04/23/2009
Series:	Uehiro Series in Practical Ethics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jeff McMahan is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He works primarily in ethics and political philosophy, and occasionally in metaphysics and legal theory.

Table of Contents

1. The Morality of Participation in an Unjust War2. Arguments for the Moral Equality of Combatants3. Excuses4. Liability and the Limits of Self-Defense5. Civilian Immunity and Civilian Liability