Permissibility of anticipatory warfare

Question: Raise compelling objections to the views of Michael Walzer on the permissibility of anticipatory warfare (i.e. the use of military force against a state in preemptive attacks)

Use as a source: Michael Walzer Just and Unjust Wars.

About the Solutions
The first 2 pages of the essay are reproduced below to show how the essay was handled.

There are several objections which can be raised with regard to the viewpoint taken by Michael Walzer on the permissibility of war in anticipation. In essence, it seems that the best arguments against his ideas concerning war come from St. Thomas Aquinas who was influence by other philosophers’ ideas concerning war and how it should be entered into and what means should be followed to carry out war. Amongst these philosophers were the ancient Greeks as well as St. Augustine who led St. Thomas to suggest that the idea of war is justifiable in certain situations but anticipatory war is certainly not justifiable.

For example, Tooke (1965) looks at the idea of war as described by St. Thomas and examines the Summa Theologiea to say that war itself is unjustifiable since there is bound to be injustice in war. Additionally, laws of the land may be violated and trampled upon in a situation of war therefore war should be questioned thoroughly before a decision is made to enter into it. While Walzer (2006) feels that the idea of eminent threat is enough to send two countries to war, had his doctrine be applied, World War Three would have happened during the Cuban missile crisis and he probably would not have had the chance to write his book in the first place.

Therefore, it becomes difficult to recommend that a country should attack another if it feels threatened by others since the idea of threat and the idea of eminent attack are rather relative. Perhaps it would be better for the two nations to engage in a war of reason first as recommended by St. Thomas who notes that there would be no deaths resulting when reasons battle with each other but when individual or countries enter into in wars, they will be many who die without any reason other than the commands of their rulers.

Of course, it cannot be disputed that a war may be just in some circumstance, but there are several criteria laid down by earlier philosophers who suggest that the declaration of the war has to come from the proper authorities (Martin and Martin, 2003). Individuals who do not have such a level authority should not be allowed to wage war in the name of others (Sterba, 2003). In a democracy, that power resides with the people and in this day and age, it seems that everyone can have a say in whether they think war with another nation is a viable option or not. It seems that voting on such an issue can be done across the country in a matter of hours through the internet and the public’s voice should help form an opinion with regard to the possibility of entering into war with another country. While we uphold the idea that power in a democracy belongs to the people, perhaps we should figure out ways in which more decisions can be made by the people rather than their representative.

Other Details about the Project/Assignment
Subjects: Politics --> warfare
Topic: Compelling objections to the views of Michael Walzer on the permissibility of anticipatory warfare
Level: College / University
Tags:

Warfare, objections, Michael Walzer, Anticipatory attack

Price: $4.95

Purchase and Download Solutions

Created By

Mike Carver
	Member Since: March 2006 Customer Rating: 95.4% Projects Completed: 759 Total Earnings: *Private* +1 Ratings from clients: 178

Project Details

Subjects: Politics --> warfare
Topic: Compelling objections to the views of Michael Walzer on the permissibility of anticipatory warfare
Level: College / University
Tags:

Warfare, objections, Michael Walzer, Anticipatory attack

Customer Reviews

Reviewed 0 Times
Rating

( 4.5 / 5 Stars)
(Click here to read more reviews)

Reviews of these solutions by others
No customer has left a review for these solutions. Be the first one to purchase them and leave a review for others.

Not exactly what you are looking for?
We regularly update our homework solutions library and are continually in the process of adding more samples and complete homework solution sets. If you do not find what you are looking for, just go ahead and place an order for a custom created homework solution. You can hire/pay a homework expert to do your homework for you exactly to your specifications.

Hire/Pay an expert to do your class assignments, homework or online exam

Hire/Pay an expert to do your class assignments, homework or online exam

Permissibility of anticipatory warfare

Warfare, objections, Michael Walzer, Anticipatory attack

Warfare, objections, Michael Walzer, Anticipatory attack