War is Always Morally Wrong - Assignment Example

Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Philosophical Dialogue: War is always Morally Wrong Myra: (Looks up from reading a news story on the internet) Unbelievable! This world is getting absurd with each passing day. Sam: What is it this time? You are always picking on the world these days. Myra: Well, can you believe it? It says here that a small East African country (Kenya) has picked up the just war theory and gone into Somalia, ostensibly to guard its borders against the Al-Shabaab1. It seems to me that even developing countries are buying into the shenanigans that philosophers and academicians have been feeding developed countries over the years. Sam: I don’t understand you! And even assuming I did, what gives you the impression that developing countries should not engage in wars they think are justified? After all, they too are sovereign states which know when principles of just war are applicable2. Myra: To start with, I don’t think that any war is justified3; secondly, I wonder why a developing country should spend so much money going into a war instead of trying other peace-making initiatives, and finally, I just think the ‘just war’ tradition is misleading4. Sam: Well, you are entitled to your opinions, but I might as well remind you that war is always the last resolve that countries take up.5,6 Using the country you read about for example, don’t you think they had tried other peace-making ways to resolve the conflict with the Al-Shabaab? Myra: I am not sure if they had tried other peacemaking alternatives but I do know that the consequences of war are enough to avoid war7. Dialogue is for example a far better alternative. After all, the Al-Shabaab operates within the lawless Somalia and its threat to Kenya is minimal, or so I think... Sam: Well, your thinking is wrong. And this is why: no government whether in the West, Africa or Asia would be willing to go to war if the reasons were not justified enough. For example, the country in question faced an imminent threat due to the terrorism activities in Somalia. Remember Somalia is Al-Qaeda’s base in Africa. Myra: I honestly think that you are deliberately avoiding to listen to me, or you are just plain obstinate. My argument is that whether or not Al-Shabaab or Al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia posed a threat to Kenya, the latter was not justified to go to war. My point here is that war is not ethical or moral, and whatever reasons a country may have, it is never justifiable to wage war against another country, group of people or community. Sam: I honestly think you are too much of a dreamer than a realist. Do you mean to say you would never fight back even if a person persistently insults you? Is that it? Myra: See what your problem is; you equate a feud between two people with war8. It is little wonder you think the consequences are justified. Even supposing that war was comparable to a feud between two people, which it clearly isn’t, I still insist that people should give dialogue a chance as one of the most effective ways of making their immediate environment a more peaceful place. People, unlike animals, always respond to reason. Plus you are forgetting that everyone wants to live in peace; it is only that injustices hinder the attainment of peace. With a little more dialogue, we can surely be a peaceful world. Sam: There you go again! Dreamer! May I remind you that this is the real world we are living in and not some sort of fantasy? You think you can reason with religious extremists who believe that a supreme being has ordered them to slay anyone who does not abide by their religion? You want to reason with hardliners who think you are their oppressor? Well, go ahead and you will lose your head so quickly you won’t know what hit you. Myra: You know what your problem is? Just like other people who believe that war is the only way of attaining peace, you have lost all trust in the reasoning abilities of the human race. You have been brainwashed by the popular media and all the justification in literature that war is not morally wrong. Well, hear this friend, I am a moralist and I believe that war is morally wrong. I will uphold that until the day I die because there is too much evidence to justify my position. Sam: You know what, were we not discussing such an important subject, I would surely laugh at you. Why are you emotional and sensitive about this subject anyway? Have you even been a victim of war? As long as I can tell, you don’t have relatives in Somalia. Relax my friend! Myra: Well, I am just concerned. That’s all! By the way, would your position be different if you, your friends or relatives were victims of war? Sam: Ha! You are trying to twist the subject on me. Aren’t you? Well, you’d be glad to know that even if I lose an eye, or two limbs as a result of war, I would still stick to my position that war is not immoral. Think of it this way; which is the greater evil, to lose some people in war (some who may be innocent), or to live in a violent environment where the enemy is always causing you anxiety and grief? Opting for the former seems like the more sensible thing to me. So, No! My position would still the same even if my friends, relatives or me were victims of the war. Myra: Weird how you say that. You realise how you trivialise these issues. Human life is sacred. And no one, however justified they think they are, has the right to take it away. Sam: Tell that to the wind my friend. As long as the pursuit of power, self-interest and the need to survive are part and parcel to human life, so will war; and that my friend is the reality9. Myra: Do you mean to say that just because of the three reasons governments are justified to wage war? Sam: No my friend. I am simply telling you that in the real world where you and I live, war will always be the means to an end10. Whether it is morally wrong or right is a non-issue. After all, humans have shown through the years that outside their religious cocoons, they don’t care much about morality. Myra: You know what your problem is? Sam: No, care to tell me? Myra: You are a non-reformer! Who said we cannot change our reality to be more sensitive to the fact that there is no moral war! All this hogwash about just war is just trying to justify something that cannot be justified in the very true meaning of the word. Sam: Once again, I am just being a realist. Take it or leave it. Once you wake up from your wishful thoughts, I’ll be right here to tell you what the real world thinks. And by the way, just thought about changing the world has been around for such a long time. No one in history has succeeded yet; at least not one I know of! Myra: Pessimistic fool! Sam: Call me whatever you want. I am happy that you are starting to agree with me. I can see I am slowly winning you over. Myra: Tough luck my friend. You can never win me over. I have a mind remember? And it tells me that war can never be moral. You on the other hand, have fallen prey to all that literature you have been reading. Sam: Since you have taken such a moralist approach to life, have you ever considered the fact that refraining from war could be immoral11? Myra: No. Because refraining from engaging in war can never be immoral12. Sam: I put it to you that it can be. And this is why: consider a country that looks as its citizens are attacked by terrorists or aggressors from another country. Isn’t the passive approach that leads to loss of lives an immoral stance in you view?13 After all, the government has the capacity to hit back and quell animosity from its aggressor, therefore upholding its moral responsibility of protecting the citizenry. Myra: You are losing track once again my friend. Reason with me if only for a moment. If every one understood that war was immoral, no one would ever engage in it, hence rendering your example irrelevant. Supposing that aggressors were drumming at your door, fighting them would not be a solution. After all, innocent lives on both sides will be lost in the confrontation. Why not just try other more peaceful conflict resolution methods? Sam: I have to admit that that is the most unwise (to put it mildly) response I have ever heard. (With a teasing tone)You are at your most foolish moment of the day! Myra: Make fun of me all you want! Like other “realists”, you think you are the old wise one, while I am the younger and foolish one.14 Sam: Enough arguments for the day! I don’t think we can change the world sitting here all day. Myra: We can, but let’s leave it at that. Works Cited Biondi, Carrie-Ann. “Rethinking the Just War Tradition.” Rethinking the Just War Tradition. Eds. Michael Brough, John Lango and Harry van der Linden. NY: State University of New York Press, 2007. 119-126. Brunk ,Gregory, Donald Secrest, and Ioward Tamashiro. Understanding attitudes about War: Modeling Moral Judgments. Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg Press, 1996. Print. Hurka, Thomas. “Proportionality in the Morality of War” Philosophy & Public Affairs, 33.1 (2005): 7. Luban, David. “Just War and Human Rights,” Philosophy & Public Affairs 9(1979/80): 160-181. Mackenzie, David. “Inside Kenya’s War with Al Shabaab” CNN US. Dec. 2011 < http://articles.cnn.com/2011-12-15/africa/world_africa_kenya-war_1_al-shabaab-somalia-ethiopian-ground-forces?_s=PM:AFRICA> Mar. 28, 2012. Orend, Brian. The Morality of War. NY: Broadview Press, 2006. Shaffer Thomas l. Faith and the Professions. London: SUNY Press, 1987. Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. “Preventative War- What is it Good For?” Preemption. Eds. Henry Shue and David Rodin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 202-21. Print. Thomas Hurka, “the Justification of National Partiality.” The Morality of Nationalism. Eds. Robert McKim and Jeff McMahan. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 139-157. Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust Wars, 2nd Ed. New York: Basic Books, 1992. Read More

Plus you are forgetting that everyone wants to live in peace; it is only that injustices hinder the attainment of peace. With a little more dialogue, we can surely be a peaceful world. Sam: There you go again! Dreamer! May I remind you that this is the real world we are living in and not some sort of fantasy? You think you can reason with religious extremists who believe that a supreme being has ordered them to slay anyone who does not abide by their religion? You want to reason with hardliners who think you are their oppressor?

Well, go ahead and you will lose your head so quickly you won’t know what hit you. Myra: You know what your problem is? Just like other people who believe that war is the only way of attaining peace, you have lost all trust in the reasoning abilities of the human race. You have been brainwashed by the popular media and all the justification in literature that war is not morally wrong. Well, hear this friend, I am a moralist and I believe that war is morally wrong. I will uphold that until the day I die because there is too much evidence to justify my position.

Sam: You know what, were we not discussing such an important subject, I would surely laugh at you. Why are you emotional and sensitive about this subject anyway? Have you even been a victim of war? As long as I can tell, you don’t have relatives in Somalia. Relax my friend! Myra: Well, I am just concerned. That’s all! By the way, would your position be different if you, your friends or relatives were victims of war? Sam: Ha! You are trying to twist the subject on me. Aren’t you? Well, you’d be glad to know that even if I lose an eye, or two limbs as a result of war, I would still stick to my position that war is not immoral.

Think of it this way; which is the greater evil, to lose some people in war (some who may be innocent), or to live in a violent environment where the enemy is always causing you anxiety and grief? Opting for the former seems like the more sensible thing to me. So, No! My position would still the same even if my friends, relatives or me were victims of the war. Myra: Weird how you say that. You realise how you trivialise these issues. Human life is sacred. And no one, however justified they think they are, has the right to take it away.

Sam: Tell that to the wind my friend. As long as the pursuit of power, self-interest and the need to survive are part and parcel to human life, so will war; and that my friend is the reality9. Myra: Do you mean to say that just because of the three reasons governments are justified to wage war? Sam: No my friend. I am simply telling you that in the real world where you and I live, war will always be the means to an end10. Whether it is morally wrong or right is a non-issue. After all, humans have shown through the years that outside their religious cocoons, they don’t care much about morality.

Myra: You know what your problem is? Sam: No, care to tell me? Myra: You are a non-reformer! Who said we cannot change our reality to be more sensitive to the fact that there is no moral war! All this hogwash about just war is just trying to justify something that cannot be justified in the very true meaning of the word. Sam: Once again, I am just being a realist. Take it or leave it. Once you wake up from your wishful thoughts, I’ll be right here to tell you what the real world thinks. And by the way, just thought about changing the world has been around for such a long time.

No one in history has succeeded yet; at least not one I know of! Myra: Pessimistic fool! Sam: Call me whatever you want. I am happy that you are starting to agree with me. I can see I am slowly winning you over. Myra: Tough luck my friend. You can never win me over. I have a mind remember? And it tells me that war can never be moral. You on the other hand, have fallen prey to all that literature you have been reading. Sam: Since you have taken such a moralist approach to life, have you ever considered the fact that refraining from war could be immoral11? Myra: No.

Read More