| Type of Document |
Master's Thesis |
| Author |
Kilner, Peter
|
| Author's Email Address |
pkilner@vt.edu |
| URN |
etd-41998-18346 |
| Title |
Soldiers, Self-Defense, and Killing in War |
| Degree |
Master of Arts |
| Department |
Philosophy |
| Advisory Committee |
| Advisor Name |
Title |
| Harlan B. Miller |
Committee Chair |
| John Christman |
Committee Member |
| Patrick Croskery |
Committee Member |
|
| Keywords |
- pacifism
- just war
- military ethics
- killing
|
| Date of Defense |
1998-05-07 |
| Availability |
unrestricted |
Abstract
Just-Warists and War-Pacifists disagree on whether soldiers are morally justified in killing each other in wartime combat. Many of their respective arguments, and their contradictory conclusions, are based upon principles of self-defense. In this thesis, I examine the role that principles of self-defense play in the arguments surrounding the moral justification of killing in combat. I do so by critiquing both a Just-Warist argument that relies on self-defense (constructed from the works of Michael Walzer and Judith Jarvis Thomson) and a War-Pacifist argument (developed by Richard Norman) that condemns killing in combat based on the moral requirements of self-defense. I demonstrate that both arguments fail due to their mistaken assumptions that soldiers are not morally responsible for their actions. I conclude by arguing that--once soldiers are recognized as morally responsible agents--killing in combat can be morally justified by principles of self-defense.
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etd.PDF |
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PKVITA.PDF |
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