Killing in War (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780199548668)

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.

Author: Jeff McMahan
ISBN-10: 0199548668
ISBN-13: 9780199548668
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 06/08/2009
Pages: 264
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.60w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 02/01/2010